Guide · Publishers and partner programmes
Recruit affiliates for your programme: how influencers, creators and bloggers find you
A partner programme on its own does not bring publishers. Influencers, creators and bloggers promote the offers that are easy to find, fairly paid and simple to explain. Here you learn why many programmes stay quiet, which five publisher types exist and how to make your programme attractive to them. selecdoo is now opening to UK brands, so the UK publisher side is still growing.
Why do most partner programmes fail to find publishers?
Usually the cause is visibility and offer, not the product. Publishers do not know the programme, find no material, see a commission that is too tight or get no reply. If you only set a programme up and wait, you reach hardly anyone, because publishers compare many offers and choose the easiest route.
The first reason is a lack of visibility. A programme that sits on a subpage of your own shop is found by hardly any publisher. Publishers look where many offers are collected in one place, that is, in a network or on a platform with deals and vouchers.
The second reason is an offer that does not pay off for publishers. If the commission is too tight, the terms are unclear or orders are cancelled after weeks without explanation, publishers turn away. The third reason is effort: whoever has to gather images, texts and voucher codes themselves would rather promote another offer.
Then there is trust in the tracking. Publishers only promote when they are sure their sales are recorded correctly. How tracking works is explained in the guide to cookieless affiliate tracking.
Finally, patience is often missing. Publishers test a new offer first before they promote it regularly. Whoever gives up after a few weeks never really tried it. Plan for a ramp-up period and then review which publishers respond and which do not.
The 5 publisher types and what they need
Publishers are not one uniform group. Expectations, effort and risk differ by type. The table gives you orientation without promising figures, because those depend on your industry, your product and your margin.
| Publisher type | Commission expectation | Material they need | Risk for you |
|---|---|---|---|
| Influencers and creators | Usually higher, because posts and their own reach take effort | Product images, samples, a voucher code for their community | Impact is hard to predict, posts must be labelled as advertising |
| Content and blogs | Medium, the return often comes over a longer period | Product data, images, background information for reviews and comparisons | Results take time |
| Deal and voucher sites | Usually moderate, but many sales | Voucher codes, deals with a clear end date | Discount pressure on your margin |
| Cashback sites | Part of the commission goes to the customers, so a sufficient commission matters | Promotions and terms | Customers buy mainly for the discount |
| Comparison sites | Commission plus good product data | Current product feed with prices | Price comparison puts pressure on the margin |
General outline without figures. What suits you depends on industry, product and margin.
To start, it pays to address one or two types on purpose rather than all at once. A shop with products that need explaining often does better with content publishers and creators, a shop with many promotions more likely with deal and voucher sites.
How does selecdoo bring publishers to your shop?
Your shop is visible to curated publishers in the network from day 1, and your deals and vouchers appear where publishers look for offers. You book more visibility with add-ons, and active publisher outreach is part of Growth. Shops do not receive contact details; selecdoo publisher support handles the communication.
On Starter it stays with automatic visibility in the network. You create deals and vouchers, publishers discover them and decide for themselves whether to promote your offer. Actively approaching individual publishers is part of Growth, where selecdoo introduces your shop to publishers on purpose.
There are several reasons you do not get contact details. Publishers do not want to be written to by even more shops, shops do not want to pass on contacts they won themselves, and many shops do not know which channels suit publishers. That is why communication runs through selecdoo publisher support.
If you need attention faster, the add-ons for more visibility with publishers help: push notification, top shop, newsletter, Telegram, deal check and deal creation. You can book all add-ons with Starter too.
Honest note on the UK: selecdoo is only now opening to UK brands, and the UK publisher side is still growing. We therefore quote no reach figures for the UK. In a discovery call we would rather talk through your product and your audience than promise numbers.
How to make your affiliate programme attractive to publishers
Publishers decide on commission, effort and reliability. Offer a commission that fits your margin and the market, provide ready material and voucher codes, pay reliably and reply quickly. A programme that is easy to promote gets chosen more often and is promoted for longer.
Publishers compare not only the level of commission but effort and reliability overall. The following four points usually decide whether your offer gets chosen or disappears in the crowd.
Commission
A commission that is too tight gets passed over. Work out beforehand the most a sale may cost you, and set the commission so it is fair for both sides. The commission calculator for affiliate programmes lets you play it through. The commission is calculated on the net basket, without shipping and without tax.
Deals and vouchers
A time-limited deal or a voucher code of their own gives publishers a reason to promote right now. How vouchers affect your margin is covered in the article on commission for voucher publishers.
Material and clear terms
Good product images, a clean feed and understandable terms lower the effort for publishers. Write down what is allowed, when an order counts as confirmed and what happens with cancellations. On Starter, orders are confirmed automatically after 30 days.
Response time and reliability
Publishers quickly notice whether a shop is reliable. Answer questions promptly and enter cancellations on time. The first step of setting up a programme is described in the guide to starting an affiliate programme.
What you do not do matters as well: changing commissions retroactively, cutting terms without warning or cancelling orders for no reason. Publishers remember such experiences and talk about them in their community. A reliable programme often grows more slowly but keeps its publishers and wins new ones through recommendations.
Frequently asked questions about recruiting publishers
Put your shop in front of the right publishers
Start with no monthly fee on Starter and become visible to curated publishers from day 1: €0 a month (about £0), with a €500 deposit billed in EUR and offset against commissions. Or talk in a discovery call about what active publisher outreach with Growth can look like.