High-ticket affiliate marketing is the practice of promoting expensive products or services in exchange for larger commissions per sale, typically focusing on items that generate significant revenue.
According to Statista, affiliate marketing spending in the United States alone is expected to reach $8.2 billion by 2022, more than triple what it was ten years earlier.
Moreover, based on Google Trends data, search interest in the query "affiliate marketing" has increased steadily over the past few years. Between 2015 and 2020, the search interest has gone up over 200%.
These numbers show that affiliate marketers will likely continue to thrive in the 2020s and beyond.
In this guide, I'll cover everything you need to know to get started with high-ticket affiliate marketing.
What is High-Ticket Affiliate Marketing?
High-ticket affiliate marketing flips this model by having affiliates promote high-priced products and services costing anywhere from $500 up to $100,000+. The commissions earned range is usually from 20-50% per sale.
Many inexperienced affiliate marketers recommend large amounts of low-ticket products, but they don’t get anything out of it. This is because the commissions paid for the products are too small.
Amazon, for example, has an affiliate program, but the commissions paid for it are very small, so to get decent earnings, you should have a huge amount of sales.
Commissions on physical products are rarely higher than 5%. It is a good thing to keep in mind when choosing products.
I recommend focusing on high-ticket digital products such as online courses, memberships, and software, for which the commissions can be as high as 50% or sometimes even higher.
Example:
The product costs 97€, and the commission is 5%. To receive monthly earnings of € 3000, you need to refer the product 3000/90 * 5% = 618 times.
The product costs 1997 €, and the commission is 50%. To receive monthly earnings of € 3000, you need to refer the product 3000/1997 * 50% = 3 times.
Which one do you think is easier to pull off? The answer is obvious, start focusing on more expensive products.
It might surprise you, but selling a $1997 affiliate product is not that much harder to sell than a $97 product.
Some common high-ticket offers that affiliates can promote are:
- Online courses and training programs – Priced from $500 to $5,000+ with average commissions of 30-50%
- SaaS tools and software – Ranging from $1,000 to $10,000+ with commissions from 20-40%
- Coaching and consulting services – Often priced at $1,000 to $25,000+ per month with commissions from 20-50%
- High-end and luxury products – Items like jewelry, vacations, electronics, cars, etc. priced at $1,000+ with varying commission rates
The best high-ticket affiliate programs have a combination of expensive product pricing and generous commission rates, so you can maximize income from only a handful of sales.
Why Promote High-Ticket Affiliate Offers?
Focusing your affiliate strategy on high-ticket products and services comes with many advantages compared to low-priced offers:
- Bigger Commissions - The most obvious benefit is much higher earnings per sale. Just a couple of monthly sales can be highly lucrative and generate a healthy income. The commission sizes truly add up.
- High Conversions – Buyers researching expensive purchases convert at higher rates. By providing comprehensive reviews and comparisons, affiliates can see increased conversions.
- Premium Customers – Buyers who purchase expensive items tend to have more disposable income, making them ideal for cross-selling additional offers and building an ongoing relationship.
Focusing on promoting high-ticket affiliate products or services holds tremendous money-making potential. But how do you get started?
Step-by-Step Guide to Starting High-Ticket Affiliate Marketing
Follow these steps to begin earning high-ticket affiliate commissions:
1. Choose a Profitable Niche
First, select a niche that aligns well with high-priced offers. Use keyword research to confirm buyer demand and intent around premium products or services within your chosen niche.
Some examples of lucrative high-ticket niches include:
- Business, marketing, and consulting services
- Software, SaaS, and other technology tools
- Investment, wealth management, and personal finance programs
- High-end fashion, jewelry, and luxury accessories
- Luxury travel experiences and 5-star accommodations
Make sure your niche has plenty of profitable keyword opportunities. Tools like Semrush make finding great keyword opportunities easy.
Niche Finder
Niche Finder GPT helps you find and identify profitable, low-competition niches aligned with your interests and skills. Niche Finder makes discovering your ideal business niche simple (requires ChatGPT Plus subscription).
2. Find Relevant Affiliate Programs
Search for affiliate programs focusing on high-ticket products and services in your niche. Usually, you don't find high-ticket programs on the affiliate networks. Instead, I recommend finding them on Google. For example, Legendary Marketer has an excellent high-ticket affiliate program.
Once you have found a potential candidate for you, thoroughly evaluate each program, looking at average product pricing, commission rates, cookie duration, payment terms, and other policies.
3. Develop Valuable Lead Magnets
Lead magnets are free or low-cost giveaways that collect visitor emails and build your subscriber list. They provide immense value and establish expertise within your niche.
Effective lead magnets to consider include:
- Comprehensive reports, ebooks, or guides
- Calculators, spreadsheets, or resource lists
- Video courses and webinars
- Checklists, templates, or samples
- Tools, worksheets, or exclusive trainings
In exchange for an email address, offer lead magnets as an ethical bribe to grow your audience.
4. Generate Targeted Traffic
Once you've chosen a niche and affiliate programs, your next objective is driving targeted traffic to your site. Consider employing:
- Search engine optimization through blogging and content creation
- Paid advertising, including Facebook, Instagram, Google, etc.
- Email marketing, such as lead nurturing sequences and promotions
- Guest posting and interviews on authority sites in your niche
- Partnerships and collaborations with relevant brands
- Giveaways, contests, and exclusive events
- Leveraging your social media presence and followers
- Retargeting website visitors through ads
5. Create In-Depth Review Content
One of the most effective promotion methods for high-ticket affiliate offers is creating detailed review-style content and comparisons. These establish your expertise and build reader trust.
When crafting reviews, focus on:
- Thoroughly evaluating all product or service features and benefits
- Comparing to competitors and alternatives
- Assessing the value proposition and ROI for the price point
- Providing an unbiased analysis from the reader's perspective
- Including pros, cons, and criticisms backed by evidence
- Using images, videos, demonstrations, and tutorials to educate
- Answering common questions and objections
Promoting well-researched reviews showcasing your real-world experience drives conversions.
6. Set Up Email Sequences
Proper email automation and sequences are critical for converting cold traffic into high-ticket buyers. Use email to:
- Deliver your lead magnets to new subscribers
- Share additional high-value content that builds authority
- Promote affiliate offers and reviews
- Retarget website visitors who left without purchasing
- Create urgency and scarcity with time-sensitive promotions
Sophisticated email marketing campaigns nurture subscribers into hot leads primed to buy your recommendations.
7. Track Performance and Iterate
Analyze the performance of each high-ticket campaign to identify what content and emails convert best. Continuously test new affiliate offers, promotions, and types of content to optimize results.
Over time, you'll discover your highest-earning offers to focus on. Consistently refine your approach based on data.
Final Tips for High-Ticket Affiliate Marketing Success
Here are a few final tips to succeed in high-ticket affiliate marketing:
- Take time upfront to find the perfect niche and high-paying affiliate programs before promoting any offers.
- Produce high-quality content showcasing your expertise, establishing authority and trust from readers.
- Segment your email lists based on engagement and prior purchases to send targeted promotions.
- Promote offers that provide recurring commissions for long-term passive income.
- Build relationships with your premium buyers and continuously add value.
Other great business models exist, like local lead generation for online entrepreneurs, but affiliate marketing is undoubtedly one of the best. The high-income potential makes high-ticket affiliate marketing extremely appealing.
Spend time upfront finding the right niche, affiliate programs and hone your marketing strategy to succeed long-term.
With high-quality content, established authority, and savvy marketing, you can start earning bigger commissions and take your affiliate income to the next level.
