Affiliate Programme

Is there an affiliate programme for Sparkle or a discount code etc for sharing the love?

@jazzbird, I would say Duncan will let you know more on this, but in the meantime check this out at Duncan’s Sparkleapp website - https://sparkleapp.com/how-to-help.html

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Thank you @FlaminFig! I have already done most of those things (didn’t know about Product Hunt though) but it’d be nice if there was a little kickback incentive as well. I am planning to recreate my mummy blog from Wordpress to Sparkle once v3 comes out and I will include a “how-to” on how to build a mummy blog using Sparkle (there are already literally thousands of such pages promoting WP). I’ll be doing it regardless but of course, an affiliate programme or similar would be great :wink:

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@jazzbird, I hear you! :slight_smile: Duncan would be the man on this one! :)…

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We used to have an affiliate program with discount code etc, but it never produced meaningful volume.

It might be due to how we had implemented it:

  • the affiliate would have to sign up with paddle.com and get a vendor id
  • at payment time we would directly split the proceeds between our account and the affiliate account
  • the affiliate would only get a payout when reaching $100 or so (as per paddle policies)

This short-circuit payment has benefits in terms of transparency and fairness, and on the flip side if we were to have to issue payouts ourselves we would have a significant accounting burden.

So ultimately you had to be serious about it, or it wouldn’t have been worth the hassle. The program likely fizzled out because of this.

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There is another, more philosophical downside to affiliate and that is that the interests can be mingled. Being enthusiast and spread the word without any financial interest is more honest and trustworthy. In a way, even more “pure”. Besides, Sparkle’s pricing is far from expensive compared to other apps who don’t even come close to it.

Duncan, in addition to you How-to-help-page: Muse had special “Made with Muse” banners to promote the app. Used to this and extremely happy with Sparkle, I made one myself in my contact section. The logo is a hover image that links to sparkleapp.com.

Schermafbeelding 2020-09-01 om 12.07.56

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I agree, though ultimately there is nothing wrong with making a little money on the side. And if someone were to make a lot of money, it would mean they’d be selling a lot of Sparkle for us, which we’d like :slight_smile:

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A properly designed Affiliate Programme can be very profitable, accounting friendly, and non spammy. There is no one model, the programme must designed specifically for each client’s product and workflow. For small companies an affiliate programme becomes their marketing and sales arms at a significant cost savings. Done right I’ve yet to see a client’s program below 50% of their revenue with 70-80% profitability.

Sparkle’s past Affiliate Programme had way too much friction for the user and Sparkle’s team.

Affiliate Programs are not spammy if recommended by actual users and affiliate arrangements are clearly stated.

A unique product with passionate users, as is Sparkle, is ideal for a well-designed Affiliate Programme.

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I don’t necessarily disagree but there’s nothing wrong with a mutually beneficial arrangement and as my blog is dependent on affiliate income, promoting products/services that I do genuinely use (such as Sparkle) can only be a value add for my readers and help keep my blog afloat.

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Does this mean an affiliate programme could be in the pipeline? :crossed_fingers:

Blog readers and YouTube viewers look for products that you use and love. What they don’t want is recommended useless s…t

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As mentioned, we had it. We could reinstate it. I have no idea if opening the paddle account is too much of a hurdle.