White-label affiliate program vs white label reseller program: What’s best for your agency?

Scale White-label | May 10, 2023 | 7 min read

Recurring revenue is a wonderful thing: you can put work in up front, and enjoy the fruits of your labor for years to come. Being able to accurately forecast revenue makes it easier to plan for the future and grow your business by freeing up time to focus on selling more.

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When it comes to white-label programs, there are two ways you can generate recurring revenue: white-label affiliate programs and white-label reseller programs. In this article, we’ll go over how exactly each type of program works, how you can make money with it, how many programs you can reasonably join, and who each type of program is best for.

Affiliate and reseller programs: what’s the difference?

Both white-label affiliate programs and white-label reseller programs have to do with selling white-label solutions.

  • In a white-label reseller program, you purchase a license to a white-label product or service. Then, you resell it with a markup of your choosing to your clients, the end-users. Since the product or service is white-labeled, they experience it as proprietary to your company.
  • In a white label affiliate program, you market a white-label platform to those who can use it to sell white-label products or services to their end clients and receive a commission on each successful referral. Your customers in this kind of program would be other white-label SaaS resellers.

The term white-label affiliate program can also refer to affiliate programs for white-label products, in which you earn a commission for each sale of a license to use a white-label product or service to the end-user. This is distinct from white-label reseller programs because you don’t set your own markup.

White-label affiliate marketing

White-label affiliate marketing can be an excellent generator of recurring revenue for those with the right kind of audience or network they can market to. Let’s look at how this works in more detail.

How it works

When you join a white-label affiliate program, you are issued a unique affiliate link. Whenever someone signs up or makes a purchase using your link, you’ll earn a commission. The commission is generally based on how much the customer spends. For example, if they sign up at a higher, more expensive tier, your commission will be greater than if they sign up at a lower entry-level tier.

White-label affiliate marketing programs also define how long the commission will be paid for on monthly revenue. For example, a program might indicate that when someone signs up for their white-label platform using your link, you will earn a percentage of sales for a period of 2 years.

Cookies play an important function in how affiliate programs work. These track if a customer has visited a website before, and which link they clicked to arrive at it the first time. If someone uses your affiliate link and returns during the window of time that their cookie is active, you will get credit for the sale.

How much money can you make with affiliate links?

The amount that you can make with affiliate links depends on the affiliate programs you join and the number of conversions you can get through your link.

For example, Vendasta’s affiliate program enables participants to earn the following in commissions over two years for successful sign-ups, depending on which tier new users sign up for:

  • Essentials: $2,500
  • Professional: $5,300
  • Premium: $11,300
  • Custom: $22,300

This is how much you can make for one conversion, and there is no cap on the number of sales you can make through your affiliate link. The greater your ability is to get in front of the right audience, the more successful you’ll be by joining a white-label affiliate program.

In the case of Vendasta’s program, your audience would be marketing agencies, MSPs, and media companies who can use Vendasta to access reseller programs for their businesses.

How many affiliate programs should I join?

While there is no rule about the number of affiliate programs you should join, it’s best to stick to relevant programs your audience is interested in. Rather than diluting your message with dozens of affiliate programs, focus on creating excellent content that converts. This might mean you focus on one or just a few affiliate programs.

Ultimately, the number of affiliate programs you should join comes down to how many you have the capacity to focus on so that you can be as successful as possible.

Who are white-label affiliate programs for?

White-label affiliate marketing programs are best suited to those who have an existing audience in the relevant niche. If you have a social media audience, blog, newsletter, or YouTube channel with an audience of marketers who work in agencies or at technology providers, for example, Vendasta’s white-label affiliate program would be a perfect fit for you.

White-label reseller programs

White-label reseller programs enable you to generate recurring revenue at scale through the sale of rebranded tools and services. Let’s take a closer look at how to do this.

How it works

As a white-label SaaS reseller, you start by signing up for a white-label platform. Once you have your account, you can choose which programs you would like to resell through your agency or business. Examples of white-label products and services you can resell include:

There are several options for reseller programs you can join, which means you can tailor your offering to whatever your clients need, and what makes the most sense for your niche.

Once you’ve selected the products you want to resell, you can add them to your client dashboard, and start promoting them to your clients and prospects. When you make a sale, you pay for the cost of the license and any services they use and charge your client whatever price you decide. You have control of your markups, so you can determine how much profit you want to make on each sale.

Since you don’t have to spend money upfront on any licenses, this is a risk-free way to grow your business. Plus, as white-label services are delivered by experts working under your company’s name, you can scale as much as your sales team can handle, without having to worry about limitations on delivering services in-house.

How much can you make as a white-label reseller?

The only limitation on how much you can make as a white-label reseller is how much you can sell. You can also choose more profitable products to maximize how much you make.

Offering a mix of products with high-profit margins and products that are popular but have lower margins is generally the best strategy for landing more clients and maximizing your earnings.

How many white-label products should I resell?

Reseller platforms offer access to hundreds of white-label products, but this doesn’t mean you should resell all of them.

Focus on products that your clients need, and that you can capably sell. Rather than overwhelming clients with options, offer them solutions that solve their problems. You can always add more products as your business grows.

Who are white-label reseller programs for?

White-label reseller programs are best for marketing agencies, MSPs, and media companies that offer digital services to their clients. Reseller programs enable these businesses to scale by offering more solutions to their customers, enabling them to consolidate their marketing spend and get more from a single provider.

The bottom line

Both white-label affiliate programs and white-label reseller programs can generate significant recurring revenue for those who join. Ultimately, the best program for you depends on who your audience is.

If you have an audience of marketing agencies, a white-label affiliate program can make you money from every new sign-up to the platform. If you sell to end-users, a white-label reseller program is a perfect way to maximize your revenue.

Frequently asked questions

What are the benefits of joining a white-label affiliate program?

Joining a white-label affiliate program can give businesses the opportunity to generate more revenue and provide a wider variety of high-quality products and services to their clients. The other added benefit includes leveraging the resources and expertise of third-party vendors and branding them under your business.

How do I choose the right white-label affiliate program for my niche and audience?

When looking for the right white-label affiliate program for your business, make sure you take your clients' needs, goals, and preferences are taken into consideration. From there, start conducting extensive research on the provider's reputation, quality, support, and commission rates to see if they offer a fair and valuable deal.

About the Author

Solange Messier is the Content Strategy Manager at Vendasta. Solange has spent the majority of her career in content marketing helping companies improve how they connect with their prospects and customers. Her diverse background includes magazine publishing, book publishing, marketing agencies, payment processing, and tech. When she's not working, Solange can be found spending time with her family, running, and volunteering.

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