We are often asked by merchants how to go about creating an FTC Affiliate Disclosure and why you even need one. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requires by law to disclose relationships that could influence the endorsement or promotion of products.

No matter how big or small the promotion, all affiliate marketers are required to do this. FTC Affiliate Disclosure is designed for this purpose and helps ensure transparency with audiences and legal compliance.

This article teaches you what an FTC Affiliate Disclosure is, why you need one, who needs one, and best practices for creating one. With this information, you can easily create an affiliate disclosure for yourself.

Note: If you want to start your own affiliate program for your ecommerce brand, I’d suggest using ReferralCandy. It offers a 30-day free trial and can help you start and scale your first affiliate or referral program.

What is the FTC affiliate disclosure?

An FTC affiliate disclosure is a mandatory statement set by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that affiliate marketers use to inform their audience about any financial relationships or incentives they have with the products or brands they promote.

For example, if a beauty blogger writes a review about a new skincare product and includes affiliate links to purchase that product, they must disclose that they are earning a commission from any sales made through those links.

As an affiliate marketer, you may get compensated in many ways, such as:

• Commission on sales
• Free products or service
• Performance bonus
• Pay-per-click
• Pay-per-lead
• Flat fee

No matter what compensation you receive, it must be disclosed to consumers through the affiliate disclosure.

Who needs to use affiliate disclosure?

Anyone who promotes products/services online and receives compensation must use affiliate disclosures. This often includes bloggers, social media influencers, content creators, website owners, podcasters, YouTubers, and anyone else promoting products or services.

Why do you need an FTC affiliate disclosure?

An FTC affiliate disclosure is a must-have for a few reasons:

1. Legal compliance: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) mandates that affiliate relationships must be disclosed to consumers. If you fail to comply with these regulations, you may face legal consequences such as fines and penalties.
2. Transparency: Disclosing affiliate relationships helps companies maintain transparency with their audience. Affiliate disclosures ensure customers are aware of potential biases and understand the promoter may be compensated for promoting a product.
3. Trust and credibility: FTC affiliate disclosure fosters customer trust and credibility. Without it, employees inside a company could promote their own products in exchange for payments, which the disclosure protects against.
4. Informed decision-making for customers: Knowing that a recommendation is incentivized allows consumers to weigh that information accordingly and make more informed choices.

How to create an FTC affiliate disclosure?

Creating an effective FTC affiliate disclosure involves several steps to ensure transparency and compliance with regulations. The following steps are based on the FTC website, which shares the best practices for creating affiliate disclosures.

1. Select a good placement for the affiliate disclosure

FTC mentions that you should position the affiliate disclosure where consumers are likely to see it, such as near affiliate links or prominently within the content. Ensure consumers can easily connect the disclosure with the specific product or service being promoted without searching for related information elsewhere.

For example, here is how Forbes has selected their placement:

As you can see, affiliate disclosure is one of the first things readers see when reading a Forbes article.

Avoid placing it in obscure locations, such as the bottom of a webpage, or in areas where consumers are less likely to look, such as sidebars or footnotes.

2. Use simple language

This is what the FTC mentions about the importance of clear disclosures:

• A disclosure is clear and conspicuous if consumers notice it, read it, and understand it. Clear and conspicuous is a performance standard, not a font size.

Their main point is that you should use clear and simple language that consumers can easily understand. Avoid jargon or dense blocks of text that obscure the disclosure's message.

3. Make the disclosure easy to read

While font size isn't any deciding thing, you should still ensure the disclosure is large enough to be easily read without requiring consumers to zoom in or strain to see it.

Avoid using fonts that are too small or placing the disclosure where it can be easily overlooked, such as in the fine print or against a busy background.

4. Integrate the disclosure seamlessly

Integrate the disclosure seamlessly into your content to complement rather than disrupt the user experience.

Ensure it's clear and readily understandable, helping consumers make informed decisions without feeling misled.

7 FTC affiliate disclosure examples

Next, let's examine examples of affiliate disclosure in different channels. You can use these ideas as an inspiration for your own affiliate disclosures.

FTC affiliate disclosure on a blog article

1. Smart Bark

This is how Smart Bark showcases its affiliate disclosure in its blog articles. The disclosure is at the start of the post, making it easy for readers to understand and read.

Smart Bark also links to a specific page, where they explain more about the affiliate disclosure.

2. GLAMOUR

GLAMOUR uses a simple and effective text for its affiliate disclosure.

The font differs from the other text on the site, which is something you may want to try when creating your affiliate disclosures. Similarly to Smart Bark, they also link to an additional page, where they explain the process in more detail.

3. Cosmopolitan

If you want a a highly minimalistic way of displaying your affiliate disclosure, consider taking inspiration from Cosmopolitan. On every product page, they showcase this small piece of text:

This falls within the low end of the FTC's recommendation in terms of how visible affiliate disclosures should be. However, many brands use the same disclosure style, so there should be no problem.

4. Byrdie

Similarly to Cosmopolitan, Byrdie uses a minimalistic style to showcase its affiliate disclosure. It is visible on every blog article page, on top of the primary heading:

Byrdie also links to an external page, where they explain their evaluation and affiliate process in more detail.

5. Forbes

Forbes uses highly visible FTC affiliate disclosure text in its blog articles. Here is one example from their best kitchen sink brands article:

One interesting point you can pick from Forbes' example is that they say the commissions don't affect their editors' opinions or evaluations. This increases customers' trust that the Forbes editors make unbiased decisions.

FTC affiliate disclosure on a newsletter

6. Digital PR Tips

Here is an example of how Digital PR Tips does their affiliate disclosure in their newsletter. It's simple, to the point, and follows all the required guidelines.

The last line of the paragraph also mentions the author does not recommend products he doesn't believe are useful, which increases trust in customer's eyes. The disclosure is also done naturally in the text, which is good since it doesn't interrupt the reader's flow.

FTC affiliate disclosure on a YouTube video

Emily Norris

If you promote products/services on a YouTube video, you also need to disclose the brand relationship. Here is an example from Emily Norris on how to do it:

As you can see, the disclosure is added to the product description, which is an ideal place for it. She also mentions the affiliate disclosure during the video, which further increases customers' trust.

FTC affiliate disclosure on a social media post

8. Themeparkmomlife

Here is an example from an Instagram account, Themeparkmomlife, of how to add your affiliate disclosure to a social media post.

The text simply outlines how they were gifted the toys for free, which they do a review on. While it’s simple, it has all the necessary information for an affiliate disclosure.

Conclusion

FTC affiliate disclosure is a must for all marketers who receive compensation for the products/services they recommend.

While creating an affiliate disclosure isn't the most fun task, it's vital to comply with regulations and increase customer trust. Plus, if you use the advice and examples we provided in this article, creating an affiliate disclosure is relatively quick and easy. You can also read directly from the FTC website for more information about the affiliate disclosure.

Hopefully, our guide was informative to you! If you feel like our article is missing something, you can always get in touch with us! If you want to create your own affiliate program, you can use ReferralCandy to do that. It has a 14-day free trial available and you can also use it to create referral programs.

P.S. If you enjoyed reading this article and want to start your own affiliate program, subscribe to our newsletter to get our latest articles and roundups.

WordPress affiliate marketing plugins help ecommerce merchants launch affiliate programs and track their performance. While many affiliate plugins are available, a few stand out with their high-quality features.

In this article, we will review the best WordPress affiliate marketing plugins for running your affiliate program. Some plugins cover the all-in-one needs of managing an affiliate program; some help you create affiliate links, and some help track affiliate performance. For each plugin, we will highlight who it is best for to make choosing easier for you.

Before we review the plugins, let's look into what WordPress affiliate plugins are, why you need one, and what features you should look for.

What is a WordPress affiliate marketing plugin and why do you need one

A WordPress affiliate marketing plugin is a tool designed to help merchants start, manage, and optimize their affiliate marketing programs. These plugins include various features that simplify creating, managing, and tracking affiliate links and programs. 

One example of such a tool is ReferralCandy. Not only can ReferralCandy help create affiliate programs, but also referral programs.

The main reasons why you should invest in an affiliate plugin include:

1. Cost-effective marketing option. To start your affiliate program, it is possible to do so with as little investment as investing in an affiliate marketing plugin.
2. Grow your audience. Affiliate marketing plugins enable you to grow your audience by tapping into the power of affiliate marketers. Affiliate marketers usually have an existing audience, which you can tap into by starting an affiliate program.
3. Build credibility. Affiliate marketing plugins allow you to partner with experts, influencers, and bloggers within your niche, which can help you build credibility.
4. Improve your website SEO. When affiliate marketers link to your affiliate landing page from their own blog or a website, the backlinks you gain improve your website's SEO. The top affiliate plugins enable you to create linkable affiliate landing pages.

What features to look for in a WordPress affiliate marketing plugin

The top WordPress affiliate marketing plugins include specific features essential for creating a successful affiliate marketing program. You should look for the following features:

1. User-friendly dashboard. Your affiliate plugin should have an easy-to-use interface that allows merchants and affiliates to manage their information quickly.
2. Link management. The ability to shorten and cloak affiliate links is beneficial for protecting them against hijacking and making the links look cleaner.
3. Automation. Automation features, such as the ability to send emails, fraud protection, and automated enrollment, save you time from repetitive tasks.
4. Ready-to-use templates. Ideally, your affiliate plugin should have templates for sending emails and creating landing pages.
5. Third-party integrations. Third-party integrations help extend the capabilities of your affiliate plugin. Integrations with different ecommerce platforms and marketing tools can be essential for scaling ecommerce brands.
6. Analytics and reporting. You should be able to track the performance of your affiliate program, which is possible through analytics and reporting.
7. Cost-effectiveness. Ensure that the affiliate plugin you choose fits within your budget. Ideally, there should be a free trial available to test out the platform's features first.

11 best WordPress affiliate marketing plugins in 2024

Next, let’s review the top WordPress affiliate plugins. For each plugin, we will break down the key features, customer reviews, who it is suitable for, and the pros and cons. This will help you make more informed decisions when choosing your own software.

1. ReferralCandy

Pricing: Paid plans start from $59/month, and a 14-day free trial is available.

Best for: Best WordPress affiliate management plugin for starting an affiliate program

ReferralCandy offers an affiliate program plugin for WordPress. With it, merchants can create, manage, and automate their affiliate and referral programs for their WooCommerce stores. ReferralCandy's key features include all-in-one affiliate and referral management, post-purchase popups and emails, automated customer rewards, and fraud detection.

You can also use ReferralCandy's editor to design affiliate and referral programs to match your brand colors. ReferralCandy offers extensive analytics and tracking for following the performance of your affiliate and referral programs. You can also compare your performance against industry benchmarks.

ReferralCandy is available in the WordPress Plugin Directory as well as in the Shopify App Store. It also offers various other third-party integrations, such as with Mailchimp, Klaviyo, Google Analytics, and ReCharge.

Pros and cons

• All-in-one affiliate and referral marketing solution
• Easy integration with WooCommerce, Shopify, and other ecommerce platforms
• Automation tools to detect fraud referrals, send emails, and invite new customers
• Admin dashboard with customer insights and industry benchmark for tracking the results
• Templates for affiliate and referral landing pages and emails
• Integrations with marketing tools like Klaviyo, ReCharge, Mailchimp, and more

2. Pretty Links

WordPress rating: 4.8 out of 5.0 stars (1,200+ reviews)

Pricing: Paid plans start from $99.60/year, no free trial is available

Best for: Displaying affiliate links in a clean, short, and cloaked way

Pretty Links is an affiliate marketing tool for WordPress store owners. With it, you can turn long and unclean URLs into short, cloaked affiliate links using your own domain name. The links can be added to any page you want, including emails, websites, social media, and more.

Here is an example of how the cloaked links look with Pretty Links:

Pretty Links automatically creates 3-4 random characters to the cloaked link, but you can create your own custom slug if you want. In addition to link cloaking, Pretty Links provides tracking and analytics features. You can see where the link traffic comes from, the browser, OS, and the host. You can also create reports showing the number of clicks per day in a configurable chart.

Pretty Links is available in the WordPress Plugin Directory. While it can be used on any other ecommerce platform, it does not offer specific apps for them, such as for Shopify.

Pros

• An easy-to-use platform for creating clean and on-brand affiliate links
• Simple admin dashboard to manage the affiliate links
• Reporting and analytics for following the performance
• Supports three link redirect types: 301, 302, and 307 redirects
• A centralized platform for managing and copying all of the links
• Ability to create Stripe-integrated links for selling affiliate products

Cons

• Only offers yearly plans, which may be too long for some brands to commit to
• Doesn't have more extensive affiliate program management features

3. ThirstyAffiliates

WordPress rating: 4.7 out of 5.0 stars (200+ reviews)

Pricing: Paid plans starting from $99.60/year, free plan available

Best for: Affiliate link cloaking and management for WordPress store owners

ThirstyAffiliates is a free affiliate plugin solution for managing affiliate links and cloaking them into shorter and cleaner formats. While the platform also has a paid plan, the free version suits ecommerce brands and bloggers who want simple features for utilizing cloaked affiliate links.

ThirstyAffiliates comes with a dashboard to manage existing affiliate links and create new ones. If you want, it is also possible to add images and banners to the affiliate links. ThirstyAffiliates also has reporting and analytics, where you can see how many clicks your links have gotten over time.

As for integrations, ThirstyAffiliates can be integrated with MonsterInsights to push data into Google Analytics.

Pros

• Free basic plan available
• Affiliate link management and cloaking capabilities
• Statistics and reports for following the link performance
• Integrates with MonsterInsights for pushing link data to Google Analytics
• You can choose from 301, 302, and 307 redirects
• Ability to geo-target visitors with links based on their location
• Link health checker for automatically notifying about broken links or 404s

Cons

• Made mainly for link cloaking and doesn't include more comprehensive affiliate management tools
• Only offers yearly plans for the paid plans

4. SliceWP Affiliates

WordPress rating: 4.9 out of 5.0 stars (80+ reviews)

Pricing: Paid plans start from $229/year, no free trial available

Best for: WordPress store owners looking for an all-in-one affiliate management plugin

SliceWP aims to be an all-in-one plugin for managing your affiliate program on a WordPress site. Some of its key features include an affiliate dashboard for managing affiliate signups, real-time tracking for clicks, referrals, and conversions, and scheduled automatic payouts to affiliates.

SliceWP makes the setup process easy, and you can create and customize custom pages for affiliates to sign up on. The commissions of affiliates can either be set at a percentage or at a fixed rate.

Many of SliceWP's features are available as add-ons, which you have to pay extra for. The add-ons include third-party integrations, PayPal payouts, custom affiliate slugs, affiliate landing pages, and recurring and lifetime commissions. The extra cost is a slight disadvantage compared to competitors, such as ReferralCandy, who offer many of the features as part of the standard plan.

Pros

• A wide range of affiliate management features
• Advanced reports and analytics for understanding affiliate program performance
• PayPal payout option for paying the affiliates
• Affiliate dashboard for managing affiliate links and other parts of the program
• A variety of automation features are available, including automated emails, affiliate approvals, and social sharing
• You can customize the affiliate registration form to match your brand colors

Cons

• Many of the available add-on features, such as third-party integrations, come with an extra cost
• No monthly plans are available, unlike with solutions like ReferralCandy
• Provides an all-in-one platform but doesn’t have referral program capabilities

5. MonsterInsights

WordPress rating: 4.5 out of 5.0 stars (2,900+ reviews)

Pricing: Paid plans start from $99.60/year, free plan available

Best for: Brand owners wanting to set up Google Analytics for their affiliate program

MonsterInsights is a WordPress plugin designed to simplify the integration and management of Google Analytics on your WordPress website. While it isn't designed only for affiliate programs, it is a great option for tracking affiliate link performance.

The integration process to Google Analytics is simple. After that, you can track the performance of your affiliate links, as well as your customers' age, device, gender, and other information that can help improve your affiliate performance. You can also see more conversational statistics, such as top revenue sources, conversion rate, average order value, and top referrals.

All of the data is available in the numerous reports MonsterInsights provides you, such as ecommerce reports, audience reports, publishers reports, content reports, landing page reports, and more. MonsterInsights has a Pro version available, but the free version gives you access to many of its beneficial features.

Pros

• Easy Google Analytics integration available
• Free plan that gives access to most features
• Affiliate and link tracking
• 10+ reports available for data about your customers and affiliate link performance
• Integrations with other WordPress plugins, like AffiliateWP, Pretty Links, and WooCommerce

Cons

• Only an annual subscription option available for the paid plans

6. Coupon Affiliates

WordPress rating: 4.9 out of 5.0 stars (60+ reviews)

Pricing: Paid plans start from $19.99/month, 7-day free trial available

Best for: Managing a coupon-based affiliate program on a WooCommerce store

Coupon Affiliates is a WordPress affiliate platform designed to help merchants create and manage affiliate programs. It's unique in that it focuses specifically on coupon-based affiliate marketing, allowing store owners to assign unique coupon codes to their affiliates. To manage the affiliate program, you get access to an admin dashboard.

Affiliate users can track and submit payout requests through the available affiliate dashboard. From the same page, affiliates can generate referral URLs, set up link tracking, create referral campaigns, do link cloaking, and share links on social media.

Coupon Affiliates also offers different reports and analytics to track affiliate coupon performance. Although Coupon Affiliates does not have the most advanced referral program features, you can still create one with them.

Pros

• Affiliate dashboard for tracking performance
• Affiliate statistics, such as sales, commissions, recent orders, and more
• Commission and payout tracking for affiliates
• One-click Stripe and PayPal payout option
• Also possible to run referral and influencer programs

Cons

• Offers only basic referral and influencer program capabilities, as compared to alternatives, like ReferralCandy

7. BetterLinks

WordPress rating: 4.9 out of 5.0 stars (50+ reviews)

Pricing: Paid plans start from $79/year, free plan available

Best for: Shortening and tracking the performance of affiliate links

BetterLinks is a URL-shortening solution for WordPress sites. With it, you can create, shorten, and track the performance of any URL, including affiliate link URLs. The platform isn't made specifically for affiliate links, but it works great for them as well.

You can split-test different links with dynamic redirects, create 301, 302, and 307 redirects, check broken links, and track your performance. BetterLinks provides reports on the click-through rate, top referral links, top social media links, and more.

If you want more advanced features, BetterLinks has a Pro version that includes more advanced analytics, Google Analytics integration, Facebook Pixel tracking, the broken link checker, and the ability to control and manage user roles.

Pros

• Free plan available
• Admin dashboard to track affiliate links
• Ability to shorten links easily
• Multiple link direct options are available
• Offers migration from third-party apps, like PrettyLinks and ThirstyAffiliates

Cons

• It isn't specifically made for affiliate programs, so it misses features such as an affiliate dashboard, customizable affiliate landing pages, and fraud protection

8. Skimlinks

WordPress rating: n/a

Pricing: Free to join, Skimlinks retains a specific percentage on every sale you get

Best for: Turning regular product links into affiliate links for content creators

Skimlinks is a content-to-commerce platform designed to help merchants monetize their content through affiliate marketing. It converts regular product links into affiliate links, allowing content creators to earn commissions on sales generated through their content.

Its key features include automatic product link converter, reporting and analytics, content monetization tools, geotargeting, and integrations with third-party software.

Skimlinks is unique in that it is free to use, but they charge a percentage of the sales you make. This can be a disadvantage for brands with high sales volumes, but it can also be advantageous for merchants with low sales volumes.

Pros

• Fast and easy way to convert regular product links into affiliate links
• Affiliate dashboard for affiliate partners to manage affiliate links
• Extensive analytics for tracking affiliate link performance

Cons

• Skimlinks charge a commission, which can get expensive quickly

9. Post Affiliate Pro

WordPress rating: 4.6 out of 5.0 stars (20+ reviews)

Pricing: Paid plans start from $139/month, 30-day free trial is available

Best for: Starting and scaling an affiliate program through WooCommerce

Post Affiliate Pro is an all-in-one affiliate marketing software for WordPress store owners. It helps them to create, manage, and optimize affiliate programs through features, such as an affiliate dashboard for management, tracking, reporting and analytics, and commission and fraud protection.

One of Post Affiliate Pro's standout features is the marketing materials it provides to all new customers. The marketing materials include ready-to-use banners, discount coupons, and smartlinks, which all aim to increase your sales.

Post Affiliate Pro has automation features, including email sending, social media posting, and automated commissions based on your commission settings. For analytics, you can see impressions, click-through rates, conversions, sales, and more.

Pros

• Highly customizable affiliate program solution
• Email, social media, and commission automation
• Robust reporting to follow the affiliate program performance
• Offers integrations with multiple different ecommerce platforms
• Extra features, such as the available marketing materials for affiliate partners

Cons

• The pricing plans can be too expensive for smaller businesses with limited budgets
• Long setup process, and the available tools have a long learning curve

10. Easy Affiliate

WordPress rating: 4.2 out of 5.0 stars (30+ reviews)

Pricing: Paid plans start from $99.60/month/year,

Best for: Creating and managing a WordPress-based affiliate program

Easy Affiliate is an affiliate program plugin for WordPress store owners. According to their team, their features include all the necessary tools to manage the entire affiliate program process. The key features are affiliate and commission management, tracking and reporting, fraud protection, custom link generation, and affiliate payout management.

One unique feature of Easy Affiliate is the ability to create an affiliate application process. It requires visitors to apply for your affiliate program before they are eligible to join.

Pros

• Affiliate dashboard to add affiliate links and manage them
• Real-time reports for tracking the performance
• Custom dashboard for administrators and affiliates
• 1-click PayPal payout for affiliates
• Integrates with WordPress and other major ecommerce platforms

Cons

• Doesn't include the tools to send affiliate emails. It has to be integrated with third-party software for that functionality

11. Goaffpro

WordPress rating: 4.8 out of 5.0 stars (30+ reviews)

Pricing: Paid plans starting from $29/month, free plan available

Best for: Ecommerce store owners who want to run affiliate and influencer marketing campaigns

Goaffpro is an affiliate marketing app for ecommerce stores and it offers a WordPress plugin. With it, ecommerce merchants can launch and manage their affiliate programs. The platform has features such as a custom-branded affiliate portal, different commission options, affiliate tracking, and link sharing.

Goaffpro not only offers affiliate marketing tools for WordPress stores, but it is also one of the most downloaded Shopify apps. From the affiliate dashboard, affiliates can share their links and coupons on different social media platforms.

The available real-time tracking shows data such as clicks, sales, new signups, net and gross revenue, cost per conversion, and more. The data is quite extensive and one of Goaffpro's standout features.

Pros

• Affiliate portal for affiliates to see their earnings
• Extensive analytics to see how your affiliate program performs
• Easy one-click PayPal payout for affiliates
• Free plan for small-scale affiliate programs
• Integration with WordPress and other ecommerce platforms, such as Shopify and BigCommerce
• Customers mention that Goaffpro has reliable support

Cons

• A few G2 users mention that the free plan is limited and you quickly need to upgrade to one of the paid plans

Starting your own affiliate program with ReferralCandy

Affiliate programs are known for bringing high ROI for ecommerce brands who already have an existing customer base. While there may be additional costs if you scale your affiliate program, the only real cost in the beginning is the selection of your affiliate marketing plugin.

ReferralCandy is mainly known as a referral program software for ecommerce merchants, but we also have strong affiliate program tools built in. With ReferralCandy, you can easily set up your first affiliate and referral program and enable post-purchase pop-ups, emails, and pages to enroll new customers.

Compared to many other solutions, one of ReferralCandy's strengths is its all-in-one solution for managing referral and affiliate programs. Plus, ReferralCandy has a 14-day free trial with no credit card required to test out the platform.

P.S. If you enjoyed reading this article and want to grow your affiliate and referral programs, subscribe to our newsletter to get our latest articles and roundups.

Here at ReferralCandy, we're excited to introduce something we've been working on: the Ecommerce Agency Industry Report!

Each month, we’re gathering information from ecommerce agencies: their results, thoughts, and predictions, and then sharing these insights in an aggregated and anonymous industry report. 

Whether you're an agency owner or just looking for more information, this report can help you get a better understanding of the state of ecommerce agencies.

The current state of ecommerce agencies: trends, statistics & outlook (2024 June)

According to our June 2024 survey, with a steady increase in agencies' confidence in the past two months, most agencies expect their revenue to continue growing and that merchants will continue using their services. To stand out, agencies can use marketing methods that bring high ROI, such as referral programs using software like ReferralCandy.

We will now discuss our findings about ecommerce agencies in more detail.

1. The level of confidence among ecommerce agencies was on a slight decrease, but gained momentum again in April and May

As part of our survey, we asked ecommerce agencies to rate their confidence level from 0 to 500, which we turned into the below Ecommerce Agency Confidence Index. This index is based on aspects like how confident they’re about customer acquisition, market saturation, and changing consumer behavior.

Based on our survey, here are the overall confidence levels reported by ecommerce agencies over the past months:

As you can see from the above graph, ecommerce agencies' confidence in the state of ecommerce slightly decreased in March 2024 but picked right back up in April and May.

2. Marketing budgets of ecommerce agency customers have shown a slight increase

We asked ecommerce agency owners: Has there been any increase in your customer’s marketing budgets?

In May 2024, marketing budgets showed a slight increase compared to the previous 6 months, which can indicate some sort of “cautious optimism” among ecommerce merchants.

As Stefan Chiriacescu, CEO of eCommerce Today Agency, puts it:

• "As the summer started, some businesses went into "holiday" mode, opted to take a break, and cut budgets. Not our clients! For the vast majority, we have the approval to increase budgets and work on getting their sites in tip-top shape for a fantastic Q4. 2024 is looking good!"

3. Ecommerce agency merchants are continuously willing to spend money on ecommerce apps as long as the app shows positive ROI

We asked ecommerce agency owners: On a scale from 0 to 10, how have your customers’ budgets for investments in ecommerce apps changed?

In a nutshell, there has been no change. Investment in e-commerce apps remained relatively stable in May 2024, with only minor fluctuations from the last 6-month period.

This is one of the most consistent responses we’ve had over the months. It is evident that ecommerce agency clients are willing to spend money on ecommerce apps, provided the app provides a positive return on investment.

Jess Grossman, CEO of In Social, has a great explanation for this:

• “Our In Social clients are always looking to us to recommend apps to add to their tech stack that we feel could increase their bottom line. They look to us to make those recommendations because they know we have years of experience with a multitude of apps, we know which ones work and don’t work and how we can make them work, and we have strong partnerships with the app companies themselves. These app partnerships allow us to offer our clients an app that we have a deep understanding of to use to the client’s benefit. We have 1-1 relationships with the app teams in case we need their extra support, and we can sometimes get our clients discounts or free months! With all this in mind, our clients have always been open to installing and trying new apps because of their trust in us and our relationships with the apps, but price sensitivity has also decreased since the beginning of the year! Whereas before, clients would sit on a recommendation for a month or two or ask more questions about the cost, they are now saying, “yes let’s go for it,” much faster than before. This could be a direct result of their store’s increasing revenue thanks to our efforts, or clients feeling less worried about the economy, at this present moment. That, or they truly are trusting our recommendations more and letting us do what we do best!”

Ash Ome, CEO of MOTIF, also mentioned this:

• "Merchants are more likely to spend on ecommerce apps and tools that are going to make them either money or make operations proficient, which translates into more profits and an enjoyable work culture. We have seen merchants mostly spending money on zero-party data, AI recommendations, and loyalty apps like ReferralCandy. "

4. Merchants price-sensitivity has remained high in May 2024 due to ongoing cost concerns

We asked ecommerce agency owners: On a scale of 0 to 10, how would you rate the current price sensitivity of your customers towards spending on agency services?

Ecommerce merchants’ price sensitivity towards agency services remained moderately high in May 2024. This reflects ongoing cost concerns and the need for agencies to demonstrate clear value propositions compared to the merchants’ in-house teams.

Will King, Strategy Director at EastsideCo mentioned this about price sensitivity:

• "With the economic recovery, we're seeing more confidence to invest in ecommerce again. Looking ahead to the rest of 2024, there are so many opportunity areas ecommerce agencies can leverage. It's about understanding and identifying where and how you can add value to a client's business. For example, we've seen increased client demand for consultative support in areas such as analytics. Measurement and attribution have become more difficult in recent years, and this is a pain-point we can solve for clients. Knowing the specific areas where our clients need help this year enables us to promote and pitch appropriate services."

Despite most agencies reporting high price sensitivity, some agency owners, such as Michael Melen from SmartSites, mention the following:

• "Despite the economic uncertainties, we've noticed clients are less sensitive about prices for agency services. They are prioritizing value over cost."

5. Most ecommerce agencies report that their customers' outsourcing behavior hasn’t changed

We asked ecommerce agency owners: How likely is it that your customers will bring their marketing teams in-house rather than outsourcing work to agencies in the upcoming months?

In February 2024, there was an increase in uncertainty or diversity in predictions about clients' strategies This pessimism seems to have tamed down in April and May, with almost half of our agencies reporting no change in their customers’ outsourcing behavior.

This stability indicates that while in-house capabilities are being considered, many businesses still rely on agency expertise – which is great news.

Bogdan Mihalache, Founder & CEO Email Kong mentions that agency outsourcing still remains essential:

• "Regardless of industry shifts or advancements in AI, outsourcing will remain essential for D2C brands. Even with advanced software, brand owners want more time to focus on growth, not marketing tasks. That's the reason SaaS companies are developing better onboarding to increase product adoption and reduce churn, as brand owners often don't have time to set up a new app. My suggestion is that 6-figure brands should manage internally to reduce costs and get higher margins - with the owner wearing many hats in the beginning; 7-figure brands should always outsource to agencies. Agencies deliver more output with larger teams and optimized systems. To build a strong marketing team, brands should only go in-house at 8-figures."

Michael Melen, Co-Founder at SmartSites  also mentioned this:

• “More brands are considering in-house strategies, but the complexity of digital marketing still makes specialized agencies an attractive proposition. Some companies are switching to in-house, while others are switching back.”

6. Most ecommerce agencies believe their revenue will continue to increase in 2024

We asked ecommerce agency owners: On a scale of 0 to 10, how optimistic are you about your revenue increasing in the next six months? 

Agencies expect a slight increase in revenue over the next six months, meaning that agencies are preparing for better financial performance in the near future.

If we could use one adjective to describe ecommerce agencies, it would be optimistic. Agencies continue to believe that it will be a positive year for them in terms of revenue.

As Michael Melen, Co-Founder at SmartSites mentions:

• “Looking ahead, I'm optimistic about our agency's growth. The e-commerce sector continues to evolve, and we're well-positioned to capitalize on new opportunities such as influencer marketing”

7. The majority of ecommerce agencies are optimistic about the opportunities for the next 6 months

We asked ecommerce agency owners: On a scale of 0 to 10, how optimistic are you about the opportunities in ecommerce for the next 6 months?

To conclude the results for this question: Most ecommerce agencies see the next 6 months as an optimistic time period with new opportunities. 

This is what Tim Masek, CMO of Storetasker mentioned about the current opportunities:

• “April’s been a great month for our experts on Storetasker. Seeing a shift back towards longer-term retainers vs. one-off fixes. That’s been the storyline for us throughout 2024, but nice to see those signs of confidence staying strong (and rising) last month.”

Despite the positive outlook of most agencies, AJ Sounders from Audacious Commerce, points out that the political situation is affecting the opportunities:

• "I feel things are a little negative right now due to the political situation in the UK, USA, and EU, with major elections happening in 7 countries in 2024. I don't think companies are reducing their spending but are pausing on new campaigns or hires until these are out of the way."

8. The importance of ecommerce agencies will continue to rise in 2024

We believe that ecommerce agencies are the unsung heroes in the world of ecommerce. They’re the ones working closely with brands, crafting their online shopping experiences and, in many cases, doing the hard work so brands can focus on improving their products and services.

That's why their insights are pure gold. They have courtside seats to the world of ecommerce, and they see everything – the trends, the hits, and the misses.

We also believe that agencies are sometimes forgotten when it comes to analyzing the evolution of the ecommerce industry. We focus on metrics like merchandise volume and customer acquisition costs, but we never gather data about ecommerce agencies' revenue or their customers' price sensitivity to their services.

Predicting the future ecommerce agency trends

‍We're setting our sights high with this industry report. We're not just content with understanding today's trends; we want to get a sneak peek into tomorrow’s. The idea is to track these insights over time and start predicting where ecommerce is headed.

This isn’t just number crunching; it’s about getting a sense of the human element behind the data.

‍This index gets better with more voices joining in. It’s a community thing – the more agencies chip in, the richer and more insightful this index becomes. It acts as a growing, evolving knowledge base for all of us in the ecommerce sphere.

Some of our agency participants include: SeaMonster Studios, Swanky Agency, Thooja, Audacious Commerce, Ecommerce Today, For My People, RPF Agency, Pluro, Webcetera, SmartBug Media, Gloross, VT Labs, Motif, TatJones, Growth Heist, MageMontreal, GetVisible, StubGroup, Thooja, Gudu, TenThousandFootView and SEOWorks.

If you're an agency and would like to participate and receive the full report, you can email ReferralCandy's Partnerships Lead Raul Galera at raul [at] referralcandy.com