Many affiliate marketing gurus claim that high-ticket affiliate marketing is better than low-ticket affiliate marketing because it enables you to earn higher commissions per sale.
They also often claim that high-ticket affiliate marketing is just as easy as low-ticket affiliate marketing & requires no additional effort if done correctly.
But are those claims true? Is high-ticket affiliate marketing really better than low-ticket affiliate marketing?
Well, if that’s what you’ve been wondering, you can rest assured you’ve landed in the right place to find out the answer, as we’ll be comparing them side-by-side below.
First, though, for those who don’t already know, let’s explain what high-ticket & low-ticket affiliate marketing actually means.
What Is Low Ticket Affiliate Marketing?
Low-ticket affiliate marketing refers to the promotion of low-ticket items, aka items that cost relatively little & as a result, pay little commissions.
So, for example, if you were promoting a $5 product on Amazon as an affiliate, then that would be classed as a low-ticket item & you’d be doing low-ticket affiliate marketing.
There isn’t an exact amount at which low-ticket affiliate marketing crosses over into high-ticket, but generally, anything over $500 would start to be classed by most folks as being a high-ticket item.
So, typically you’d class anything from $0.01 all the way up to $500 as being low-ticket.
The downside with low-ticket affiliate marketing is that, obviously, you’re paid smaller commissions… But the upside is that you’ll typically make more sales.
We’ll compare them in more detail shortly, but first, let’s take a look at high-ticket affiliate marketing.
What Is High Ticket Affiliate Marketing?
High-ticket affiliate marketing, as you’ve now probably guessed, refers to the sale of high-ticket items, aka items that are relatively expensive.
High-ticket items are generally priced over $500 as an absolute minimum but often run into thousands or tens of thousands of dollars.
The important part here, though, is that they also need to pay out large commissions.
So, a $1,000 product with a 1% commission rate wouldn’t qualify as high-ticket because the commission would only be a mere $10.
High-ticket affiliate marketing involves the promotion of high-ticket items that pay high-ticket commissions (typically over $100+ per sale).
Any less than $100 per sale & you’d fall back into the territory of low-ticket affiliate marketing. Most high-ticket affiliate programs, however, pay thousands in commissions.
And that’s why many folks claim that high-ticket affiliate marketing is the best.
But, naturally, the claim of being able to earn so much money per sale makes people sceptical & as a result, many folks think high-ticket marketing is a scam.
Is High Ticket Affiliate Marketing Legit?
High-ticket affiliate marketing in itself is legitimate & there are many legitimate high-ticket affiliate programs that you can join.
In fact, there are even high-ticket items that you can promote on Amazon.
However, you do have to tread carefully because there are also a lot of scammers looking to take advantage of people in the high-ticket affiliate marketing sector.
You see, there are lots of so-called “gurus” that claim to teach people how to start a high-ticket affiliate marketing business. However, their business simply involves you paying thousands of dollars to sign up & then getting other people to do the same.
There’s no real “product” as such, and as a result, it’s a flat-out pyramid scheme.
So, if you’re considering getting involved with high-ticket affiliate marketing there are 3 important questions you should ask yourself:
- Is there a genuine product being sold?
- Is the product genuinely worth the price?
- Would people buy the product without an attached opportunity?
For example, if you’ve built a website in the yacht niche & you’re promoting a yacht as an affiliate, then, of course, that’s perfectly legitimate.
However, if you’ve paid thousands of dollars to join an opportunity to earn thousands by getting other people to pay thousands, then, quite clearly, that is not legit.
But back to the topic of high-ticket affiliate marketing vs low-ticket affiliate marketing…
Is High Ticket Affiliate Marketing Hard?
Despite offering the potential to earn thousands of dollars per sale, the reality is that high-ticket affiliate marketing isn’t really much more difficult than low-ticket affiliate marketing.
And at first glance, I appreciate that may sound crazy. After all, you probably think that it would be way easier to sell a $5 item than a $1,000 item.
But in reality, there’s not really much difference.
You see, if you’re doing affiliate marketing correctly (as we teach in our free training course), you shouldn’t be selling anything. You should simply be connecting people with the products they’re already looking for.
So, whether somebody is looking to buy a $10,000 yacht or a $1 song, both people are looking to make a purchase & all you need to do is connect them with the product.
Now, of course, as you can imagine, somebody who’s about to splash $10,000 will likely be more indecisive than somebody about to spend $1, so your conversion rate should be expected to be somewhat lower.
But overall, with the lowered conversion rate & higher commissions, things will balance out & from the same level of effort, you’d be able to generate similar results from both low-ticket & high-ticket marketing.
This brings me nicely to the next point.
Are High Ticket Affiliate Programs Better?
High-ticket affiliate programs aren’t “better” than low-ticket affiliate programs & it’s not a good idea to only focus on one type of marketing.
Instead, to become most successful & earn the most money, you want to leverage a combination of both low-ticket and high-ticket affiliate programs.
And if you’re building a subscriber base (as we teach you how to do in our free training), you can leverage something known as a value ladder.
This involves putting lower-priced, quality recommendations at the front of your marketing, then moving towards recommending higher-priced items as you’ve gained trust with your audience.
That way, you can promote both low-ticket & high-ticket items to the same people, maximizing your profit from each visitor & achieving the highest EPC.
So don’t get caught up in assuming that you need to push high-priced items in order to make good money as an affiliate because it’s simply not true.
And that brings me to the next question…
Can You Make Good Money Promoting Low Ticket Items?
Yes, absolutely. I didn’t promote a single high-ticket item until I was several years into my affiliate marketing journey & I was generating a full-time income well before that.
So don’t be fooled into thinking that you need to promote high-ticket items in order to make big money or even in order to make a full-time income because the truth is, you don’t.
High-ticket items can certainly help you to take your income to the next level & they can even put you on the path to becoming a millionaire, but it’s all about using them in combination with low-ticket items.
And most importantly, it’s all about putting the needs of your visitors first.
Don’t promote a high-ticket item because it’s what will pay you the highest commission. Put your audience first & promote what will help them the most.
The product that helps your audience the most, whether it be high-ticket or low-ticket, will always pay you the most money in the long run.
The reason for that is that it’ll convert the highest & it’ll also build trust with your audience so they’ll be more likely to take your recommendations again in the future.
After all, this is all about building a business for the long-term & to do that, you’ve gotta do it honestly.
The Bottom Line
High-ticket affiliate programs can certainly be very attractive given that they boast the opportunity to earn thousands of dollars per sale, but you don’t want to fall into the trap of promoting only high-ticket items.
Instead, promote a mix of high-ticket & low-ticket affiliate programs & most importantly, always keep in mind what’s best for your visitors.
Don’t recommend something simply because it’ll pay you a high commission. Recommend something because it’ll genuinely help your audience.
The best way to earn the most money with affiliate marketing is to do it with integrity & honesty.
And if you’d like to learn more about getting started with both low-ticket & high-ticket affiliate marketing, be sure to sign up for our free training before you leave.
In it, we explain how affiliate marketing works & we uncover some of the most powerful traffic generation methods that you can use to start generating sales.
Also, here’s a list of high-ticket affiliate programs that you can sign up for & promote.
But anyway, overall, we hope that you find this article insightful & if you happen to have any additional questions or comments don’t hesitate to leave them below.
