How to Set Up Tiered Commission Structures in Your SaaS Affiliate Program

What a tiered commission structure does

Tiers pay affiliates more as they bring in more paying customers. Everyone starts on your base deal; affiliates who pass a threshold move up to a higher percentage, a longer commission period, or both. In Reditus, public tiers do that automatically, based on paid referrals only.

Why tiers matter in B2B SaaS

A small group of affiliates drives most of the revenue. Across three B2B SaaS affiliate programs we analysed, covering more than 10,000 affiliate-months, the top 20% of active affiliates produced between 80 and 87% of program revenue. In over 90% of affiliate-months, the affiliate produced no paid referral at all.

A flat rate pays the affiliate who sends one customer the same rate as the one who sends fifty. Tiers reward the behavior you want more of, and they give your active affiliates a reason to push for the next level.

Tiers also do the job a leaderboard would, without its downside: each affiliate sees their own progress toward the next tier, and nobody else's results are exposed. That's why Reditus has tiers and, on purpose, no leaderboards.

Public and private tiers in Reditus

Multiple tiers are available on every plan.

• Public tiers are shown on your program's landing page, so affiliates see what they can work toward. Affiliates move up automatically once they reach the number of paid referrals you set. Only paid referrals count, not revenue or time.
• Private tiers are invite-only, for example for agencies, consultants or communities. You decide who goes in, and you get reporting per tier. Nobody moves into or up from a private tier automatically.

The reporting section shows month-over-month, week-over-week and day-over-day results for your program, per affiliate or per tier. If you put agencies in one tier and bloggers in another, you can compare the two directly.

You create tiers on the Tiers tab of your affiliate program configuration, as many as you want, each with its own commission percentage and commission length. Step by step: how to set up multiple tiers and how to change the tier of an affiliate.

Designing your tiers

Start from the affiliate's side

Work out what one paying customer earns an affiliate: monthly revenue per account × commission % × number of months. Multiply that by ten customers and ask yourself whether you'd recommend your own product for that amount. Affiliates do this math on you anyway: your program's landing page has a commission calculator.

Then check the $10 test: an affiliate needs to earn roughly $10 for every payment a referred customer makes before promoting you is worth their effort.

Set your base deal inside the usual band

Commissions in B2B SaaS typically run from 20 to 50%. Early-stage programs pay at the higher end and for longer; established programs often pay 20 to 30% for 12 to 24 months. More in what is a good commission rate in B2B SaaS.

Reward a step up with a higher percentage or a longer period

A tier can raise the percentage, extend the commission period, or both. Commission schedules in Reditus are a set percentage for a set number of months, so there's no option to pay a higher rate in the first month only. Tiers are the way to reward growth.

Set thresholds from your own data

There's no standard ladder to copy, and we don't publish one. Base your thresholds on what your own active affiliates deliver, so the first step up is within reach of the affiliates who are already promoting you. Keep the structure simple enough that every affiliate knows which tier they're in and what the next one pays.

If you start with a generous rate and want to lower it later as your program grows, lower it for new affiliates and keep your early affiliates on their original deal in a private tier.

Private tiers are more than a higher percentage

A typical private deal for an agency or consultant combines a different percentage and duration, a discount code the partner can hand to their clients (often one pool split between the client's discount and the partner's commission), a free account on your product, and much closer contact. Agree on what the partner does in return, such as adding you to their site or bringing a first client within 30 to 60 days.

Bonuses on top: use campaigns

Want to reward a milestone once instead of changing someone's rate? Use a performance campaign: a one-off bonus for reaching a number of paid referrals, on top of the recurring commission. Content campaigns pay a bonus for a piece of content, which has to be genuine and disclosed the way each platform requires. See how to create affiliate campaigns.

Tiers are not multi-level commissions

Tiers are commission levels for your own affiliates. Reditus doesn't support multi-level commissions, also called two-tier or override commissions, where an affiliate earns a share of the revenue of the affiliates they recruited. It never will. If someone can bring you good affiliates, paying them a fee for that recruitment is usually the better deal.