How Systeme.io makes $215k+ a month from its affiliate program

A third of revenue comes from affiliates

In the 30 days I looked at, Systeme.io paid out more than $324,000 in affiliate commissions at a 60% rate. That means the company kept 40%, a bit over $215,000, roughly a third of its monthly recurring revenue of $675,000+ (as reported by The Bootstrapped Way). The program had 112,934 affiliates enrolled.

Info products as paid lead magnets

Besides the SaaS subscription, Systeme.io sells low-ticket info products: courses, landing page templates, ebooks, mostly at $7. They promote them to their community and on social media, and affiliates sell them too. In the same 30 days the info products brought in over $23,082. The best seller alone made about $7,600 in sales, over 1,000 copies at $7, of which roughly $3,000 came through affiliates on top of $4,600 paid out in commissions.

Where it started

Founder Aurélien Amacker already had a 50,000-person email list from an online course business pulling in $30,000 a month. A couple of launch emails to that list produced 400 paying customers, about $15,000 in MRR from day one. By 2019, at around $120,000 a month, revenue split into $50,000 from software subscriptions, $30,000 from courses and $40,000 from coaching. The first $100,000 in MRR came from the French market. Going from 1 to 1,000 customers in the English market took three years.

The real engine: conversion-focused email

I've been a Systeme.io customer since February 2022 and received about 63 emails in that time. Around 75% were promotional, and nearly all of those advertised a $7 product. Search for Systeme.io and you'll see it positioned as a "free" funnel builder: that's the hook. The free plan captures demand and email turns it into revenue, step by step.

• Week one: five informational emails and two promotional ones, one a day.
• From week two: the mix flips. They promote the SaaS and at least two info products, which suggests they've tested and found that selling hard in the first weeks pays.

A marketplace on top

Instead of selling only their own products, they let affiliates publish and promote theirs. At the time there were 854 offers on the marketplace, more than 60% of them info products. Over ten other programs on it had passed $5,000 in total sales, and the ones that sold well sat at a 50-60% commission, far above typical affiliate programs.

What an affiliate can earn

It depends on audience size. One of their top affiliates, Jonathan Montoya, was making over $15,000 in 30 days with an audience of at least 50,000 people across YouTube and email.

What a SaaS company can take from this

1. Pay affiliates enough to make you their default recommendation. 20-30% rarely does it.
2. Give affiliates something cheap and easy to sell, not only your subscription.
3. Treat the free plan as the top of the funnel and let email do the selling.
4. Front-load the sales emails in the first two weeks, when intent is highest.