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Tips & Strategies7 min read

How to recruit affiliates for your course, coaching or membership

Who makes a good affiliate, outreach scripts, an onboarding kit and keeping affiliates active. WithMe: $25/month billed annually (UK £25), 0% commission.

WithMe Team·11 November 2026

To recruit affiliates, start with people who already got a result from your course, coaching or membership, then ask peers and podcast or newsletter hosts who reach the same audience. Send each one a short personal message, give them an onboarding kit with copy they can paste, and keep in touch every month. On WithMe, buyers of a product with Affiliate Sharing on get their own Share & Earn link automatically, and WithMe pays them their commission, so you can focus on asking and supporting rather than on payouts.

WithMe is $25 per month billed annually (UK £25), with a 14-day trial and 0% WithMe commission. Stripe and PayPal fees still apply. More than 8,000 creators use it.

Who makes a good affiliate?

Customers with a result. Someone who finished your course or got a client win from your coaching can describe it in their own words, and their friends trust them. They are the easiest yes and usually your best sellers.
Peers with a matching offer. A nutrition coach and a strength coach, or a photographer and a photo-editing teacher, serve the same people without competing. Each can send buyers to the other.
Podcast hosts and newsletter writers. They talk to your exact audience every week and are used to recommending things. One mention can reach more people than months of your own posts.
Community members and moderators. The people who answer questions in your community already recommend you. A commission thanks them for it.

Follower count matters less than fit. A large account whose audience does not want what you sell will send clicks, not sales. Ten customers who each make one sale a month will usually beat one big name who posts once.

Where do you find them?

Start with your own list. Look at who bought, who finished, who sent you a thank-you message and who posts about your work. Those people should hear about the programme from you first.

Then look one step out: guests on podcasts in your niche, people who write newsletters your buyers read, and creators you already swap ideas with. Listen to an episode or read an issue before you write to them, so you can say why your offer fits their audience.

Keep a simple list with each name, where they reach people, when you contacted them and their answer. Five well-chosen people a week is plenty.

What should the outreach message say?

Keep it short, personal and specific. Say why you picked them, what they earn and how easy it is. Three starting points you can adapt:

To a customer: "Hi Sam, you got so much out of the course, and your post about it was brilliant. I have opened an affiliate programme: if you share your link and someone joins within 30 days, you earn 30% of what they pay. Your link is under the Share & Earn button next to the course. Want me to send a few lines you can use?"
To a peer: "Hi Priya, our clients overlap a lot: yours want to eat better and mine want to train better. Would you be open to recommending each other's programmes? I can give you access to mine so you can see it, and you would earn 20% of every sale your link sends."
To a podcast host: "Hi Tom, I listened to your episode on sleep and it fits what my course teaches. I would love to come on and share three practical tips. If your listeners want more, you can use an affiliate link and earn 25% on each sale it brings in."

Follow up once after a week. If there is no answer, leave it. A pushy second follow-up costs more goodwill than it earns.

What goes in an affiliate onboarding kit?

Most affiliates do not post because they do not know what to say. Send a short kit, as an email or a pinned community post, the day they say yes:

Where the link is: the Share & Earn button next to the product on your hub, and how long a sale counts after a click (30 days on WithMe).
Who the product is for and the one result it gets, in a sentence they can repeat.
Swipe copy in three lengths: a one-line story caption, a short post and a longer email paragraph.
Two or three images or a short video clip they are allowed to use.
Key dates: launches, price changes and enrolment deadlines, so they can post when it matters.
The terms: the commission rate, whether it is paid on renewals, that self-purchases earn nothing, that refunds cancel the commission, and when they are paid.

A note on codes: on WithMe, each affiliate's code is part of their link, and that link is what credits the sale. Promo codes are separate and do not credit an affiliate, so do not hand out a discount code and expect it to track. If you want affiliates to offer a discount, run a promo code with an auto-apply link and tell them to share their own affiliate link to the sales page as well.

How do you keep affiliates active?

Send a short monthly update with what is new, one fresh piece of swipe copy and the next date worth posting about.
Congratulate people on their first sale. A personal note after the first commission makes a second one much more likely.
Feature your top affiliates, for example in your community, so others see that sharing pays.
Check the Affiliates tab each month. Someone with clicks but no sales may need better copy; someone with no clicks may need a reminder or may have lost interest.
Give them early access to new products or a free call, so they can talk about it first-hand.

How do you set this up in WithMe?

Open the product in My Hub and open the Affiliate Share section. The product must be paid.
Switch on Enable Affiliate Sharing and enter a Commission Rate (%), or leave it blank for the default of 20%.
On a membership tier, 1:1 coaching or a community, choose Indefinite Commissions or set how many payments earn commission. Save the product.
For a peer or podcast host who has not bought, go to Customers, click Add Customer and give them access to that product with their email address. Once they have access, they can get their own link.
Send your onboarding kit, and mention the Share & Earn button in your welcome email so new buyers find it.
Track clicks, sales, commission earned and pending payout for each affiliate in Customers, on the Affiliates tab.

You do not pay affiliates yourself. The commission is taken from each affiliate sale at checkout, and WithMe pays the affiliate around the middle of the month after the purchase.

What is not included?

There is no public page where strangers can apply to be an affiliate, and no approval queue: only people with access to a product can get its link. There are no ready-made swipe files, affiliate leaderboards or bonuses for hitting a number of sales; you write the kit and run any rewards yourself. Commission is a percentage, the 30-day referral window is fixed, and promo codes are not linked to affiliates.

How much does WithMe cost?

WithMe is $25 per month billed annually (UK £25), with a 14-day trial and 0% WithMe commission. Stripe and PayPal fees still apply. Free migration of up to 10 GB of your courses and members comes with the yearly plan. One plan covers courses, memberships, community, coaching, webinars and digital products, with the affiliate programme, promo codes and order bumps built in.

Affiliate recruiting questions

Who are the best affiliates for an online course?

Usually your own customers who got a result, followed by peers with a matching offer and podcast or newsletter hosts who reach the same audience.

How many affiliates do I need?

Fewer than you think. A handful of engaged affiliates who post regularly will usually sell more than a long list of people who never share.

Can someone who has not bought my product be an affiliate on WithMe?

Yes, once they have access. Add them as a customer of that product in Customers with Add Customer, and they can get their own affiliate link.

Can affiliates give their followers a discount code?

They can share a promo code you create, but on WithMe a sale is credited to the affiliate only through their link, not through a promo code.

What does WithMe cost?

$25 per month billed annually (UK £25), with a 14-day trial. WithMe takes 0% commission. Stripe and PayPal fees still apply.

Start your 14-day trial at https://www.withme.so/become-a-creator.