Affiliate Income For Interior Designers: Is It Worth It?

Revenue is the lifeblood of any business, and many business owners are perpetually focused on how to create more of it. So, as an interior design business owner, if there is another means of bringing additional revenue into your company rather than just design services and products, you want to know about it, right?

Affiliate marketing involves promoting and selling another company's products or services for a commission. You, the designer (or anyone really), would promote certain merchants’ products to your audience, and if someone in your audience purchases a product you have promoted, you would receive a percentage of that sale. This is a way for an interior design business owner to generate income simply by recommending products to their audience.

Interior designers are important influencers. Their audiences view them as style curators, authorities on good taste, and specialists in home furnishings and decor. So, seeing a product recommended by an interior designer may easily sway a person to purchase something they may not be inclined to buy without that designer’s recommendation.

The scenario might work like this: Interior designer A has built a sizable email list and Instagram following. She regularly highlights certain products (could be rugs, furniture, decorative accessories, anything really) on her blog and her social posts, indicating that these items are personal favorites and must-haves. Based on this endorsement, homeowner B decides to buy one or more of these items seen on A’s media. B doesn’t have to navigate to a different sales page or manufacturer’s website to check out. The link to purchase that item is right on A’s blog, email, Instagram post, or other post.

When the manufacturer processes the sales transaction, they are able to track that B’s purchase was linked to A’s affiliate marketing account. So the manufacturer pays A a percentage of B’s purchase price. Often, there is a lag time between when the commission is paid and after the window of time ends when returns and refunds on products are allowed (to make sure the commission is not given if the item is later returned). Basically, all A had to do to earn this money was recommend the item to her audience.

Simple, right????

Well, based on my work with interior designers and the thousands of conversations I’ve had over the last six years, I knew it wasn’t that simple. I knew it required a lot of work to search products and save links, create posts and round-ups, and share and promote the posts only for designers to receive very little compensation if they don’t have a large enough audience.

But, I thought, well, maybe I’m wrong (gasp). Maybe the designers I’ve worked with and spoken with just had a different experience, and maybe there are just as many out there who find the process to be really easy and profitable.

So, we surveyed the interior designers who receive The Weekly Install® and the responses we received were enlightening (but also still have NOT changed my opinion).

Special thank you to all the interior designers who responded to our questionnaire and shared their experiences and insights into affiliate marketing! You are the BEST!!

Let’s dive in and talk about all things affiliate marketing for interior designers.

Types of Affiliate Income Posts That Are Most Effective For Interior Designers

The types of posts that resulted in the most related purchases were fairly consistently distributed. The most successful posts for generating affiliated purchases were round-up posts. These are posts that would list, show, and or describe a designer’s favorite rugs, favorite chairs, or any category or collection of items the designer would highlight as being their preferred or favored items.

Several other types of posts received comparable effectiveness ratings:

Save and splurge posts — showing an assortment of items and indicating what is worth splurging on versus where to save
Shop the look posts — showing a room design and a curated collection of similar items with links to purchase each item shown
Seasonal posts — related to specific seasons or holidays, with links to seasonal items
Links within general blog posts — a blog post could be on any topic, but would include embedded links to products related to the blog content
Room photos with shoppable links — actual finished room photos with embedded links to purchase items shown

The post type that was reported as least effective in perpetuating sales was actual room photos with embedded shoppable links.

We also asked whether designers used actual photos from completed client projects for Shop the Look posts. This would entail links to specific products used in a client’s home. Sixty percent of designers who answered this question said No, and 40 percent said Sometimes.

Our conclusion is that many are not using client images to make affiliate income which is why that is the least effective method. My thoughts are that could likely come off as tacky to a paying client, making them question why they paid more when you’re showing options for much less they could have purchased on their own.

Affiliate Income Platforms For Interior Designers

A critical piece of the affiliate marketing puzzle is to determine what platform to utilize to set up an affiliate account, which will allow you to link to a wide range of retailers and brands. There are several of these to select from.

Two previously well-known affiliate marketing platforms (RewardStyle and LiketoKnow.IT) have now merged and are known simply as LTK. This was by far the most widely used platform by the designers who responded to our survey. Amazon Storefront (Amazon Influencer Program) was the second most widely used affiliate marketing platform. Other lesser used programs were ShopMy, ShareASale, and CJ (Commission Junction).

Side Door — although not an affiliate marketing platform per se — allows the earning of commissions on sales made through a designer’s account. A designer’s curated collection of products becomes shoppable using links on their website provided by Side Door. The commission the designer earns is the difference between the client’s purchase price and the designer’s net (trade) price, less the cost of freight.

And if you want to see the webinar I hosted for the Side Door community, be sure to watch that here, then go get yourself an account!

These are not the only affiliate marketing platforms, but they were the only ones mentioned by respondents to our survey. One designer also noted two new affiliate marketing sources that are giving the others increased competition: Walmart Creator and Target Partners.

The rate of commission provided by the platform to the influencer who prompted the sale varies and depends on several factors: volume of sales per month, average sales price of items, and type of product. We suggest you link to specific platforms for additional information about their commission structure.

User Friendliness and Effectiveness of Affiliate Platforms for Interior Designers

In response to our question about the simplicity of using the various affiliate marketing platforms, 60 percent of respondents identified LTK as the most user-friendly, 20 percent named Side Door, 10 percent listed Amazon Storefront, and 10 percent listed CJ (Commission Junction).

As far as effectiveness — which affiliate marketing platforms netted the best ROI (meaning, the most money made from it for the least amount of effort) — LTK (now merged with Reward Style and LiketoKnow.IT) was identified in 59 percent of responses. Side Door was acknowledged in 17 percent of responses, and ShopMy, Amazon Storefront, and CJ (Commission Junction) were each mentioned in 8 percent of responses.

Time Commitment For Interior Designers To Create Affiliate Post

In our survey, we asked interior designers how much time it took for them to prepare and link each affiliate post they produced. Each post may take on different forms, as noted above, but the time involved includes choosing the item or items, writing the related content, creating the image of the items (for roundup posts, seasonal posts, etc.), linking the purchasing URLs, and posting and promoting the content.

Responses varied, with 58 percent responding that this effort takes less than 30 minutes, 14 percent reporting 30-60 minutes, and 28 percent reporting that doing this takes over two hours.

PER POST.

One designer noted that, as she sourced for projects, she regularly saved certain items to LTK, taking about 15 to 20 minutes per day. Then, when ready to create a post, she had the links already created.

Ninety percent of respondents to our survey said they create these posts and links themselves, with only 10 percent noting they sometimes delegate this task to someone on their team.

The number of posts created each month varied widely across the respondents of our survey. Forty percent posted five or fewer per month, 20 percent posted 5-6 per month, and 20% posted 2-3/day. 🤯

How Interior Designers Market Their Affiliate Posts

We asked the interior designers who responded to our survey how they promoted and marketed their affiliate posts, in other words, how they pushed their product recommendations out to their audience.

The most common ways were via Instagram posts and reels and their email newsletters. Other means included within a blog post, posting directly on their website, and sharing on Pinterest.

If you need help growing your email list, be sure to check our Lead Magnets for Interior Designers here and here.

How Much Revenue Can Interior Designers Make With Affiliate Posts

So now, to get to the crux of the matter: how much money did our designer respondents report making from their efforts with affiliate marketing?

In other words, is affiliate marketing worth doing?

The monthly revenue from this means varied fairly evenly across a range of $100 to $500 a month, with one designer reporting $1000 a month. However, the designer reporting the $1000 per month revenue noted that amount required very active blogging, and as she has let up on her blogging activity recently, her revenue from affiliate marketing has declined.

One survey respondent remarked that she was aware of influencers earning $10k - $30k per month, but the main focus of these people was specifically as an influencer, not as a business owner, service provider, or practicing interior designer.

One designer noted that whenever she made retail product purchases for her clients, she used her own affiliate links to make those purchases, then received those commissions as revenue (as opposed to purchasing directly from a vendor with her resale license and earning markup when re-selling to a client).

Is Affiliate Marketing Worth The Effort for Interior Designers?

Of particular note, we also simply asked interior designers whether affiliate marketing was well worth their time, whether they felt ambiguous about the value of this approach, or whether they felt this tactic was not worth their effort. Answers to this question were enlightening, as they did not provide a clear answer about the worthiness of this revenue-generating approach.

While over one-third felt that affiliate marketing was absolutely worth their effort, nearly half were on the fence. And 18 percent had already determined the effort was not worth the revenue value.

But, when we took the numbers they shared and looked at how long it was taking them each month, the numbers didn’t line up for me.

Designers were spending anywhere from 1.5 hours to 30 hours per month resulting in anywhere from $0-$450/month.

If we look at the high end of the income range shared and the low end of the time investment, maybe it makes sense (1.5 hours/month to earn $450/month), but it would be up to you to determine if that is more worthwhile than spending 1.5 hours marketing to a 1:1 client who will pay your design fee, plus likely product costs.

Tips for Interior Designers Who Want To Earn Affiliate Income

As opinions about the benefit of affiliate marketing were widely spread, there is clearly no consensus among interior designers who subscribe to The Weekly Install about whether this approach should be suggested to other designers. It comes down to personal choice and time availability. In several conversations with designers who didn’t complete our survey but DID try affiliate marketing, we have learned it was not a worthwhile endeavor as the time investment was large and the monetary investment was minimal.

Some designers may feel they simply don’t have the bandwidth to add another marketing strategy to their plate. Some may not want to prioritize a marketing strategy that may attract clients who want to shop on their own (unless their marketing and offers are quite differentiated). Other interior designers may welcome a new, somewhat passive revenue stream to their businesses if they can get into a good and efficient process for creating shoppable posts to share with their audience.

My Personal Take on Affiliate Income for Interior Designers

In my opinion, passive income of any kind comes down to one thing:

The numbers.

How many people are seeing your “passive income” thing?

If only one person goes to your website a day, and you’re posting your shop-the-look posts on your website, you’re likely NOT going to make any affiliate income.

If you are actively posting on Pinterest, blogging, bringing people to your site, growing your email list, posting on Instagram, etc., and are consistently bringing people to your website, then you’ll have way more eyes on your posts, which will increase the chances of you making affiliate income.

So you have to think first: if you want to do affiliate marketing, does your website or social media have the traffic and engagement to make it worthwhile, OR, are you willing to put in the time to increase traffic and visibility?

If you don’t have a way to drive traffic to your posts (whether on your website or your social media channels), affiliate marketing likely will NOT be effective or worthwhile for you.

Some affiliate items may only pay out $1 or $2 for a commission, while some may pay $100 or more. So it takes additional time to find companies that are paying higher commissions that also offer products you and your brand would actually recommend to your audience. Just because Nordstrom is offering a $100 commission on something doesn’t mean it would be on brand for you to recommend that to your audience.

Interior Designers Share Their Tips For Affiliate Marketing

In our survey, we asked respondents to provide any tips for interior designers who may want to explore affiliate marketing further. Here are some of those very insightful pieces of advice:

“The key to making the commission off things you share on social media, is by using DEEP LINKING services, otherwise people will buy from your link but the cookie isn't attached and you won't receive the commission for it. You have to pay for a separate price per click deep linking service regardless if you make a sale on that click.”

Jill Shevlin, Jill Shevlin Design , www.jillshevlindesign.com

“Pay attention to what your audience already likes from you so that it doesn't feel too salesy. And don't expect it to happen overnight, it takes time to build that trust with followers before you start seeing real money from it.”

“If you do virtual designs, be sure you are using affiliate links when you provide your client with their shopping list. Also, add a "shop" page on your website which allows visitors to shop your favorite home finds.”

Alyssa Wray, Wray Design Co., www.wraydesignco.com

“Just begin, it’s not that time consuming. Shop the look posts are the easiest because you already have the photos from your own projects.”

Samantha Bailey, SKID (Samantha Kate | Interior Design), www.samkatedesign.com/

“For looky loo clients I send affiliate links, or clients that want to order on their own.”

Jill Shevlin, Jill Shevlin Design, www.jillshevlindesign.com

“LTK wants to see that you are sharing links on IG before they will approve you to join the program. Amazon is VERY particular about how to share their links. So unless you're sharing on a public platform, don't share amazon aff links. Not in emails, dm's, texts, pdfs, etc. However, there's a loophole if you want to risk it by creating LTK links for Amazon where you can share without the strict rules Amazon has because now you're doing it through an approved 3rd party app (LTK).”

Jennie, Jenuine Home, https://jenuinehome.com

“With everyone being a part of some sort of affiliate program (it seems) these days I would say to not expect to have it be your main source of income or to have whichever way they use affiliate marketing to take off. It's a battle even just getting the word out and getting noticed for people to shop whatever you are selling. I look at it as finding that lost $20 bill in your winter coat from last year 😆”

Maria, BDesign'D, www.bdesignd.com