This article is a part of our bigger home improvement lead generation guide, where we explore lead generation ideas and trends to capitalize on. For more insights, navigate to our pillar guide on home services lead generation.
The beauty of affiliate marketing in the home improvement niche is on the surface: contractors can acquire paid home improvement leads in bulk while affiliates can receive due revenue for their marketing efforts. Everyone grows their bottom line, a win-win across the board.
For affiliates, though, it’s even more important to enroll in the right affiliate program so you can generate and sell your best home improvement leads at scale while not getting underpaid or matched with unscrupulous advertisers.
The good news is that you, as an affiliate, have landed on the right page.
Read on to learn everything you need to know about home improvement lead generation and 18 top-tier affiliate programs for home improvement marketers.
For those unfamiliar with affiliate marketing and lead generation, allow me to put things into perspective real quick:
Lead generation for home improvement comes in several forms. Home improvement lead generation companies can generate leads for contractors directly or run marketplaces where affiliates and advertisers sell and buy home improvement leads that match their criteria.
Before we move forward, it’s worth noting that affiliate marketing doesn’t provide free home improvement leads for advertisers: advertisers always pay a chunk of their profits, whereas affiliates always get revenues from the agreed-upon conversions (sales, clicks, etc.).
As an affiliate, you can partner with advertisers directly or through an affiliate network. In both cases, you are likely to enroll in an affiliate program that stipulates all partnership conditions.
Speaking of affiliate marketing software, here are your 18 best affiliate program management tools.
A well-thought-out home improvement affiliate program will get the ball rolling for you. With most programs, you will get 24/7 assistance from program managers, access to lead tracking software & creative materials, and up to 10% commission on successful sales (the commission rates vary dramatically, though, depending on the advertisers and the product category).
The end goal might be to establish yourself as a reliable and profitable home improvement lead provider. Advertisers don’t expect free leads for home improvement from their affiliate programs, but they do hope for high-intent clients to increase their ROI.
Even if you generate leads for general contractors (nothing too special), you must ensure the quality of service these leads will get in the end. For example, exclusive home improvement leads require an absolute match with the sales rep simply because they are expensive and hard to get, escalating into tons of lost profits if connected to the wrong merchant.
Here’s how you can build relationships with advertisers:
To generate home improvement leads for sale, you need a strategic plan that would coordinate affiliate marketing – possibly several different campaigns – with your other marketing avenues like organic lead generation or referral marketing.
And this cannot be done manually.
You need a lead management system to automate routines while keeping you in charge of the processes. As a smaller affiliate, you can always find an advertiser who will grant you access to such software; as a bigger player, though, you might want to control things on your own.
Here’s what I’m talking about:
Smaller affiliates might not even need lead management software, but things change if you generate a part of your traffic for yourself. If so, you’ll greatly benefit from a system that can evaluate home improvement leads on the fly, provide customer insights, and keep you in the driver’s seat of your marketing campaigns while saving time for strategic decisions.
With a lead management system like LMS Sync, measuring and optimizing your campaigns won’t be a problem. But you can go even further, analyzing user on-site behavior across forms and other website elements with software like HitMetrix.
Here’s more about user behavior analytics software:
It won’t take long until you discover profitable interaction patterns and adjust specific conversion elements to generate more online home improvement leads. At the end of the day, knowing how potential clients use your website is…just interesting, not to mention it’s insanely profitable.
Build your plan and bring in more high-intent home improvement leads with Phonexa, or book a demo to see the platform in more depth.
| Monthly Visits | Page Per Visit | Time On Site | Bounce Rate | Direct Traffic | Search Traffic | Paid Referral Traffic | Referral Traffic | Mail Traffic | Social Traffic |
| 179,534,267 | 5 | 284 | 0.44 | 37.30% | 52.06% | 4.39% | 1.30% | 2.22% | 2.73% |
The biggest home improvement retailer in our list – covering the United States, Canada, and Mexico – Home Depot runs affiliate and home installation programs, both rewarding affiliates for delivering home improvement leads to Home Depot.
Payments are issues for qualified sales: sales that were not canceled, declined, or returned. Support-wise, you can get banner ads, text links, data feeds, a customizable affiliate dashboard, and help from Impact, the technology behind the affiliate program.
Home Depot Affiliate Payment Structure
| Home Depot Affiliate Program | 8% on select home décor products and 1% on appliances, regular products, and orders that are completed online and picked up in a physical store |
| Home Depot Installation Program | $20 to $200 per qualified lead submission |
Anyone is free to join the program after filling out an application form, but since Home Depot only ships within the continental U.S. and some products to Alaska and Hawaii, you will have to generate leads from those locations. The number of websites you can run is not limited.
| Monthly Visits | Page Per Visit | Time On Site | Bounce Rate | Direct Traffic | Search Traffic | Paid Referral Traffic | Referral Traffic | Mail Traffic | Social Traffic |
| 613,175 | 2 | 66 | 0.65 | 21.82% | 66.40% | 0 | 10.30% | 0.57% | 0.92% |
Modernize is another well-known home improvement retailer that welcomes affiliates running home improvement and design-based websites with an engaged audience. The payouts depend on the trade, and you can get creative assets and links.
The focus niches are roofing, solar, windows, HVAC, and more. To join the program, fill out the application form and wait for approval.
| Monthly Visits | Page Per Visit | Time On Site | Bounce Rate | Direct Traffic | Search Traffic | Paid Referral Traffic | Referral Traffic | Mail Traffic | Social Traffic |
| 2,945,380 | 3 | 180 | 0.57 | 60.40% | 19.57% | 10.20% | 8.02% | 1.41% | 0.40% |
One of the leading providers of home automation solutions and security systems, Vivint runs its affiliate program through Awin – a well-known global affiliate platform – paying up to 30% commission for a valid sale at Vivint’s online shop.
Vivint Affiliate Program for Home Improvement Leads
| Commission | Up to 30% |
| Cookie Duration | 30 days |
| Lock Period | 45 days |
| Monthly Visits | Page Per Visit | Time On Site | Bounce Rate | Direct Traffic | Search Traffic | Paid Referral Traffic | Referral Traffic |
| 64,279 | 2 | 120 | 0.7 | 44.08% | 49.57% | 4.17% | 2.18% |
Modern Bathroom is a bathroom appliances company that runs a CJ-powered affiliate program. You can have a wide selection of products from renowned brands – Design Element, MTI, Toto, etc. – and a tiered commission of 4% to 8%.
New partners are eligible for a $50 first-sale bonus, a monthly bonus plan, and promotional banners and text links. Given the average order size on Modern Bathroom is $1,500, the program can bring you around $80 per order, with an unlimited number of clients to refer.
| Monthly Visits | Page Per Visit | Time On Site | Bounce Rate | Direct Traffic | Search Traffic | Paid Referral Traffic | Referral Traffic | Mail Traffic | Social Traffic |
| 873,544 | 3 | 102 | 0.64 | 21.99% | 64.90% | 2.85% | 1.99% | 0.15% | 8.12% |
Burke Décor is a home décor company that runs its affiliate program through Impact, one of the world’s most famous partnership management platforms. The program pays 8% of the order sale amount, with payouts locked for 27 days after the end of the payment month and paid in 20 days after the end of the locking month.
For example, if the sale is tracked on February 20th, it will be first locked until March 27th, then approved, and then paid on April 20th. To participate in the program, fill out an application form.
| Monthly Visits | Page Per Visit | Time On Site | Bounce Rate | Direct Traffic | Search Traffic | Paid Referral Traffic | Referral Traffic | Mail Traffic | Social Traffic |
| 6,747,990 | 6 | 284 | 0.5 | 32.79% | 60.80% | 2.55% | 1.46% | 1.44% | 0.97% |
Build is an advertiser that accepts a wide range of home improvement leads through an affiliate program powered by Impact. Having access to over 800,00 items, you can easily find your target product and get a 1% to 2% commission on the sale.
As an affiliate, you will get text links, images, online tracking links, media source tracking, and more. You can apply with multiple websites, tracking every referral with Impact’s proprietary tracking technology.
| Monthly Visits | Page Per Visit | Time On Site | Bounce Rate | Direct Traffic | Search Traffic | Paid Referral Traffic | Referral Traffic | Mail Traffic | Social Traffic |
| 1,030,564 | 5 | 322 | 0.34 | 35.55% | 52.79% | 5.24% | 2.10% | 2.16% | 2.16% |
LL Flooring is a hard-surface flooring retailer in North America that allows relevant affiliates to earn commissions from placement links and banners on their website.
Like many other home improvement retailers, LL Flooring uses the Impact platform to run their affiliate program, paying a 1% commission on the fulfilled order. The payouts are locked for one month after the end of the tracking month, invoiced on the 3rd day of the following month, and paid 30 days after the invoicing.
| Monthly Visits | Page Per Visit | Time On Site | Bounce Rate | Direct Traffic | Search Traffic | Paid Referral Traffic | Referral Traffic | Mail Traffic | Social Traffic |
| 112,938 | 3 | 54 | 0.63 | 35.26% | 57.27% | 0.05% | 2.19% | 0 | 5.22% |
Riverbend Home is a Maine-based home improvement product retailer that runs its affiliate program through ShareASale, offering commissions starting at 5% of the sale. Among the items to promote are some exotic products and brands, which might give you an edge.
The average order value is around $200, with a 2.8% conversion rate. As an affiliate, you will get banners, promotions, and special deals to convert your home improvement leads. The tracking period is 30 days.
| Monthly Visits | Page Per Visit | Time On Site | Bounce Rate | Direct Traffic | Search Traffic | Paid Referral Traffic | Referral Traffic | Mail Traffic | Social Traffic |
| 113,926,516 | 5 | 258 | 0.41 | 37.55% | 50.88% | 6.05% | 1.06% | 2.30% | 2.15% |
Lowes is one of the biggest U.S. home improvement retailers offering an affiliate program through FlexOffers. The payout is 0.8% of the sale, barring gift cards and lumber products. The cookie duration is one day only.
With Lower’s affiliate program, you can get a ballpark figure of your earnings per click (EPC). At the time of writing, the average 90-day EPC was $0.09. The application process is standard: you must describe your traffic channels and promotional methods.
| Monthly Visits | Page Per Visit | Time On Site | Bounce Rate | Direct Traffic | Search Traffic | Paid Referral Traffic | Referral Traffic | Mail Traffic | Social Traffic |
| 509,033 | 3 | 163 | 0.64 | 32.21% | 41.13% | 9.15% | 2.90% | 4.48% | 10.14% |
The RTA Store is a ready-to-assemble kitchen and bathroom cabinet retailer that runs an affiliate program through ShareASale. The program offers up to a 2% commission on sales, with a 30-day cookie duration.
The average check is $2,800 for a kitchen sale and $990 for a bathroom sale, translating into around $150 commission per sale on average.
| Monthly Visits | Page Per Visit | Time On Site | Bounce Rate | Direct Traffic | Search Traffic | Paid Referral Traffic | Referral Traffic | Mail Traffic | Social Traffic |
| 12,510,384 | 4 | 175 | 0.62 | 34.39% | 58.05% | 0.47% | 1.64% | 2.85% | 2.60% |
Houzz is a community-dedicated home improvement platform that runs an affiliate program through ParterStack. There’s no open information regarding the commission, but affiliate reviews claim the commission rate is 5% of the sale.
The program’s cookie duration is 30 days from the click. As an affiliate, you can access a console where you can track your progress and request assistance from your partner manager. Likewise, you will receive training materials on the promotion of Houzz Pro’s products.
| Monthly Visits | Page Per Visit | Time On Site | Bounce Rate | Direct Traffic | Search Traffic | Paid Referral Traffic | Referral Traffic | Mail Traffic | Social Traffic |
| 109,579,244 | 6 | 294 | 0.49 | 39.89% | 47.47% | 4.37% | 0.81% | 3.68% | 3.79% |
Wayfair is a popular home improvement retailer that runs an affiliate program through CJ Affiliate. The commission is up to 7% of the sale, with over 10 million products available for promotion and the average order size floating around $300.
| Monthly Visits | Page Per Visit | Time On Site | Bounce Rate | Direct Traffic | Search Traffic | Paid Referral Traffic | Referral Traffic | Mail Traffic | Social Traffic |
| 197,230 | 4 | 265 | 0.4 | 40.82% | 53.66% | 2.18% | 1.23% | 0 | 2.10% |
EasyClosets is a closet solution retailer that runs a home improvement affiliate program through ShareASale. The program offers a 4% commission on purchases from new customers and 2% on purchases from return customers, with an average order being around $1,000. Likewise, you can earn a $10 commission for inviting an affiliate to the EasyClosets affiliate program.
As a partner, you will get custom promotional graphics, exclusive offers, and help from a dedicated affiliate program management team. The cookie duration is 90 days.
| Monthly Visits | Page Per Visit | Time On Site | Bounce Rate | Direct Traffic | Search Traffic | Paid Referral Traffic | Referral Traffic | Mail Traffic | Social Traffic |
| 30,550,647 | 4 | 206 | 0.51 | 37.84% | 52.49% | 3.45% | 1.03% | 2.09% | 3.10% |
Bed Bath & Beyond is a popular home goods retailer that runs an affiliate program through CJ Affiliate. The commission is up to 3%, with a 14-day referral period.
You will be able to use special offers, weekly deals, and coupons, as well as paid media opportunities and access to the shop’s data feed. Tech-wise, CJ Affiliate will grant you top-notch commission tracking and timely payouts.
| Monthly Visits | Page Per Visit | Time On Site | Bounce Rate | Direct Traffic | Search Traffic | Paid Referral Traffic | Referral Traffic | Mail Traffic | Social Traffic |
| 23,962,675 | 3 | 158 | 0.55 | 49.06% | 42.11% | 2.13% | 4.16% | 1.48% | 1.06% |
Ace Hardware is a hardware retailer that runs an affiliate program through Impact, with floating commission rates that depend on your monthly sales. The cookie window is 14 days.
For more information, there’s a detailed FAQ section.
| Monthly Visits | Page Per Visit | Time On Site | Bounce Rate | Direct Traffic | Search Traffic | Paid Referral Traffic | Referral Traffic | Mail Traffic | Social Traffic |
| 163,820 | 2 | 58 | 0.68 | 34.81% | 56.72% | 1.55% | 5.54% | 0 | 1.38% |
Toolbarn is yet another online home improvement retailer that runs an affiliate program through Impact, offering up to 3% commission on sales with a cookie duration of 45 days.
The average order might not be that high – only around $75 – but home improvement leads are eager to make small purchases, which may translate into decent revenues for affiliates. Likewise, you can get help from a dedicated team and kick things off quickly with this link generator (available for registered users).
| Monthly Visits | Page Per Visit | Time On Site | Bounce Rate | Direct Traffic | Search Traffic | Paid Referral Traffic | Referral Traffic | Mail Traffic | Social Traffic |
| 4,302,861 | 4 | 155 | 0.48 | 44.26% | 52.10% | 0.10% | 1.93% | 0.81% | 0.80% |
HomeAdvisor is a home improvement and maintenance retailer that runs an affiliate program through CJ Affiliate. With over 150,000 contractors in the network, you can easily match your marketing expertise with the right home improvement leads and drive them to a conversion.
Unlike many other home improvement affiliate programs, HomeAdvisor offers fixed commissions per sale: $1.50, $5.50, $12, and $16. The non-commissionable categories include moving services, waste removal, and dumpster rental.
| Monthly Visits | Page Per Visit | Time On Site | Bounce Rate | Direct Traffic | Search Traffic | Paid Referral Traffic | Referral Traffic | Mail Traffic | Social Traffic |
| 2,682,411 | 4 | 215 | 0.52 | 36.37% | 46.01% | 0.68% | 9.34% | 4.06% | 3.55% |
Acme Tools is a home equipment and accessories retailer that runs an affiliate program through Impact. The commissions for online sales are 2% of the sale amount, with around 4 months of waiting time from the date of the order until the payout.
The referral window is 15 days. The attribution model is the last-click attribution: the affiliate who gets the last click before the purchase receives the commission.
| Step 1 – Know Your Offering | Analyze your leads for home improvement – demographics, psychographics, exclusivity, etc. – to understand what lead generation strategies might be effective.
Start small, focusing on the contractor leads you’re confident about. As you gain expertise, you will understand how to tap into related contractor lead generation niches with less risk. |
| Step 2 – Know What You Need | Affiliate programs offer different creative materials, lead tracking software, payouts, and limits to how you can generate pay-per-sale home improvement leads. Research as many programs as you need to find your offer while putting quality and relevance over payouts. |
| Step 3 – Diversify | The fact that you prioritize long-term affiliate partnerships doesn’t take away from the fact that you don’t want to risk depending on a single advertiser. It’s no secret that around 85% of affiliates utilize multiple affiliate networks and programs, and you can also go this way. |
| Seasonality | Even the top lead generation methods for home improvement businesses underperform in winter. Factor in seasonality in your home improvement marketing and lead management. |
| Prolonged Sales Process | Most home improvement leads need nurturing before advertisers can convert them. The sales process usually involves several consultations and measurements, so you might have to wait for a while until your leads convert (make sure the cookie window is enough to cover that) |
| Compliance | Non-compliant advertisers may result in bad client experience and even lawsuits. Make sure to partner with advertisers that comply with licensing requirements, building codes, and other relevant norms. |
There’s no crystal ball to predict the future, but some home improvement lead generation trends are just unavoidable:
As you can see, home improvement lead generation trends reflect the general development of the market. Every new marketing technology and trick will inevitably be used to generate home improvement leads, and those that are effective enough will dominate until replaced with even newer and more effective approaches.
You will outperform other home improvement affiliates if you have:
Want to get all three in one?
Then Phonexa’s home improvement lead management system is what you need. Eight proprietary marketing automation solutions will synergize your marketing campaigns, bridge gaps, and close loops once and for all.
Here’s the most sought-after product among affiliate marketers:
Get the all-in-one performance & affiliate marketing software suite now, or schedule a free consultation to learn more about Phonexa.
As an affiliate, you are free to use any promotional strategies and home improvement lead sources that are prohibited by your affiliate agreement: your website, blog, social media, offline marketing, etc. Some affiliate marketing programs will restrict specific promotion methods and lead sources, so make sure to peruse the affiliate agreement in the first place.
Acquiring the right home improvement leads boils down to setting up the right marketing campaigns that target the clients you want to convert. And if you sell home improvement leads on the market – for example, an affiliate network’s marketplace – you can set your own selling criteria, limiting advertisers who have access to your leads.
The conversion rate depends on the quality of leads you generate, how well these leads are routed, and how well the advertiser converts them. For live transfer leads, you might get a 30% conversion rate; for shared leads, the conversion rate might be around 1% to 3%.
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