Microsoft Affiliate Program Review: Can You Make $3000 A Month?

Microsoft tops the list of respected technology companies, and it is deserved (by the way, what do you think about the company?)

Therefore, when looking for a technology company that you can venture into affiliate marketing with, the Windows platform is worth checking out to see if one can make decent money through Microsoft affiliate programs.

Not so many people understand how affiliate programs work, so here is a brief explanation.

Many companies already have advertising teams in place, but they need freelance advertisers to market their services or products to achieve more success.

You gain when you join an affiliate marketing program through commissions or percentages whenever someone makes a sale via your platform.

In this article, you will see how Microsoft affiliate marketing operates and how you can sign up and start making money.

What Is Microsoft and What Does It Do?

Microsoft home page

Microsoft deals in the licensing, development, and manufacturing of software products that include server applications, consumer applications, operating systems, technologies, internet software, and software development tools.

Microsoft tops the industry because it manages to place at least each of its products in every personal computer, creating a market for itself worldwide.

What Type of Products Does Microsoft Feature?

When venturing into the Microsoft affiliate marketing program, you will find many products and how software choices available for you to advertise on your platform. These include both physical and software products such as:

Physical Products

  • Xbox Console
  • Microsoft Surface Pro (laptop)
  • PC Hardware items
  • And other accessories in the tech niche

Digital Products

  • Everyone’s favorite Xbox Live
  • Shows
  • Office 365
  • Games
  • Paid Applications
  • Movies for entertainment
  • eBooks
  • Additional In-App purchases
  • etc.

What Is The Microsoft Affiliate Program?

Microsoft home page

So, this might be a silly question but I’d like to answer the question for my ‘non-technical & beginner blog readers.’

The Microsoft affiliate program is a partnership program the company runs where individuals can promote various products and services to increase the company’s sales and get paid commissions at the same time.

Basically, as an affiliate, you associate yourself with the company and whenever someone clicks your unique affiliate link and makes a purchase, you get credit for that.

Today, most of the ‘big companies’ run their affiliate programs to achieve fast growth in the market because that’s the beauty of affiliate marketing.

Understanding Microsoft Affiliate Program: Important Details

There is only one official Microsoft affiliate program for the tech giant company Microsoft.

When you join the Microsoft affiliate program, you have the opportunity to earn up to a 7% commission of all services and products that you send your customers way by driving traffic to the Microsoft online platform.

Official Website: https://www.microsoft.com

Affiliate Signup Page: Microsoft Affiliate Program

Commission Rates (in general): 1-7% per sale, $1.50-10 for subscriptions

Cookie Duration: 14 days

Payment Threshold: $50

What Is Microsoft’s Commission Rate?

Before signing up, you must understand that the only way to make more money is by getting better commission rates.

Fortunately, Microsoft commissions are fairly priced on some products while others may be a little too low compared to the competitors.

If you are not yet convinced about joining the Microsoft affiliate program, the commission rate can be a deciding factor. Primarily, this is what it represents.

The commission rate is anywhere from $1.30 to $10 for every subscription product and 1%-7% commission per sale.

The Microsoft Commission Structure

Like other big affiliate marketing programs you will find, Microsoft offers different commissions for different services and products you sell through affiliate links. There is no standard rate that joins all products.

If you are new, you may find the commission rate challenging to understand at first. However, it gets clearer.

A one flat rate commission is better for predicting the income you will get, but it is not how affiliate marketing works.

Here is what is on offer by the Microsoft affiliate program. With this table below, you will find the summary attempt to understand Microsoft’s multiple commission rates on products and services.

ProductCommission Rate
PC & othere accessoires1% commission
Products & services that aren’t mentioned1% commission
Xbox accessories and consoles2% commission
Microsoft Surface & accessories2% commission
Xbox game pass2% commission
Paid applications (apps)2% commission
Xbox Live Gold2% commission
Additional Microsoft & office products5% commission
TV shows and movies7% commission
Xbox games (both Microsoft & 3rd party)7% commission

Understanding Microsoft’s Software/App Commission

If your tech site deals in software and digital programs, marketing Microsoft’s software products and services like Windows, Office, and other software will receive a 5% commission rate.

Other companies may offer up to 50-75%, but the low rates are justified because Microsoft is a giant tech company.

In fact, Microsoft starts its commission rate at 1% on some products and services.

Through products like Games, Apps, in-App purchases, eBooks, and TV shows, the sales commission is a staggering 7% commission.

However, these are cheaper products with high percentage rates, and it is not the best way if you are looking to make more money through affiliate marketing.

If you understand the commission rate, you can focus on what you promote and the traffic you drive towards it.

Generally, earning through Microsoft’s software commission is fair and meets the competitive rates as well.

Understanding Microsoft’s Product Commission

While the software commission rates are lucrative, the flipside is that product purchase commission rates for Microsoft products are not attractive as one might hope.

For all Microsoft’s product sales like console, Xbox, surface, Digital Games, Physical games Accessories, and phones, there is a paltry 2% commission.

For items like PC hardware products you sell, you only get a 1% commission (Um, that’s so mean, isn’t it?).

In this instance, Microsoft offers less in terms of commission rates compared to its immediate competitors.

However, the alluring 7% commission on some products is hard to neglect. Consequently, it is rare to achieve.

Looking at the product sales through Microsoft, you will still earn top-dollar if you make sales that attract a 2% commission rate.

If you are digging for some more information about an affiliate marketing program before joining one, you must look at their affiliate cookie life.

Primarily, a cookie is a file that gets stored in your computer to identify traffic that comes through your site. In affiliate marketing, cookies track what users know as affiliate referrals.

The important thing to note is that cookies have an expiration date. Within this period, a cookie lifespan determines the sales you will make if a prospective buyer clicks through the affiliate link on your site and ends up buying within the campaign duration.

Therefore, if sales come through before your cookie expires, you earn your commission and other recurring commissions.

When reviewing cookie life, the longer the expiration date is, the better it suits the affiliate marketer. The Microsoft affiliate cookie duration is 14 days.

By the way, if you are interested in checking out some affiliate programs with lifetime cookie duration, read this post.

How to Join the Microsoft Affiliate Program?

Becoming an affiliate marketer with Microsoft takes; only a few necessary steps. The process starts by stating the countries you plan to promote the Microsoft products and services.

Remember, each country you choose needs separate approval.

Step 1: Visit the Microsoft affiliate signup page on the Rakuten LinkShare affiliate network. You can click here to visit the affiliate homepage.

Home page Microsoft affiliate partners

Step 2: Choose Your Primary Campaign Country/Region – Once you choose the region/countries, you must wait for access and approval to start earning commissions.

Signup page

Step 3: Await Approval – The waiting period is within 3-5 days. To improve your chances of approval, also consider submitting your site’s URL. Ideally, you must have a website that has a decent stream of traffic by this point.

Step 4: Start Advertising to earn commissions – After the approval of the Microsoft affiliate program sails through, it is time to find your affiliate links for the products and services you wish to advertise.

Choose through the product categories carefully to find what interests your customers.

Remember, Microsoft falls under the Impact.com affiliate network program. If you are a member, you can skip this registration process and apply through your impact account.

Also, note that joining the Microsoft affiliate program via your impact account makes your membership private, and therefore, you can target direct affiliates.

It means that you will have access to promote Microsoft services and products to over 50 plus countries using a single account.

Rules for Joining Microsoft Affiliate Program:

  • It is your responsibility to maintain the content and quality of your blog as Microsoft regularly monitors affiliate websites and blog standards.
  • Avoid all spamming activities ifyou wish to promote Microsoft products and services.

How to Promote Microsoft Affiliate Program?

If you join the Microsoft affiliate marketing program, you can access both Microsoft Store and Windows Store. Here, you can start earning commissions.

To determine what you will advertise depends solely on what your site is based upon. If it’s focused on gaming, digital products will work way better than physical ones and vice versa.

You will also gain access to the link builder tool that creates product links. That’s something that isn’t new but you will be able to create custom links.

Other ways of promoting Microsoft services and products include banners, badges, and data feed. These tools make it easy to promote Microsoft products on your social media platforms, blog, and websites.

Promotional Banners:

Promotional resources for Microsoft affiliates

These are useful and fun tools because Microsoft designs banners for all its products and software.

Customers are familiar with these banners, and promoting Microsoft products becomes easy.

When customers click on the banners and register via your site, you will be credited with a commission after they make a purchase.

Text links operate the same way as banners. But before applying these long URLs, consider embedding them into hyperlinks or images.

Shortening links make your page more attractive and easier to follow a link.

What is The Best Way To Promote Microsoft Products?

Every marketer has his/her own way of doing things but from what I have seen over the last couple of years is that if you utilize YouTube marketing and blogging, the success rate can be phenomenal.

As a matter of fact, YouTube is way better than blogging in this situation. Just to give you an example, I searched for therm ‘Microsoft Surface’ on YouTube and I’m seeing affiliate marketers getting millions of views;

Promoting Microsoft on YouTube as an affiliate

That’s freaking crazy, isn’t it? The same story goes with blogging as well but the reason why YouTube will work better is that when someone sees you as a person, it creates more trustworthiness and sales is all about trust.

Summary To promote Microsoft Products:

  • On your website or blog, include Microsoft banners to attract prospective customers.
  • Write a review or blog post about a specific Microsoft product listing its advantages and other information your customers will find helpful.
  • Use other social media channels to promote Microsoft products and services. These include Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
  • Make YouTube videos reviewing different Microsoft products. Be sure to leave affiliate links within the product description.
  • Email marketing includes sending newsletters about Microsoft products, adding them to your subscriber’s list.

How Much Money Can You Make with Microsoft Affiliate Program?

  • There is no limit to what you can earn from Microsoft’s affiliate marketing program as long as you have quality content. Making the 7% commission sales is a lucrative offer if you can
  • Feature Microsoft software and hardware products that include games, apps, TV Shows, and movies and get a commission for each sale you make.
  • Microsoft pays for every purchase within the cookie lifespan and not only for the products that you highlight.
  • Microsoft has a 14-day in-app purchase window which is more than other tech affiliate marketing programs.
  • Enjoy access to useful tools that enable you to create, track, and promote your campaigns.

Other commissions include CPA commissions accessible via sales on Xbox Game Pass for PC, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, Office 365 Monthly, and Annual Subscriptions.

There are Revenue Share commissions applicable on all other Microsoft products and services.

Remember that Microsoft Commission rates aren’t fixed and can change and vary depending on time and country.

Other products like Office Trials, Game Pass Trials, Windows, MRVR, and any other categories that don’t appear above are ineligible for commissions.

Still, Is 3K A Month Feaseable?

So, Microsoft is a trusted company and the whole world is aware of its products. What this means is that marketers won’t face any trust issues while promoting.

As long as you have a good quality audience in the tech, gaming, and entertainment niche, you can expect to do some good numbers for sure.

However, the chances of generating $3000 a month are more in the tech niche compared to gaming and entertainment. I could be completely wrong in some cases but that’s what I personally have seen with this program.

I didn’t mean to discourage you. If you work on the promotional strategies and utilize YouTube marketing as well as blogging, the conversion rate and success rate can be pretty surprising.

Why Should You Join the Microsoft Affiliate Program?

  • Enjoy a partnership with the world’s top devices and services company and earn extra revenue through marketing campaigns.
  • There are special offers, especially on products that have high demand.
  • Data feeds provide you with rich meta-data when formulating your product catalog and generating affiliate links to scale.
  • Banners and badges are available in various languages and sizes.
  • Access to link-building tools facilitates better marketing designs and generates hype to links of apps, games, TV shows, and movies.
  • You will receive regular updates and newsletters of new products and promotions via emails.

Now that you understand what you stand to gain by joining the Microsoft affiliate marketing program. Here are a few reasons why whether it is worth your time or not.

Pros Of Microsoft’s Performance Partner Program

  • Your audience is familiar with most Microsoft products and services. There is no reason to pre-sell to them again.
  • There are hundreds of services and products available for all kinds of people, including tech- geeks and normal people.
  • There are competitive commission rates across all their products, making it a viable revenue stream.
  • Affiliate marketers can choose between CPA or percentage-based commissions.
  • Microsoft’s 14-day cookie tramps other competitor rates.
  • It is an ideal income revenue for bloggers in related tech field niches.

Cons Of Microsoft’s Performance Partner Program

  • There are no commissions for promoting Windows products.
  • Commission rates are as low as 1% on some Microsoft products. For instance, 1% of a $1000 product is a paltry $10. Imagine what you will earn for a product worth $20.
  • Not so many products offer the 7% commission rate.

In Conclusion

The Microsoft affiliate program still has room to grow. There are gaps within the fine print on the products and services they offer and the commission rate that each attracts.

However, Microsoft has a huge market presence that favors any affiliate marketer that joins the program from whichever region of the world.

Also, not all their commission rates are low and unrewarding. For example, you can target a super- niche that attracts up to 7% commissions by featuring Xbox games, TV shows, and other apps available in the Windows/Microsoft Stores.

Most Microsoft software products like the Office 365 dominate the tech market. Though there are some flaws, a huge market potential enables you to generate an income through the Microsoft affiliate marketing program.

I genuinely hope that you found this review helpful. In case you have got any questions or suggestions, please feel free to share them in the comments section right beneath.

FAQs [Frequenty Asked Questions)

Does Microsoft have an affiliate program?

Yes, Microsoft does have an affiliate program that bloggers, content creators, and interested individuals who work in the tech niche/industry can join to earn commissions.

Is it worth promoting Microsoft?

This depends on the website a marketer owns as well as the audience that the website (or any other platform) attracts. Overlooking individual cases, yes, the Microsoft Affiliates program is definitely worth promoting.

2 thoughts on “Microsoft Affiliate Program Review: Can You Make $3000 A Month?”

Leave a comment.

Discover more from Shivansh Bhanwariya Digital

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading