Udemy Affiliate Program: The Ultimate Review

It would have been barbaric if Udemy does not have an affiliate program considering its level of popularity on the internet.

As expected, Udemy has launched its affiliate program for marketers who would like to promote its courses.

Udemy affiliate program can is both self-hosted.

Also, you can find Udemy affiliate programin a list of other affiliate networks such as Rakuten Linkshare, Impact, Awin, Flexoffers, and so on.

Signing up through the affiliate program page on Udemy is faster than making use of the third parties. Although the period of approval is not affected.

The program is opened to all types of affiliate marketers as it was not specified in its affiliate guidelines.

Nevertheless, it’s advisable you have a built audience before proceeding into joining Udemy affiliate program (atleast, for a good result)

Udemy also provides its marketers with promotional materials and gives them access to track their performances on the platform.

What products can you promote on the Udemy affiliate program?

Udemy is an education resource platform so; you should expect anything that deals with sharing useful information.

As coined by the CEO of Esopress, Emmanuel Sunday; the “3P’s search”of affiliate marketing should be considered before applying to an affiliate program (atleast to guarantee success)

For those who are regular on our platform; the 3Ps should not be a new term

However, for the benefit of first-timers; “3P’s search” simply implies product variety, product authenticity, and product relevance.

Now, let’s see how Udemy levels up to this standards:

Product Variety –

From courses on how to make money on the internet such as blogging, digital marketing, affiliate marketing to the normal school courses;

The diversification of Udemy’s educational platform is one of a kind on the internet.

Therefore, if you are a teacher, coach, mentor, or any other person involved in combating ignorance then you are certain to get your course materials on Udemy.

There are more than enough products to go round on the platform.

Product Authenticity –

Some companies have already established themselves beyond doubt and one of these companies is Udemy.

While some might argue that they have bought courses on the platform and ended up benefiting nothing from the course

And therefore, “Udemy is a scam” which is justifiable from above.

But, have you ever pondered on why two students have different grades even though they were taught by the same teachers?

Rationalize on this then you may decide if Udemy’s products are the problem or the circumstances or maybe it is just you.

Product Relevance–

This depends solely on who your audience are

Do they need learning materials and can Udemy provide the type of materials they require?

These are questions you should consider on this P to get the best out of it.

Commission Rate of Udemy Affiliate Program

Affiliate marketing is an online business; right?

What is the aim of all businesses?

To make profit and this can be achieved in affiliate marketing through the commissions on sales.

Fair enough, Udemy offers up to a one-time 15% commission rate on all sales you make

Considering what is offered by Teachable (50%); you can say that a 15% commission rate is quite small.

However, you must understand the fierce competition that exists on Udemy.

So, there is a higher chance that you make more sales during the program.

There is a minimum of $50 on payout which is nothing new on affiliate programs.

Overall, the 15% commission rate is not bad as there is a higher chance of converting your leads.

Cookie duration of the Udemy Affiliate Program

Udemy took a divergent turn here compared to the other affiliate program I have reviewed.

Similar to Target affiliate program, Udemy cookie’s duration is set to 7 days.

To many, this is very small as the norms on most affiliate programs is a 30-day cookie duration.

But, on a second thought;

Is it actually not enough to convince a person to purchase a course?

I understand people can be so adamant at times but knowledge is not something one should delay for so long, hence, it becomes worthless

So, a 7-day cookie is actually small but reasonable enough to cover for the products offered by Udemy.

Can you make $1000 on Udemy Affiliate Program?

80%, you can.

The simple truth is that we will not review affiliate programs that cannot give you a good life

This is why you can make a thousand bucks from many of our recent reviews.

Just type in on Google; “top affiliate marketers on Udemy”

And you will testify to our affirmation.

Udemy has a wide range of products so, you always have something to promote.

Additionally, you get access to several tips and support from Udemy to improve your performance.

For instance, you can decide to customize your affiliate links to suit your needs or deep-link to a seller’s platform.

If you gather the right audience then we would not be talking about making a thousand bucks

But whether or not you can make a hundred of thousands bucks from the program.

Yet, the 15% commission rate and 7-day cookie duration remain a mountain to surmount before achieving the milestone.

Hence, I retained the remaining 20% guarantee.

To make things more clearer, atleast to some extent. Let’s see some illustration of making $1000 with Udemy affiliate program.

So, take for instance you decide to promote this course on udemy.

If you look clearly, you would notice the course is priced at £16. So, using the 15% commission rate, you would only earn $2.4 per course sold.

Yeah, this sounds poor, right. But if you take this to a deep thought, you’d notice that this course is much of a value, compared to the price.

In other words, it has much to offer than what it’s priced. And this one thing I like about Udemy – Their courses are not so expensive, compared to that of learn from fiverr.

Also, if you look closely at this product, you’ll see that it’s on a discount. And that’s not the actual price.

In fact, the actual price is around $59 or there about.

Given only 5 hours for this product to be sold at $16 is a mind blowing tactics to increase sales.

Any affiliate marketer can take advantage of this to double or triple sales.

So, back to business…

Promoting this graphic design course, would earn you £2.4.

Mathematically, you’ll need to make around 417 course sales to make that amount.

Sounds high, right?

Not really. From the look of things, with the cheap price of this course, you can hit that target in no due time.

However, it all depends on the amount of traffic you can drive to it.

Additionally, using a conversion rate of 10% (since the products is cheap) you’ll need about 4160 unique traffic to get $1000.

Also, note that this is just a single product. I bet if you join Udemy’s affiliate program, you won’t just end up promoting just a single product.

Alternatives Of The Udemy Affiliate Program

The Udemy Affiliate Program is actually a good one. But yeah, as usual, are there alternatives?

Let’s take a look at them

1. Teachable

As the name implies, Teachable is an e-learning platform that works just like Udemy.

Alongside Udemy, Teachable has a well established affiliate program. A good one, if I should say.

Teachable affiliate program unlike udemy comes with a recurring Commission for affiliate marketers.

The best part here’s that Teachable affiliate Cookie’s duration is 2× that of Udemy.

In essence, you’d earn a 30% commission rate for sales referral you’re able to make.

Coming to their cookie duration, Teachable affiliate program still comes out ahead of Udemy.

Teachable affiliate program is set at 90 days.

Well, we also have our review on teachable affiliate program. You can check it out subsequently.

Pros and Cons of Udemy Affiliate Program

Being reputable does not make one “Mr Perfect”

In fact, it gives people more reason to observe you closely

And this is what we did to Udemy to find out its ugly sides and its good sides.

Let’s start with the bad sides

Cons:

Alteration of affiliate policies: What I believe in is “The more we grow; the better we become”. However, the reverse is the case for Udemy affiliate program that has become rather worse the more it expands.

There was once a time Udemy offers its affiliate partners up to 50% and a 30-day cookie duration. So, what has happened, Udemy?

After gaining the momentum it needed; I do not think this is the best way to treat those who helped in promoting the platform.

Discount on purchases: This is an advantage to the buyer but a disadvantage to the seller; such is life anyways.

Udemy offers its customers discounts on purchases that affect the potential earning of an affiliate marketer on his leads. Take for instance, if your lead purchases a course that worth $50 for just $15 and you are to earn a commission of 15% on it.

Isn’t this annoying?

Series of questionable activities: Udemy affiliate program contains a lot of unclear intentions such as no exact commission rate stated by the platform; vulnerability of the program to changes, and so on. All these make affiliate marketing difficult and boring in the long run since the motivation to do more has been killed.

Affiliate programs should have clear and precise intentions and not claims that might end up being hyperbolic.

Over to the good sides;

Pros:

Popular and Reputable: You will enjoy the benefit of conversion rate. You do not need to give continuous assurance before you can make a substantial amount.
Marketing support: Udemy offers its affiliate partners several marketing tools and insights to help drive sales and maximize their earnings on the platform.
Performance tracking tools: The platform also provides you with tools to help monitor your performance on each of its affiliate network and give tips on how you can improve your performance.
Payment threshold is low: $50 is not too bad for a minimum threshold although it might become a burden for some marketers. The number of platforms offering a lower payment threshold is very small; so, Udemy is still on point with this threshold.

Final Thoughts

Udemy affiliate program can be likened to an already-made cake

What you need to do is to get your knife and saucer ready to devour the cake.

However, the modifications made to the program has caused a great upset in its benefits

But, it still worth giving it a trial

Therefore, find the right audience and get to work.

What is Udemy?