Sephora Affiliate Program Review: 10% Commission Rate (2023)
Are you a beauty blogger or influencer looking to join the official Sephora affiliate program and get paid to review their products? Sephora's parent company (conglomerate LVMH) reported record-breaking sales of $85.7 Billion in 2022 in large part due to a "remarkable" performance from Sephora.
In this article, I'll be sharing my personal experience with Sephora affiliate marketing and answer frequently-asked questions such as how it works, how to sign up in the USA and other countries, commission rates, and more.
Is there an affiliate program for Sephora? Is it legit?
Yes, Sephora has an official affiliate program as detailed on their website Sephora.com here: https://www.sephora.com/beauty/affiliates
It is 100% legit and completely free to sign up and join.
What does Sephora affiliate program pay?
Depending on the product and category, the Sephora affiliate program pays between 5% to 10% commission rate per qualifying sale. There is a 1-day cookie period. This means that if someone clicks your Sephora affiliate link and makes a qualified purchase within 24 hours, you can earn a commission between 5% to 10% of that sale.
Pros and Cons of Sephora affiliate program
Pros
Generous 5% to 10% commission rates per sale
You can create revenue by providing access to over 200 of the most coveted brands and more than 13,000 top-quality products.
Partnered with Rakuten to provide you the tools you need to earn commissions, while we handle all the ordering, shipping, and billing processes.
Earn commission on all products, without brand restrictions
Everyday free shipping over $50 & free samples with every order
Exclusive newsletters and product sneak peeks
Exciting promotions, banners and creative
Affiliate-only special offers & promotions
Cons
Short 1-day cookie duration window
Need a Rakuten affiliate network account before applying
How do you get approved for Sephora affiliate program? Do you need a website?
In order to get approved for the Sephora affiliate program, you will need to apply through the affiliate network called Rakuten Advertising.
Rakuten Advertising has released a helpful guide here for all affiliates who want to get approved into their programs.
Here is some general advice from their website:
Choose your market niche and focus (in this case, Beauty products)
Determine your business model and plan
Build your website, blog, or custom social media site with original, quality content and add to it frequently
Generate traffic to your site and build your audience
Understand basic affiliate marketing monetization and how it fits your site
If you need help creating a professional affiliate website quickly, check out my affiliate marketing for beginners guide.
How to Become a Sephora Influencer and get paid to review products?
To become a Sephora influencer and get paid to review products, you can head to SephoraSquad.com and apply. This is different from Sephora's affiliate program detailed above in this article. At the time of this writing, applications are closed but you can still apply to become an affiliate instead. As an affiliate, you can still get paid to review Sephora products by sharing your affiliate links and earning commission on referral sales.
The only real difference for me is that influencers aren't as focused on their website as niche site owners and bloggers, but it would only be beneficial for influencers to invest more into their website, as they get to own their audience and can easily funnel traffic from the social media platforms to their own domain.
My personal thoughts and experience with Sephora affiliate marketing
For bloggers and influencers in the beauty and fashion niches, I have to think Sephora is a must-join and perfect to offer their affiliate links throughout your content.
With quite a generous commission range from 5% to 10%, I believe this reflects the high margins in the makeup industry, at least when it comes to certain products.
My only critique is the 1-day cookie window, which is rather short as compared to the more generous 7-day and 30-day cookie windows of other affiliate programs.
Sephora best alternatives and related affiliate programs in Beauty and Fashion niche
I've written about a few other programs you may be interested in for the Beauty and Fashion niche here: