Avon Affiliate Program Review - MLM or the Real Deal Money Maker?

The Avon affiliate program is one of the many you’d come across when you are looking for how to make money in the cosmetics niche. Is it a program you can trust? Can you make money from it?

Avon’s affiliate program is indeed an MLM opportunity. However, the company is one of the most reputable around with more than a century of history behind them. Their history means that their products are popular in the market. Making money from the program, however, is not for everyone.

Overall Rating	3/5
Cost Of Sign-Up	4/5
Scaling Difficulty	3/5
Income Potential	3/5
Newbie Friendliness	2/5

The rest of this review will go over all you need to know about the Avon affiliate marketing program to help you decide if it’s the real money-maker you’re looking for or if you should look elsewhere.

What Is Avon?

Avon is a Multi-Level-Marketing business that sells beauty and makeup products. Their business model involves working with representatives who encourage other people to also become representatives and/or to buy the company’s products.

The company was founded in 1886 by David McConnell and has grown to become one of the most popular MLM companies in the world today.

Their products are divided into the following categories:

Makeup
Bath and body
Fragrance
Jewelry
Wellness
Men
Skincare

The company was acquired by Cerberus in 2015, and then LG in 2019. The acquisitions led to a lot of changes, some of which negatively affected representatives of the company.

However, the company is still one of the biggest brands around, with new people signing up to take part in their program every day.

What Does It Cost to Join the Avon Affiliate Program?

To join Avon’s affiliate program, you have to sign up as a representative and buy one of the starter kits, which cost $25, $50, and $100.

After signing up and getting your starter kit, you can proceed to work towards making commissions by bringing in sales to the company.

The sales commissions can come from your activities directly or from other sales representatives you recruit.

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Pros of the Avon Affiliate Program

Below are the advantages of the Avon affiliate program:

They Have a Rich History

As we mentioned earlier, the company has been around for over 130 years, growing into a multibillion-dollar corporation. This means that their credibility and reputation can never be called into question. Scam companies simply do not last that long.

The Sign-Up Cost Is Affordable

Since the entry-level starter kit to join the Avon affiliate program is $25, it is accessible to almost everyone. Many programs make it difficult for people to get started with initial sign-up costing a few hundred dollars or more.

It Offers Flexibility

One of the main reasons why many people seek out programs like this is to have the flexibility that comes with essentially being your own boss. You make your own work hours and you can run your business in the best way possible to reach your goals.

Commissions Can Be Attractive

You can get 20-50% in retail commissions, in addition to the bonus and commissions from the activities of other representatives you introduced into the program.

The Products Are Highly Rated

Reviews of Avon’s products are largely positive everywhere you look. The company has a 4-star rating on platforms like consumer Affairs, and if you are worried about the reviews and ratings being skewed by representatives looking for more commission, you only need to talk to the women around you about the product. There’s a high chance you’ll find some of them using the products for years now.

The quality of the product means that you never have to worry about not making sales because people have a bad experience with the products, or that they have a poor reputation in the market.

The Products Are Affordable

One of the biggest problems with many MLM businesses is that their products are overpriced. They try to justify the prices with various mantras, but the reality is that the average buyer will only see the huge price and look elsewhere. Avon, on the other hand, doesn’t have this problem.

Most users agree that the prices are some of the most affordable in the market. Again, this is good for the representatives as it’s easier to sell an affordable product to a skeptical audience.

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Cons of the Avon Affiliate Program

As is the case with many MLM-businesses, there are always a few things under the hood that you probably won’t see until long after you’ve signed up. Below are some of these things.

There Is a Lot of Competition

Depending on where you live right now and how you intend to run your business, you’ll most likely have to compete with dozens of other Avon representatives for the same customers. Remember, the company has been around for a while, so there’s a high chance that any areas you are targeting may have been covered already.

You may be thinking about operating online strictly, but will you be able to stand out from the crowd of representatives with an online presence already? This also brings us to the next point.

Custom Websites Provided Are Too Similar

Avon allows you to promote products online using a custom website. However, there is no difference between your website and what thousands of other representatives have. This makes ranking in the search engines very difficult.

The Promotional Methods Encouraged Are Dated

Avon representatives are encouraged to sell their products by organizing parties or giving out free samples. Some representatives have to go to gatherings (with the permission of organizers) to make sales and land new recruits. This is a challenging approach to affiliate marketing, which unsurprisingly leads to a loss of interest for many people.

There Are Hidden Monthly Costs

The brand markets its low-cost sign up as a positive, but many people are unpleasantly surprised when they find out what’s in the fine print. First, you need to hit a specific sales quota per month to be eligible to earn commissions on any sales you make. The quota is $50-200 worth of sales per month, depending on your rank.

While this isn’t a compulsory direct cost for you, you have to work hard to meet this sales quota each month by selling products to other people, or you’ll have to use your own money to make the purchases to stay active and avoid having your account suspended.

When you factor in this requirement, the minimum cost of one year with Avon goes from $25-100 to $625-700.

Promoting Your Products Can Be Expensive

This is a collective disadvantage shared by most MLM businesses. You’ll have to spend money to market the product. If you choose to get a proper website and not use the one provided by Avon, you’ll have to factor in the cost of hosting and a domain name, email autoresponders, content marketing, paid advertising, and more. You’ll also have to pay out of pocket for products you use as free samples.

The Company Has Some Bad Press

Avon has had its fair share of controversies. It was accused of bribery in China and had to pay a $135m settlement in 2014. The company was also called out by PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) for allowing animal testing in some countries.

They’ve navigated the bad press expertly, but there’s no telling just how much this has affected the company’s ratings, especially when Google Trends shows that interest in the company has been steadily declining over the last decade.

Frequently Asked Questions About Avon Affiliate Program

Below are some of the common questions about Avon’s affiliate program.

Is Avon a Pyramid Scheme?

By the real definition of the term, Avon MLM is not a pyramid scheme. Reps don’t get paid for bringing in new people. Instead, the company pays commissions for products you sell directly or those sold by the people you brought in.

However, some people say it can pass for a pyramid scheme in disguise because the only way to earn decent money with the program is by recruiting lots of representatives. Making reasonable money on commissions from product sales alone would require selling a ton of products.

So, the company will never qualify as a pyramid scheme, and they’ll get banned by the authorities if they do in the future. However, if you’re avoiding affiliate marketing companies where you have to rely heavily on recruiting people to make money, you should probably think carefully about creating an earnings strategy that won’t be too reliant on people before joining Avon.

Is Avon Affiliate Program Real Affiliate Marketing?

While it’s called an affiliate program in many circles, the Avon strategy is closer to the standard MLM model (as we have seen above) than to an affiliate marketing scheme. In real affiliate marketing, you only have to focus on attracting new business for the company in return for the agreed commission on each sale.

You don’t have to worry about recruiting anyone or keeping up with any monthly sales quotas as your account won’t be frozen if you don’t meet up with a sales target. Affiliate marketing gives you a chance to build true residual income as the work you do to attract sales can keep yielding results years down the line.

With the Avon approach, you can’t afford to rest on your laurels—at least until you have an army of representatives under you.

Can You Make Money With Avon? How Much per Year?

Yes, you can make money with Avon’s affiliate program. That’s the clearest answer you’ll get on this because once you try to get specific numbers, the water becomes very muddy. First, Avon isn’t upfront about publishing what their representatives earn. You can make of this what you will, but if the bulk of their representatives were earning huge sums per year, you can be sure it will be front and center of their marketing.

Going by available statistics, between 73% and 99% of all MLM representatives lose money. The situation won’t be very different at Avon.

Looking at the annual reports published by the company in 2018, you can see that the company had 5 million representatives and made $6 billion in revenue. If you assume that every rep makes a 50% commission (which is a very generous assumption), it means that, on average, the reps made around $1,100 each for the year. If you add an extra $600 to cover for bonuses from downline sales, the figure comes up to $1,700 (less than $150 per month).

That’s not a very impressive amount, especially when you consider the cost of making the sales in the first place and maintaining an active profile with the company.

So, just like every other MLM business, there’d be a handful of people making six-figure sums from Avon, but on average, most people will just be grateful to break even at the end of any year.

Is Avon’s Affiliate Program a Scam?

No, neither the company nor the affiliate program can be classified as a scam. Avon sells real, verifiable products and also pays their representatives exactly what they promised. The fact that not everyone will make money from the program doesn’t make them a scam. Your focus should be on deciding if the business model is for you or not.

Related Post: Is Affiliate Marketing A Pyramid Scheme?

Should You Become an Avon Affiliate?

Looking at the pros and cons, and everything we’ve seen about the company’s affiliate program thus far, one running theme is that it isn’t a cakewalk. However, the story is the same for every MLM-business.

It’s not the best niche to make money in, so unless you’ve got a perfect plan to break into the top 1-5% of the representatives that make substantial money from the program, you’re probably better off exploring your options elsewhere.

You should consider becoming an Avon affiliate if you are passionate about their product line and already have a huge audience you can sell to and recruit to join the program. So a beauty blogger with a website that gets thousands of hits per month can consider the opportunity.

If you’re also able to get crowds together offline and have no problems marketing the Avon products and the advantages of becoming a rep to them, you should consider giving the business a chance.

Check Out A Complete List Of My Favorite Affiliate Programs Here

How to Succeed in Avon Affiliate Marketing

You can brave the low success rate of participants in MLM and give Avon’s program a go. The failure rates are no different from what you’ll get from any other business.

You can succeed at it if you are ready to do the work required to join the success stories. Here are some of the things you should keep in mind:

Get All the Knowledge You Need

To succeed as an Avon representative, you need to acquire some knowledge of the MLM industry. Research the company in your spare time to find unique selling points you can use when you finally start your campaigns. You should also find a sponsor or a mentor that is already a success in the company and ready to guide you towards your own success.

If your sponsor doesn’t care about your progress and only sees you as just another name added to the column, you won’t have anyone to call on for help when the inevitable challenges of the business start to arise.

Start With Avon Products You Love

Avon’s product line is very diverse. You don’t have to sell makeup if you don’t want to. You can start with men’s products, body wash, etc. You should ideally start with the products you’ve used and loved. If you love a product, the enthusiasm will shine through when you’re discussing the product with prospective buyers (and new recruits).

Do Not Use Deception

One of the reasons why many people frown at any semblance of MLM marketing is that many representatives typically focus on the good sides of the program, leaving the new recruit to find out all the downsides on their own after signing up. You should avoid this method if you want long term success with Avon.

Be honest in your dealings when selling the products or trying to recruit new reps. Don’t exaggerate or cloak important information. If your new customers and recruits don’t feel like they’ve been tricked, they’ll stick with you and help you grow your downline.

Do Not Pester Your Friends and Family

If you’re thinking about selling products and recruiting your family and friends as your solution for building a successful Avon affiliate business, you need to rethink that plan. Pestering your family about joining your new business or buying your products will most likely annoy them. Your friends, on the other hand, will start to avoid you if they start feeling pressured.

You can let them know about the business, but don’t force anything if they aren’t immediately interested. Starting with the first few people you know might seem a good idea, especially when you consider that most MLM meetings encourage you to start with 100 people you know.
However, the most successful people in the industry have very few family and friends as their first customers or recruits. Your friends and family will most likely end up joining the Avon program as recruits when they’ve seen your success.

Find Your Target Audience

One mistake you’ll make with Avon’s affiliate program is to look at everyone you come across as a possible customer or a representative to recruit. This is one of the main reasons why people fail in the MLM business.

Being an Avon representative is the same as any other business. You’ll have a higher chance of success if you know your target audience and tailor your marketing efforts towards them. For example, trying to talk to your male colleagues in the office about buying Avon makeup for their partners won’t yield as many positive results as talking to the partners directly.

Be Ready to Talk About Your Product Daily

Your income as an Avon affiliate will come mostly from products sold, either by yourself or by your recruits. Therefore, you should have a plan to talk to X number of people about the product per day. As you land more customers who love the product, you’ll have more people to convert into active recruits.

Apart from one-on-one meetings, you should plan for how to get the word out about your product or service on a large scale. Avon encourages hosting parties, but you should also consider if the strategy will work with your target audience.

If you’re targeting millennials, a product party won’t yield as many results as posting a 10-tweet thread about the products for your 10,000 Twitter followers or writing a blog post to share on your website, as well as Facebook.

Be a Good Sponsor to Others

If you are thinking of recruiting people just to get commissions off their activities, you should rethink your strategy. Many people fail in the Avon business because their sponsors abandon them after recruitment.

You have to be ready to help your new recruits succeed by being a good trainer and a good leader. Know how to answer questions, reassure them when necessary, provide help where you can, stay supportive when they are struggling, and celebrate their successes when they do arrive.

Understand Marketing

As we’ve mentioned above, using traditional MLM techniques to market your Avon products won’t always work. The best way to market your products is to properly consider your target market and its constituents, understand what they need, think about how you can help them, and where they can be found. Create a marketing plan that incorporates the results of this research.

Segment Your Audience

You need to know what Avon products an individual is most likely to buy. What are their problems? Are there Avon products you can use to solve them? By providing the solution to a customer’s problems, you increase your chances of turning them into repeat customers and recruits in the future.

Go Online

MLM is a one-one-one niche, but that doesn’t mean you have to do the bulk of your meetings offline. We’ve touched on this briefly above, but it’s worth repeating that you won’t attract many Millenials, for example, if you are only waiting until you have everyone in one room.

Create a quality web and social presence for your business. If you already have an active social presence with a sizable following, you only have to focus on communicating your business and marketing the products creatively to avoid boring your followers and lose them.

You should also create a content-rich website and know how to build and manage an email list. Don’t rely on the same content Avon shares with millions of other representatives.

Be Unique

One of the biggest limitations to succeeding as an Avon rep is to rise above the competition and make your target audience to buy products from you or choose you as their sponsor when they probably know other people to go with online and offline.

With Avon, you are selling the same product as over five million other representatives, so your prospective clients and recruits have a choice. You need to find a way to stand apart from everyone else.

For starters, you shouldn’t use the same generic website offered by the company to push your business online. You can then consider other ways to provide value and make people choose you. Running a promotion where you pay for the starter kit of some new recruits who sign up before a specific date, for example, is a good idea.

Stay in Touch

Sometimes all it takes to close a sale or land a new recruit is just one more call or text. While you don’t want to disturb people and make them uncomfortable, you need to keep in mind that you sometimes have to give some people a nudge.

In your correspondence with people, it’s easy to see those that are just undecided and those that have flat-out refused to listen to your proposal or your business. With the former group, get their permission to add them to your email list or request a phone number to follow up. If they respond positively, stay in touch with them through their preferred channels and stay in touch with your marketing content.

Staying in touch can also help you maintain a relationship with old customers who are yet to become recruits to ensure they bring repeat sales.

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Conclusion

Avon’s affiliate program is more an MLM than the real money-making affiliate program you’re probably looking for. If you love the products sold by the brand and can afford to put in the time and energy required to join the few people that earn money consistently from the platform, you can sign up today.

If you’ve failed with other MLM programs in the past, however, and haven’t made any significant changes to your personal situation in that time, you’ll most likely be disappointed by the results of your foray into the Avon program—unless you pay attention to the tips we’ve covered above.

If you’re really looking to have success selling on Avon I would highly recommend getting a book called Network Marketing Secrets.

Read my Review Here: Network Marketing Secrets Book Review & How to get a copy for FREE!

Avon Affiliate Program Review – MLM or the Real Deal Money Maker?