CVS Affiliate Program – Green Niche Opportunity, Tips and Keywords Giveaway

There are many online stores nowadays that sell basic necessities at a click of a button. If your niche targets these types of products, it’s about time to check out the CVS affiliate program. Yes, it’s basically a pharmacy but they sell other stuff too. What does the brand have to offer and why should you consider the affiliation opportunity? 

We’ll be discussing that in a bit and if you stay till the end, I’ll even share some targeted keywords you can use for free. 

What Is CVS 

CVS which stands for Consumer Value Store is a US-based pharmacy company that started way back in the 1960s. The multibillion-dollar chain-store has over 9000 outlets in the country, offering clinics as well as retail services. 

Over at the online store, CVS sells a variety of personal merchandise which includes; 

• Baby and Child Products 
• Beauty and Cosmetics 
• Diet and Nutrition
• Grocery
• Health and Medicine
• Home Health Care 
• Household
• Personal Care 
• Sexual Health
• Vitamin

As you can see, each of these categories correlates to a specific niche. A fitness blogger for example may be interested in the diet and nutrition range. Meanwhile, a website that talks about diseases and prevention may want to check under health and medicine or home health care. 

So even though there are more than 25,000 product selections, it’s important to choose what’s most relevant to your niche. That way, a referred customer has a reason to shop and help you make better sales commissions. 

The CVS Affiliate Program at a Glance

The affiliate page isn’t visible on the main website and I actually bumped into it while browsing through CJ Affiliate’s advertisers. With a network performance score of ⅘, the program seems to be doing quite well for a company that just joined in 2017.  

According to the terms, the referral period is 3 days and the commission payout starts at 4% per sale. Before signing up for the program, however, it’s crucial to set up a niche website or blog as this will enhance your application profile and increase the approval rate for any programs you wish to join in the future.

Advertisers usually want to work with publishers who are knowledgeable and committed and a website is a good medium to reflect such qualities. If you already have a blog that’s getting some decent amount of traffic, that’s great. 

If not, try WordPress. This popular blogging platform is SEO friendly and has the capability to publish huge amounts of content; that means more reviews. Use this builder to create one for yourself. It’s free! 

Now, let’s look deeper into the program from two perspectives; the gains and the drawbacks. That should clear any doubts you may have towards the brand and help you strategize better as a marketer. 

The Advantages of Affiliating with CVS

(1) As we all know, the demand for the health and wellness market is forever escalating, especially during this critical pandemic crisis. Offering people their basic necessities are often coined as evergreen and therefore, you can rarely go wrong promoting them online. Of course, certain sub-niches may perform better than others at certain times, but they are all essential products nevertheless. 

(2) As a leading pharmaceutical company, CVS is considered by many, a trusted outlet. In a physical setting, it provides good health infrastructure and professionals to serve the community. They also offer many FSA and HSA eligible products which is a great way to encourage more shopping. 

Over at the online store, products are systematically organized and supported with plenty of customer feedback; something you can leverage when writing product reviews. Delivery wise, customers can opt for free shipping, same-day delivery through Instacart, or even curbside pickup – again, another convenient feature. 

(3) Perhaps one of the biggest perks, if you haven’t noticed, is the commission payout rate. At 4%, it’s considerably higher than the current Amazon associate fees which were adjusted not long ago in April 2020. 

As seen in the table, the health and personal care category, which presumably carries more inventories than CVS, has dropped to a disappointing 1%. Coupled that with the short 24 hours cookie period (vs CVS’s 3 days time-frame) and you’ll most likely experience a poorer sales conversion. 

This is one of the reasons why you should never put all eggs in one basket, in this case, the Amazon cart. Amazon is notorious for changing affiliate terms and conditions without prior notice so it’s important to always seek out other advertisers who can offer similar values if not better. Lucky for you, there is CVS to consider. 

The Drawbacks

Even so, the company isn’t entirely perfect and there are a few drawbacks that will not favor your affiliation with the brand. 

(1) Firstly, do expect most products to be slightly pricier than those listed on Amazon. This can be a hurdle when it comes to price-sensitive customers or those in favor of bulk shopping. They might head off to Amazon after reading your review and you won’t get any credit for the referral. Unless of course, you’re smart enough to apply your Amazon links strategically. 

Using more than one affiliate link for a single product is a common practice as long as the merchants are okay with it. After all, there’s nothing wrong with showing people where they can buy from. Everyone has different shopping preferences and chances are, you can make more sales when people have more options to choose from. 

(2) Another disadvantage has probably got to do with the fact that CVS is not purely an online platform. This means, customers have the option to buy from the physical stores if they want to and again, you won’t be credited for those types of sales. 

However, statistics from 2008 show that online traffic to CVS stores has more than doubled in 2020. This goes to show that consumer behaviors can change with technology and my guess is that where there are conveniences and good services, online stores can attract shoppers just as good as their counterparts. 

Targeted Keywords for Your Niche Content 

With these points in mind, I want to reveal some keyword opportunities generated from my favorite keyword tool; they are long-tail and low in competitions so they are great to use for getting some traffic to your niche blog.

Since I couldn’t cover all of the sub-niches, you may find the content ideas rather random, but I’m sure you’ll get the gist of it. Here goes; 

• over the counter remedies for UTI
• CVS Carepass review
• what is the best glucometer to buy
• pampers sensitive baby wipes ingredients
• Waterpik ultra water flosser replacement tips
• standard first aid kit checklist
• is aloe vera good for acne
• top plant-based protein powder
• how to use a pregnancy test kit
• over the counter sleep aids that work

Hey, if you have other keywords in mind, just enter them into the search bar below and let the machine do the brainstorming for you. It will be interesting to see what comes up. 

What’s Your Take on The CVS Affiliate Program? 

Online shopping for health and wellness is here to stay and I think partnering with different brands can boost your content amongst different audiences. CVS is a solid brand with a strong reputation in the health industry which can further strengthen the trust factor between customers and affiliates. 

I think it is worth giving a try if your niche can benefit from the program. What do you think? Please leave your comment down below. Meanwhile, check out my recommended training platform for more affiliate marketing tips.