If you’re a gardening guru, a DIY junkie, a home decor enthusiast, a blogger, or an influencer, and you’re looking for a way to make some extra money, then the Home Depot affiliate program might be for you.
In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about the Home Depot affiliate program, from commission rates and signing up to maximizing your earnings. Plus, we’ll cover how the Home Depot affiliate program compares to its competitors so that you can pick the best program for you.
Understanding the Home Depot Affiliate Program
Before we dive into the Home Depot affiliate program, we want to give a bit more context about the company itself.
What Is Home Depot?
Home Depot is a Fortune 500 company and the “world’s largest home improvement retailer” with over 2,300 stores in North America and an online retail business. They sell appliances, home decor, power tools, outdoor furniture, building materials, and lots more. They also offer services like kitchen design, plumbing, and appliance installation services.
What Is the Home Depot Affiliate Program?
The Home Depot affiliate program provides financial rewards to content creators who promote Home Depot products and generate sales.
When you register with the Home Depot program, you receive unique links to the Home Depot website. Your goal is to get people to click those links and make a purchase. For every eligible sale associated with an affiliate link, Home Depot pays out a commission.
The best way to get your affiliate link in front of potential shoppers is to create content that promotes Home Depot products and attracts the right audience. Here are just a few ideas.
- a DIY how-to video on YouTube
- a demo of a new product on TikTok
- an Instagram image of select home décor products
- a shopping list for a home improvement project on your website
In addition to its affiliate program, Home Depot offers the Home Depot Installation program which rewards affiliates for promoting Home Depot’s home improvement services such as plumbing or landscaping.
Details of the Home Depot Affiliate Program
If you’re thinking of becoming an affiliate marketer and you’re researching an affiliate program, it’s important to consider factors like product range, commission rates, brand values, criteria for selection, and cookie duration. Let’s take a closer look at the Home Depot affiliate program.
Commission Structure
Affiliates earn a percentage of the item sale amount on all eligible sales connected with an affiliate link. This percentage rate depends on the product category. For items in the HD Home category the commission rate is 8% commission but for everything else, it’s just 1%. In store purchases are not eligible for commission.
If you opt to join the Home Depot Installation program and generate leads for Home Depot services (such as landscaping or kitchen installation services), commission starts at $20 – $200 per qualified lead.
Product Range
The application form for the Home Depot affiliate program lists over 1m items in the HD Home category alone. These include the Artisan 5 Stand Mixer ($449.99), the Deluxe Digital Steam Press ($299.99), and the Monahan Grey Velvet Armchair ($228). In other words, there are plenty of big ticket items eligible for the higher commission rate.
But if your strategy is to target a higher volume of cheaper, impulse buys, there are also more affordable products like this battery-powered milk frother ($21.99) or Grill Shine Quick Wipes ($). Naturally, there’s also a middle path, promoting a variety of the best of both kinds of products.
Cookie Duration
Cookies help identify which purchases came from an affiliate by storing every link click for a limited time. Affiliates only earn commission if a purchase is made within the cookie window. A long cookie duration maximizes an affiliate’s chance of earning commission.
Unfortunately, the cookie window for the Home Depot affiliate program is just 24 hours. By comparison, the cookie windows for rival affiliate programs are:
The short cookie window makes it harder to generate conversions for high values items like furniture and kitchen appliances which customers generally take longer to consider.
Affiliate Program Support
If you join Home Depot’s affiliate program, you’ll be provided with a “customizable, affiliate dashboard, up-to-date data feeds along with a wide variety of banner ads and text links”. Impact, the company that manages the program, have a team of account managers and tech support who can assist you too.
Pros and Cons of the Home Depot Affiliate Program
Advantages of the program
- Well-known brand
- Wide range of products
- Delivery across North America
- 8% commission on some products
- Access to marketing tools and support
- Serves both homeowners and commercial customers
Disadvantages to consider
- Low minimum commission rate (1%)
- Short cookie window (24hrs)
- Traditionally focused on in-store, with a weaker ecommerce offering
- Limited to sales in North America
Getting Started with the Home Depot Affiliate Network
Go to homedepot.com and scroll to the bottom of the page. Under ‘About Us’, you’ll see a link for the affiliate program. When you follow the link, you’ll see two options:
- The Home Depot Affiliate Program. Choose this program if you want to promote Home Depot products.
- The Home Depot Installation Program. Choose this program if you want to promote Home Depot services.
When you click ‘Sign up’, you’ll be transferred to the sign up page. You’ll be transferred to the Impact platform, the website of the affiliate network that runs the Home Depot affiliate marketing program.
You’ll be asked to fill in your personal and contact details as well as information about your promotional methods. Home Depot will then review your application to determine whether you’ve been accepted for the affiliate program.
Requirements for Approval
To be approved as a Home Depot affiliate marketer, you’ll need to have an active website, blog, newsletter, or search landing page that is attracting a good volume of traffic. You’re most likely to be approved for the affiliate program if your site covers home improvement topics.
To make sure your website looks as professional as possible, get your own domain name and a linked email address and make the site is easy to navigate. You an also share an associated social media page.
How To Maximize Your Affiliate Earnings
Here are some of our top tips for turning your content into a commission factory with the Home Depot affiliate program.
Know Your Audience
If you know your customer, you can promote the products that are most likely to grab their attention. For example, if you’re targeting small construction companies, you need to promote tools that are suitable for professionals.
It’s also smart to design content that helps your customer reach their goals. For example, a professional handyman may be interested in the battery life of a drill because they don’t have time to wait around for a drill to charge. An everyday shopper, on the other hand, may want to know how easy it is to use.
Choose a Profitable Niche
Instead of randomly selecting different products, it can be a good idea to stick to a niche, such as home decor or outdoor living. That way you can build an audience around an area of interest over time. It makes sense to choose something you are passionate or knowledgeable about, but that’s not essential.
You can define your niche by price e.g. DIY on a shoestring or high-end professional tools. It can be a good idea to choose relatively cheap items because your audience will be more likely to buy them on an impulse, but you would need to sell a lot of items to make decent commission. Expensive products, on the other hand, offer more commission but are likely to yield a lower conversion rate.
Make sure your niche matches your chosen marketing platform. For example, home décor items are a great option for visual platforms like Pinterest.
Promote Trending Items
Items that are popular are more likely to sell. Keep an eye on trends in your niche on social media. Follow other affiliate marketers in the Home Depot affiliate network to see what they’re promoting and keep track of Home Depot marketing to figure out what’s selling fast.
You can even pop into your local Home Depot store to see what’s on display. Sales and season changes are both great opportunities to drive sales.
Use Multiple Channels
Some shoppers like to read email newsletters. Some like to scroll Instagram and TikTok while others just like to browse Pinterest. To maximize your reach, promote your affiliate links across multiple online channels and formats. You can even use some of the same videos and content on multiple different platforms to save time. Use social media to drive traffic to your website and use your website to drive traffic to the Home Depot website.
For example, you could create an inventory list of everything you need for a backyard patio makeover. You could post an image of an attractive patio space on Pinterest. The post could contain a link to the inventory list on your website which would provide text links to each of the Home Depot products. You could also video a demo of the patio transformation for Instagram reels.
Study Successful Affiliates
Follow other affiliate marketers, especially those on the Home Depot affiliate program, to get a sense of what works. Pay attention to factors like product choices, video length, format, and captions. Do their photos and videos have high production value or do they look homemade? Do they include personal content along with their product reviews? Consider whether their approach would work for your audience.
Optimize for SEO
Make sure that your site is SEO-optimized in terms of both the technical set-up of the site and the content you’re producing. It should also function well on mobile. Keyword research using a tool like Ahrefs, SEMRush, or SurferSEO can be particularly useful for copy and blogs.
If your main traffic source is social media, make sure to make your content engaging and ideally viral. With a little luck and just one or two viral posts, affiliates can make a shocking amount of money in commissions.
Make Friends with Data
No matter what channel you’re using, data is key. If a post, video, or website update increased traffic or improved conversions, figure out why and repeat it. Home Depot will also provide data as part of its affiliate program to help you see what’s working.
Scaling Your Business
Once you’ve found a niche that works and you’re comfortable promoting products, you can start to diversify your offering.
- Try new products, niches, and channels.
- If you can recycle content for different channels or translate it into different languages, that could be an efficient way to scale.
- You could hire someone to help you produce more content or even partner with other affiliate marketers to expand your reach.
- Join a second affiliate program.
Of course, if a small side hustle works well for you, scaling is optional.
Home Depot Affiliate Program Alternatives
Before you become an affiliate, make sure you do your homework. Some affiliate programs are better than others and the Home Depot affiliate program may or may not be right for you. Let’s take a look at 4 rivals to the Home Depot program.
| Affiliate Program | Commission | Cookie Window |
| Home Depot | 1% or 8% | 24 hours |
| Amazon | Approx 4% -10% | 24 hours |
| Walmart | 1% – 4% | 30 days |
| Target | Up to 8% | 7 days |
| Wayfair | 7% | 7 days |
1. Amazon
The Amazon affiliate program commission rate is comparable with Home Depot’s and both programs have a 24-hour cookie window.
While Home Depot is primarily a brick-and-mortar business, Amazon is a world leader in ecommerce so they excel in online shopping and delivery. Amazon also ships globally which means more potential customers for marketers in its affiliate program.
However, Home Depot is better known in the home improvement niche and home owners and contractors may prefer to shop from a brand that specializes in that area.
2. Walmart
The Walmart affiliate program offers a longer cookie window of 30 days, but its commission for hardware, tools, furniture, and garden items is just 1%.
Walmart is not a specialized home improvement brand so it is less likely to meet the requirements of serious DIYers or professional builders, but if your audience is average shoppers doing basic home improvements, Walmart will likely offer the most affordable and convenient solutions.
3. Target
The Target affiliate program, aka Target Creators, matches Home Depot’s commission rate, but Target offers a longer cookie window of 7 days.
Like Walmart, Target is a household name and offers a wide range of products at affordable prices, but it isn’t a specialist home improvement store.
4. Wayfair
Wayfair is a budget-friendly, online-only furniture and home goods company serving the US, UK, Germany, Canada, and the Republic of Ireland.
The Wayfair affiliate program offers 7% commission on all items and a 7-day cookie window. Their average order size is $300 which means there’s potential for big payouts – but your conversion rate may be low.
Like Home Depot,, Wayfair is a specialist in the home improvement niche and even caters to professionals with bulk pricing. This makes Wayfair’s program a strong rival to the Home Depot affiliate program in this niche and a great alternative if your audience is outside the US.
Is The Home Depot Affiliate Program Worth It?
Home Depot is synonymous with home improvement in North America. It is a well-regarded brand with a huge product range that caters to both everyday customers and professional service providers. If your audience is serious about DIY, renovations, landscaping, or interior decorating, the Home Depot affiliate program is likely a good choice.
However, the Home Depot affiliate program offers a short cookie window and a low minimum commission rate of just 1%. Everyday shoppers will likely find better deals at Target or Walmart. Amazon offers global shipping and a more sophisticated ecommerce offering, and Wayfair pays 7% on every qualified sale. Each of these rival brands has an affiliate program that’s worth investigating.
If you do choose to join the Home Depot affiliate program, it might be smart to target homeware products in the 8% commission category, tap into the commercial market, or focus on generating leads for Home Depot services. If you can build an engaged audience in a profitable, the Home Depot affiliate program could soon be your successful side hustle or a lucrative new career.