Affsum Session: Affiliate Marketing Basics for Merchants

Apparently this same session has been given for awhile now, and is usually referred to as Developing the Right Merchant Mindset.  The speaker was:

• Andy Rodriguez, President, Andy Rodriguez Consulting Inc.

Overall there were some good basics here… but I guess I’ve graduated to where the basics are too basic for me.

Bullet Point Review!

• Lots of merchants don’t understand how affiliate marketing works and hence end up abusing the system.
• Affiliates work when they want and for whom they want – once you understand this you’re going in the right direction.
• Affiliates cannot be fired – they’re not your employees.
• Affiliates don’t work for you, they work with you.
• Affiliates have no fixed work hours and no time requirements.
• Affiliates have no fear of loss of compensation or sick days.
• Affiliates have more work than hours in the day.
• Affiliates don’t need you, you need them.
• Affiliates’ most important asset & ROI is TIME.
• Merchant’s most important & ROI is TRUST.
• Build the relationships and the sales will follow.
  • Be sure your commissions are comparable.
  • Most sales happen in the first 24-48 hours, but long cookies are still appealing to affiliates.
  • Affiliates talk – so make sure it’s good.
• Important to notify affiliates of any downtime ahead of time.
• What does it take?
  • Merchant mindset
  • Affiliate’s first impression
  • Program information
  • Registration/Application
  • Approval Letter – make sure all letters are genuinely personalized
  • Rejection Letter
  • Creating links – make it simple for affiliates to get links
  • What’s in it for the affiliate?
  • Commission rates
  • Return days
  • Creative inventory
  • Clear call to action
  • Deep linking
  • Tools of the trade
  • Link options
  • Commission structure is flexible
  • Affiliate relationship
  • Trust

Points brought up during the Q&A

• Goldencan, popshops – some tools that are easy to help affiliates.
• Successful merchant/AM has 1st hand experience as an affiliate & is able to help partners to improve conversions, drive traffic, & motivate them.
• Just search for your top key words + affiliate to do a vertical analysis.
• There are pros & cons to direct linking that are based on the merchant – in general direct linking will have higher conversion rates.
  • Stronger brands = not so good idea to allow TM bidding
  • Smaller, weaker brands = might be good.
• Should have a program on one network
  • There are problems with different networks and compatibility (adware).
  • Transitioning is different – just be open & clear.
• How do you find niche affiliates to recruit?
  • Tools Aurelius, visit forums like ABestWeb.
• .5% – 1% – 25% of affiliates in a program are active usually.  8-12% is about average.
• Don’t remove affiliates unless they’re doing something unethical or against terms – many will apply with an idea in mind but may not get them in gear right away.
• Continue to reach out to inactive affiliates offering assistance.
  • Is everything okay?
  • Can I help?
  • Have you had a problem with this merchant?
  • Is there anything I can do to help you?
• Remember to include links, promotions, CAB (Cash Activation Bonus) and incentives
• Merchants that have their program across multiple networks with different offers are probably looking to switch networks & are offer better terms on the network they’re moving to as an incentive to get affiliates switched faster.
• If you need contact information that your network doesn’t share, there are tools that will help you go around the network to get information – the network is more of a software application.
• Have contests – it’s a great motivator to get a non-performing affiliate active.
• A low percentage of active affiliates are usually due to bad activation emails or poor merchant support.
• Banners are becomming passe, articles are great, and data feeds are here to stay.