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.

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Want to meet me?! Of course you do! Remember that today is the last day to sign up for Affiliate Summit East 2008 and still get the cheaper Early Bird Pricing. The full conference pass – today only – is just $949 while an Expo Hall Only pass is a very affordable $99. If you’ve been waffling about going, pull the trigger and do it now while it’s still cheap!

After tomorrow, the prices go up to $199 for the expo hall only pass and a whopping $1449 for the full pass. And of course, if you sit on your lazy duff until the last minute, you have to shell out $299 for an expo hall only pass or $1949 for the full conference pass.

There are a lot of great sessions already scheduled and on the agenda for the summit. A full agenda is online already. I’ve already added several to my TripIt account so I can plan out my time, including Sam Harrelson’s Leveraging Social Media, Andy Rodriguez’s Affiliate Marketing Basics for Merchants, and Lisa Picarille’s Content that Kills sessions.

There’s no reason not to save money and really, this is a great event for affiliate marketing professionals – both publishers and advertisers – to network and learn from. So go today and register for Affiliate Summit East 2008 in Boston while you can still get in with the best price!

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