If ever there was a time when marketers need to make sure all their sales channels are humming, it’s now. And online affiliate programs are no exception.
However, too many marketers put too few resources into these programs — where a fee is paid for Web site traffic or sales that affiliates generate — and they’re leaving dollars on the table, according to Shawn Collins, founder of the Affiliate Summit trade show as well as an author and longtime consultant in the field.
“All too often I see one person devoted half-time to affiliate marketing, and it’s taking seven or 14 days to even approve affiliate applications,” he says. “[Marketers are] turning off affiliates before they even get started.”
The lag not only turns off affiliates, it translates into one or two week’s worth of potential sales lost by that affiliate.
“This is someone who’s saying, ‘Today I want to start branding you and make some sales, and I’m giving you free advertising,’?” Collins says. “The thing retailers don’t take into consideration is that affiliates often belong to dozens, if not hundreds, of affiliate programs and they’re often easily distracted. So it’s important to keep their attention when you have it. It’s essential to dedicate staff and resources to help the affiliate program grow.”
However, Collins warns, the answer to speeding the affiliate application process is definitely not automation.
“Companies that have their acceptances for applications on auto-approval leave themselves open to embarrassing incidents where they may approve a site they wouldn’t want representing them,” he says.
Another common mistake marketers make is ignoring affiliates once they’re approved.
According to Collins, “Many affiliate programs’ sole focus is to recruit new affiliates. Once they’re in the door, [marketers] let them be when they should be activating and retaining them. Marketers should look at their affiliates as a real sales force, not just a bunch of numbers. Just because they joined doesn’t mean they’ll promote you unless you activate them.”
Collins adds that many marketers don’t give enough attention to top affiliates.
“Don’t just send out a group e-mail,” he says. “Pick up the phone, have a three-minute conversation and ask what you can do for them.”
Moreover, he continues, too many marketers don’t make it easy for affiliates to reach them: “I see too many affiliate programs where the e-mail sign-off is ‘XYZ Affiliate Program’ and there’s no phone number, no instant message address. It’s discouraging to an affiliate considering promoting [that marketer] because they know if they have an issue they can’t reach [that marketer].”
Collins advocates in-person meetings with affiliates. “You can get so much more done in person than you can through instant messaging or over the phone.”
He believes trade shows are a good place to get together. “Several years ago when I ran an affiliate program in New York, I’d put an invitation in our newsletter saying, ‘If you’re ever in New York, come by our office and I’ll be happy to take you to lunch.’ I’d get about one person a month taking me up on it.”
Collins estimates that for most marketers, 5% of their affiliates generate the vast majority of sales and 95% end up inactive. He feels there are so few active affiliates because marketers don’t pay enough attention to their programs.
Simple follow-up strategies, such as a postcard or phone call, can drive that 5% figure up to perhaps 20%, Collins contends: “Sometimes big-time affiliates will join a program and just never get around to promoting it,” he says. Follow-up contact can serve as an inexpensive reminder to activate, he says.
Collins doesn’t think many marketers do enough competitive research for their affiliate programs. For example, a competitor could be offering a higher commission and drawing more affiliates into its program.
However, he cautions against aggressively beating a competitor’s commission to get affiliates and then lowering it: “That will really alienate affiliates. Affiliates will flock to them for the one or two months they have a higher commission, then go back to the competitor once it’s over. The marketers end up having a loss leader for two months, have no affiliates afterward, and get a reputation for not being affiliate-friendly.”
It’s also not always necessary to beat a competitor’s commission, Collins concludes.
“A lot of affiliates are savvy. So if you have a lower commission rate but a higher conversion rate, they’ll figure that out fast.”
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