Affiliate Communication
by Sharon Housley
Published on this site: August 4th, 2004
Communication is Key!
When building an affiliate network communicating with affiliates
is important for merchants to maintain a good relationship. An affiliate's
web site targets visitors, who may not necessarily view a merchant's
web site, and therefore expands a merchants market. An affiliate
may not be able to actively keep up with the merchants product,
it is important for a merchant to keep affiliate's informed about
new product information, sales, new releases, links, graphics, promotions
and special offers.
Keep in mind, not all affiliates are going to produce a high volume
of traffic, and importantly, visitors who want to purchase a merchant's
products or services. The occasional gem makes the time taken well
worth your effort. Talk with successful affiliates, find out what
they are doing to effectively promote your software, and use that
information to assist those affiliates who are not as successful.
Assist affiliates in understanding your product; no one knows your
products like you do. For affiliates to drive traffic that will
convert to sales, they need to understand the benefits of the product
they are marketing. Once an affiliate knows the product, they will
be better able to act as an extended sales force. In order for the
affiliate to make the effort, you simply must support them!
Make Communication Easy
Many 3rd party affiliate-tracking programs notify both the affiliate
and merchant of a sale. This can often be automated and will create
positive communication between merchants and affiliates. Making
an affiliate's role easier will help them increase earnings and
further promote a merchants site.
Provide affiliates with great looking graphics and sample text.
Graphics that work best are those that highlight your web site,
yet fit the look of an affiliate's web site.
Newsletters are another great way to get information to affiliates.
Include tips and specific for affiliates, along with general marketing
advice that helps with site promotion. If you are looking for software
to manage newsletters, I highly recommend Group Mail - http://tinyurl.com/23ljy
Affiliate Taboos
An affiliate generates a sale for a product and the merchant promptly
decreases the commission. This sends a very negative message to
the affiliate, in many cases they've taken a lot of time to place
links, promote products and because they've driven effective traffic
their commission is decreased. If its necessary to decrease a commission
for whatever reason, be sure to include a personal note detailing
the reason and letting the affiliate know that you still support
their efforts.
A Cheat?
An affiliate sale occurs, you go to their website and don't find
any links you decide they must be cheating you! This conclusion
is simply a based on poor communication and reporting. Many, many
affiliates have multiple sites, very few affiliate tracking programs
allow affiliates to list multiple sites, and in many cases the number
of sites listed do not accurately reflect the number of sites owned
and managed by the affiliate. Additionally many affiliates manage
opt-in newsletters that may result in sales, but links are not visible
on a website. An example of a popular ezine often promoting affiliates
is Lockergnome!
Links, Links, Links
Keep your links valid! If you update a section of the site
or remove an offer provide a redirect or retain the link saying
that such and such offer has expired and a new one has replaced
it. It seems a waste to discard targeted traffic because a
special has expired. Be sure to communicate with your affiliates,
and if a link will only be good for a specified length of
time tell them up front. When an offer expires notify affiliates
a week prior to the expiration with a reminder. This will
give them ample time to make any needed updates.
Added Incentives!
Affiliates love added bonuses for reaching goals or specified levels
of sales. Many of the 3rd party affiliate vendors run contests and
provide large incentives for their top performing ones. Reward and
praise successful affiliates.
Affiliates tend to be experts in other areas, which relate to a
merchants business; therefore, by communicating useful information,
and helping affiliates increase their earnings, they will give added
exposure and increase your sales. Communicating with affiliates
will ultimately benefit visitors of both sites. A little effort
in the beginning can mean big rewards in the long run.
Sharon Housley manages marketing for NotePage, Inc.
http://www.notepage.net
a company specializing in alphanumeric paging, SMS and wireless
messaging software solutions. Other sites by Sharon can be found
at http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com
and http://www.small-business-software.net.
|