How to Delight Your Affiliates - Part 3
Another thing that the majority of affiliates are looking for in a program is one that pays on time and within a reasonable amount of time. To keep affiliates happy, be very clear on when you pay and how often, and then make sure to meet that timetable each and every time.
Offering the affiliates a way to track their sales on an ongoing basis is also a good way to garner loyalty and enthusiasm. Seeing the results only every two weeks or even every month is not the best way for them to see the immediate results of their sales techniques. Having a way to track the results daily will allow them to change the techniques that are not working and add on things that will. This also ends credibility to the vendor, allowing the affiliate to see the numbers and not simply to trust that they will be there when the payments are made.
Of course the most important way to keep affiliates happy is to offer a quality product and a high commission rate. If no one seems to want to join in the network to promote a certain product, it may be time to look at the product and its pitch page and decide whether either one need some work. And if there are plenty of affiliates signed up and yet few sales are being made, that’s another sign that something may be wrong. If the materials to promote a product are lacking, or if the commission rates are simply not high enough, sales will suffer. If sales suffer for long enough, consider revamping your commission structure. There are many affiliates who will simply not consider selling for very low commission rates. Raise them and see if the entire network doesn’t become more energized toward making sales. Keep the affiliates
enthusiastic and the sales will be too.
To make sure that you are not losing affiliates due to having an inferior commission structure, it pays to do research on the competitors’ rates. Their affiliate pages should mention the commission rates, so take note. Also notice what other rates are in the same industry. If you have an ebook with a rate of 20 percent, look at other ebooks in your niche, but also look at ebooks as a whole. Other ebooks with similar themes may have similar commission rates, but if ebooks about a different topic are paying 50 percent, you will still lose affiliates. If the rate in your niche is below other niches, it will pay for affiliates simply to find a new niche.
To make affiliates even happier, offer several different methods of payment. An affiliate may be uncomfortable with an online payment, as with PayPal, and want a physical check instead. There are some affiliates who want direct deposit into their bank accounts. Some affiliates prefer alternative payments, such as wire transfers. The more ways you offer payment, the more likely it is that you will make the individual affiliates happy.
If you are using Clickbank to manage the affiliate network and relying on them to send the payments, there is no alternative to the checks that are sent out directly to affiliates through their system. It may be a good idea to have some affiliates outside of the Clickbank system for those who do not want to be paid by check. International affiliates in particular may not want to wait for a check to be mailed and then have a lengthy wait for an international check to clear. In Europe, wire transfers are common and affiliates may be seeking out networks that will pay through a transfer.
Affiliates will also appreciate a low commission payout. If your payout is set to $100 or more, an affiliate may feel that it is too risky to set their time and money toward selling a product when they may not get a payment anytime soon. Any payment, even a small one, will show the affiliate the rewards of being in your network. A payout of $25 is on par with the most network payouts, and should not be too difficult for most affiliates to meet. You might even decide to distinguish yourself with a super low payout to attract new affiliates, such as $10. This also establishes your company as a legitimate one that really pays like it says it does.
Above all, let your affiliates know you appreciate them. Affiliates are there to make money for themselves, but they are also there to provide a service to you. They are the ones rowing the boat, and a captain who doesn’t appreciate that may have to row it himself. Even if an affiliate is not emailing with questions or complaints, email every once in a while just to touch base and make sure the affiliate isn’t having any problems with promotions. The occasional unsolicited contact will be appreciated by most affiliates, but make sure not to email too often. A weekly email could get bothersome, so simply stay in communication often enough that the affiliate knows he has not been forgotten.
An affiliate manager who does not stay in contact with the affiliates will not stay on the mind of those affiliates. Those neglected affiliates may not even remember the company after a while. Stay in contact with your support and encouragement in order to keep affiliates happy. Affiliate recruiting becomes much more fruitful in the long run when you delight affiliates you already have in your arsenal.
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Jim Musselwhite is an internet marketer with a wide array of diverse, authoritative information sites including Affiliate Management Formula and Your Affiliate Team and Local Search Authority
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