How to Kickoff and Maintain a Successful Affiliate Program

A good affiliate program makes both parties happy to be together, like the two guys in this picture. That should be your goal. There was a question posted on LinkedIn*, and I thought I’d offer a more detailed answer here. It is both timely and important for those wanting to do online commerce effectively.  I’m sharing my experience primarily from being an affiliate (rather than the product creator, “merchant”, or affiliate manager), so it may take a different tone than you might be expecting. In this post I’ll share not only what is important for kicking a program off, but also what you need to do to keep it going, so you and your affiliates can be happy far into the future.

How to Kickoff and Maintain a Successful Affiliate Program

So you have a product. Good work! You want to sell more of your product, so it’s time to think about having an affiliate program. Even better. But you aren’t satisfied with good, or even “better”. You want to be GREAT! Well I’m glad you are here, because like many things online, there is a strategy to launching affiliate program to make it successful.

1 – Don’t Manage it Yourself

This is especially true if you are just starting an affiliate program in your business.

What does it mean to self-manage an affiliate program? You (the merchant) are responsible for the technology (online software an services) used to track affiliate information, links, profile data, tax information, etc. You are also responsible to pay affiliates, process tax documents, etc.

Why not? This may not apply for every industry, but let me tell you from an affiliates perspective why it is important that your affiliate program is not self-managed.

• You are unproven. Even before the economic challenges, people do shady things, like not keeping their promises, and paying affiliates. Since MarketingProfessor.com launched in 2008, we’ve lost several thousand dollars in commissions because merchants couldn’t manage their business (cashflow), and affiliates suffered (no diniero, geld, greenbacks!). The common link? They managed it themselves.
• Don’t fuss with technology. If you self-manage your program, you also have to manage the software you purchased to track affiliate stats an information. Can be a huge time suck. More on this here and here.
• First things first. Because you don’t have to fuss with technology, you can focus on what matters, recruiting, developing relationships, and proving yourself with affiliates. If you wish to manage your program afterwards, do so once you have established a good track record.

Affiliate service sites to consider using:

Clickbank: This is the most reputable service, especially in the info product world. They take care of virtually everything when it comes to publishing their product on their service. They deal with all the technology, have an army of affiliates, and pay affiliates for you.

ShareASale: They make it easy to get up and running, with ok reporting tools.

Commission Junction: They are the more expensive option in terms of startup costs, but they have a great reputation, and a step up in reporting tools. They do require merchants make the payments, unlike Clickbank who takes care of that. They have a Quality Team responsible for finding both bum affiliates and bum merchants (who don’t pay).

2 – Be Aggressive

Recently I was asked by a hosting company to be an affiliate. They promised 5% commissions for the life of the customer. Huh? Why would I do that when I can easily get 20-30% for life with an existing hosting company that is already proven with affiliate marketers?  Would you?

Don’t come out with a 5% commission program if the market is paying 30%. In fact you’ll need to have incentives to attract top affiliates.

3 – Kickoff with Incentives

When starting your program. Fund new affiliates with $50 in their account! Tell them when they reach the payout threshold (of say $100) they get paid.

Have performance tiers. Reward affiliates with a bonus, or increased % who sell certain volumes.

Hold a contest. Affiliates have egos, they can work to your advantage. Offer prizes, incentives, and sent out a status of the front runners at regular intervals. This is a great way to build relationships and sales.

4 – Communicate with Affiliates Regularly

Call an affiliate who was a sale or two away from the next level in the performance tier and offer to pay them at that level. Yes, call them, as in a phone. This can do wonders for rapport building.

Deliver valuable email messages. Let them know what is going on in the industry, how you are responding to it, and what affiliates can do to take advantage, and sell more.

5 – Be Available – Support Affiliates

When communicating with affiliates let them know they can call you (most won’t) and give your cell number in the welcome emails and newsletters. Be proactive, and give them new tools that they are asking for (and even those they don’t ask for), and invite feedback of what can be done to help them succeed.

6 – Focus on Relationships

Money motivates some people, but it is often not the primary motivator. Find out what motivates them by building relationships with affiliates who are interested.

Hold a monthly call with top affiliates, invite a few to be on your company advisory board.

Not everyone will respond to this, but it is your opportunity to create an environment of partnership. It can give you great insights for future products and promotions.

7 – Pay On Time

So if you do manage your program, or the program you go with puts it on you to pay, or have funds available to draw from an escrow account… By all means. Pay. Accurately. And. On. Time.

Ok, so that wasn’t exactly a sentence, but hopefully you are getting the idea.

8 – Have an Offline Event That’s Invitation Only for Top Performers

This may not be something you can have within the first year of your program launch, but it is something you should have in mind for down the road. A goal. A milestone. These events can do wonders for relationships with affiliates (see point #6).

Bottom-line on Launching an Affiliate Program

Your reputation is the most valuable asset. Once it is tarnished with poor payment procedure, numbers that don’t add up, or broken promises, it is hard to reverse.

If you made a mistake, admit it, own it. Let affiliates know that you have a course of action to fix it, and then do so.

Building trust with affiliates can pay dividends for years to come, and not just monetarily.

Think long-term. Resist the pressure to launch an affiliate program before it’s time, at least until these items are in place.

*Thanks to Marina Arnaout for her question on LinkedIn.
Photo credits: juhansonin, randysofrobert, pinksherbert