July 18 2008

Comment – How to make affiliates work for you

Affiliate Windows’s David Hall argues that there’s more to joining an affiliate network than just signing up and sitting back to wait for the cash to roll in

According to a recent e-consultancy report, the UK market for affiliate marketing grew by an estimated 45 per cent in 2007, taking the total value of online sales generated by this channel in 2007 to more than £3 billion. Many retailers have already joined a network but may be struggling to see the benefits if they haven’t looked at how to optimise their investment in this type of marketing. Have you taken the plunge, and are you getting the best from your affiliates?

So to help you here’s David Hall, communications director at Affiliate Window five-point plan to help you provide your affiliates with enough ammunition to do the hard work on your behalf....

1/ Increase conversion rates

You affiliates may be sending thousands of visitors to your site, but they’ll get nothing out of it unless you convert those visitors to customers. Affiliates won’t heavily promote sites with a conversion rate that is lower than one per cent, so it’s worth making a few simple changes to your website to encourage browsers to become buyers. This includes customising landing pages and cutting down the number of clicks it takes to complete the checkout process.

2/ Monitor your approval percentage

If you decline a high percentage of sales it is important to be open about the cause of this problem, as this will help affiliates reduce the number of low quality customers sent to your site. For best results, try to minimise the number of declined transactions. Once again, a low approval percentage (below 90 per cent) can be enough to put off the most loyal of affiliates. It is worth calculating the commission level you could afford to pay if you were to reward every sale generated. This would give you a very attractive approval percentage of 100 per cent.

3/ Reduce validation period

Not surprisingly, affiliates like to be paid quickly. Ideally provide two payment dates per month, and certainly don’t go any longer than 28 days without approving affiliate payment. If nothing else, let them know when they can expect to receive their commission, and stick to your promises.

4/ Offer extra incentives

In addition to basic commission rates, think about offering other incentives for exceptional performance – not just affiliates pushing the greatest volume of sales but those that have grown their volume of sales significantly over a period of time. Financial initiatives include private commissions and merchandise they can try out. To boost sales, offer seasonal discounts through vouchers or codes. And consider introducing a low-level commission if visitors register as new users or brochure requests.

5/ Open lines of communication

It is important to communicate all useful and relevant information to your affiliate base, such as bestsellers, new product lines, top offers, sale items, etc. You should also positively encourage two-way communication from both your highest earners and affiliates who generate less but consistent traffic. While it’s impossible to please all the people all of the time, regular feedback from your affiliates will prove invaluable in maintaining a competitive programme.

by Marcus Austin (Web Editor)