How To Motivate And Incentivise Affiliates Effectively By Mark Russell Existem Affiliate Management
Affiliate Managers Toolkit (Barry Smith)
May 16, 2015
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How To Motivate And IncentiviseAffiliates Effectively
By Mark Russell
Existem Affiliate Management
Think like an affiliate
• What do they do?
• How do they do it?
• Why do they do it?
• Recognise their entrepreneurial nature.
• Recognise they are paid by results
- Therefore – motivated by results
Getting a result – Primary Goals
• Making a sale• Driving a lead
Getting a result – Other Goals
• Achieving high SEO ranking• Building a database of keywords• Visible blog / original content
Getting a result
• What can I do to help drive these goals?
Your Website Conversion
• Reduce leakage– Telephone numbers– Non-commissionable products and links– Dead end pages
Your Website
• Optimise conversions• Ensure fast page loads• Ensure stock situation is clear to
consumer• Clear call to action• Necessary product explanations• Simple checkout
Programme Policy and Description
• Ensure clear commercial policy
• Clear PPC guidelines
• Clear “validity” guidelines
• Comprehensive merchant description
The Basics – A Recap
• Affiliates will choose high conversion over high commission
• Affiliates trust merchants with affiliate friendly sites
• Affiliates will sign up for programmes that are easy to work with
• Getting the basics right motivates RECRUITMENT!
Motivation Strategies
• Sales growth
• Lead quality
• Recruitment
• Affiliate Type
Motivation – Sales Growth
• Commission – Affiliate Facing– Commission Rates
– Commission Tiers
– Time limited increases
Motivation – Sales Growth
• Commission – Affiliate Facing– Commission Rates
– Commission Tiers
– Time limited increases
• Exclusive Discount / Promotions – Customer facing– Customer discount
Motivation – Lead Quality
• Target quality
• Pay higher CPA when good results are apparent
• Be transparent
• Validate promptly with rapid feedback
• Provide affiliate education
• Provide affiliate with customer education material
Motivation – Affiliate Recruitment
• Double first commissions– First sale
• Introductory rates– High first month commission
• Prize draw– For posting links
Motivation – Affiliate Types
• Different affiliate types require different strategies– Cash back / Incentive
– Content
– Voucher Code
– PPC
– Comparison
Content Sites - Motivation
• SEO friendly content• Descriptions• Timely information
Cashback / Incentive Sites - Strategy
• Exclusive offers to affiliate
• Higher commission rates
• Exclusive offers to customers
Content Sites - Strategy
• Supply bespoke copy• Send out best-seller / new product
information• Ensure flow of new and relevant
communication• Ensure using all network tools
Voucher Code Sites - Strategy
• Ensure you can supply voucher codes• Exclusive voucher codes• Custom Voucher Codes
PPC Affiliate - Motivation
• Opportunity• Volume• Conversion • Keywords• Cash-flow
PPC Affiliate - Strategy
• Clearly defined PPC policy• Ensure site converts efficiently • Make available keyword information• Provide all tools for available opportunities• Prompt validation
Comparison Site - Motivation
• Multiple retailers• Standardised information• Available product • Conversion• Revenue
Comparison Site - Strategy
• Ensure campaign is visible• Ensure product feed is correctly specified• Ensure product feed is updated frequently• Ensure commission and conversion is in line
with or better than similar retailers
Strategy - Summary
• Understand needs and motivation of affiliate types and address them specifically
Conclusion
• Motivating and incentivising is 2 tiered– Site basics / Programme housekeeping
– Tailored strategy for affiliates
• All communication needs to be timely
• All communication needs to be respectful
• Politeness and courtesy go along way in affiliate motivation
Top 10 Affiliate Mistakes…and how to avoid them
(A 21st Century Internet Marketer’s, Slightly Tongue-In-Cheek, Interpretation of Modern Day Quotations)
Barry Smith
Co-Founder, Skyscanner.net
#1 Mistake – Fail to Communicate
“I know what I believe. I will continue to articulate what I believe and what I believe — I believe what I believe is right.”
- George W. Bush
Interpretation: Communicating with your affiliates should be bi-directional
Action: *Call* at least 1 active publisher per week, invite feedback – positive and negative
#2 Mistake – Fail to Understand Conversion
“I don't look to jump over 7-foot bars: I look around for 1-foot bars that I can step over.”
– Warren Buffet
Interpretation: Execute on low hanging fruit. Conversion isn’t just about your website CTR.
Action: Convert; a)sign-ups to implementors, b) implementors to earners and c) earners to Super Affiliates
#3 Mistake – Fail to Remove Barriers
“One must learn by doing the thing, for though you think you know it, you have no certainty until you try.”
- Aristotle
Interpretation: Know the operational workings of your own programme.
Action: Personally follow your own process end-to-end. From signup, to creative download, to implementation to tracking.
#4 Mistake – Fail to Motivate – not just money
“I don’t want your money, honey, I want your love.”
- Wendy James, Transvision Vamp
Interpretation: Although commission is important, show your publishers some love. Help them, help you.
Action: Publish case studies of successful publishers. Offer tips to improve performance. Share statistics about your business.
#5 Mistake – Fail to Improve and Innovate
“The time to prepare the roof is when the sun is shining.”
- John F. Kennedy
Interpretation: Don’t get complacent about your programme or your creatives – your competitors won’t.
Action: Create a development roadmap of creative improvements and innovative new functionality
#6 Mistake – Fail on Payment
“Show me the money.”
– Tom Cruise (Jerry McGuire)
Interpretation: It’s not just about commission levels. Pay on time, pay accurately. Publishers aren’t doing this for love.
Action: a) Ensure that your finance people understand the importance of their role. b) Pressure your networks to pay on time.
#7 Mistake – Fail to Accept & Solve Problems
“Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.”
– Bill Gates
Interpretation: Don’t shy away from dealing with difficult/problematic publishers. Nurture and learn from them.
Action: Act swiftly - even if the result isn’t positive – putting off bad news makes things worse
#8 Mistake – Treating all markets the same
“There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home.”
- Dorothy, Wizard of Oz
Interpretation: Learn mistakes from your home market before embarking on multi-country rollouts.
Action: Localisation is more than translating text. Speak directly with your network specific country managers. Don’t assume the market or the publishers are the same.
#9 Mistake – Competing with Affiliates
“Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.
George W. Bush
Interpretation: Do not compete with your affiliates. It will end up costing you. Spend your time supporting them.
Action: Either don’t allow PPC bidding at all, or ensure the rules are fully understood. Either way, make your position crystal clear.
#10 Mistake – Failure to “Get” The Landscape
“I was thrown out of college for cheating on the metaphysics exam; I looked into the soul of the boy sitting next to me.”
- Woody Allen
Interpretation: Look deeper. Understanding the full affiliate landscape is essential. Success is more than “build and they will come”. Be proactive in publisher acquisition.
Action: Use free tools to find trends, competitor info. Google Insights, Trends, Quarkbase, advanced search operators
Top 10 Affiliate Mistakes - Summary
Communication
Optimise conversion
Minimise barriers
Motivate – it’s not just about commission
Improve and Innovate
Show me the money! – accurately and on time
Solve problems – be proactive
Identify and under geo-market differences
Offer support – don’t compete
kNowledge – the affiliate landscape
Top 10 Affiliate Mistakes - Summary
Communication
Optimise conversion
Minimise barriers
Motivate – it’s not just about commission
Improve and Innovate
Show me the money! – accurately and on time
Solve problems – be proactive
Identify and under geo-market differences
Offer support – don’t compete
kNowledge – the affiliate landscape
Thanks for listening
“Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% affiliation.”
- Thomas Alva Edison
(well, sort of….)
Barry Smith
+44 (0)7768 334 018
http://twitter.com/MelwoodBaz
Once the basics are done:How to get affiliates motivated
further
Ralf HeinnonstopConsulting International
• You want something from the affiliate
• The affiliate has no need to do anything for you
• You are just one of many merchants
Understanding the usual situation
• Get the basics right
• conversion
• commission
• creatives
• communication
• But: there will always be someone paying more, having higher conversions, better creatives, nicer affiliate managers ...
What to do?
• Make your offer part of the relevant set for the affiliate
• Build strong personal relationships
• Share ideas and discussions
• Support, trust and transparency
• Invest in your affiliates
Get your affiliates involved!
• A stable partnership (also in rough times)
• Additional market insights
• Valuable feedback
• Access to new affiliate projects & ideas
• Overall: motivated affiliates
The merits of involvement
• Fun events - build personal relationships
• Workshops - generate ideas and develop new business together
• Shared promotions - provide affiliates with reasons to think about you
• ...
• Commissions alone don’t create involvement
How to get involvement
• Tap into the resources available right at your fingertips: your products
• Help affiliates build their business
• actual promotion is done by affiliate
• affiliate gets benefit of promotion
• merchant only provides material
Shared promotions
• Investment: Merchant provides (free) products for the affiliates to use
• Condition: Affiliates apply with ideas on how to use them
• Result: builds very intense involvement of affiliates trying to develop ideas
Shared promotions
• Build-up of affiliate user base (opt-ins)
• Make offer of affiliate more attractive
• Opportunity for affiliate to approach others for cooperation
• No direct incentivising of sales
Typical shared promotions
• Airline provided 50x2 return tickets for weekend-trips to the Mediterranean
• More than 60 ideas where sent in
• 10 ideas where chosen and given tickets
Shared promotions example
• New contacts to several unknown affiliates
• Better relation and intensified contact with applying affiliates
• Very productive discussions and later promotions with the selected affiliates
• Higher involvement and improved relationships
Shared promotions typical results
• Shared promotions put existing materials (products) to good use
• Affiliates are getting involved with the product and can build their business
• Greatly improve affiliate relationships
• Stable results in the longer run
• Drawback: No direct impact on sales.
Conclusion
Ralf Hein
nonstopConsulting International Affiliate Management & Consultancy
+49 89 99 52 94 .414
Visit us at booth #7
Thank you!
Open Q&A Session
Ralf Hein Mark Russel Barry Smith
nonstopConsulting International
Existem Affiliate Management
Skyscanner.net
twitter.com/MelwoodBaz
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