etiquette on removing non performing affiliates?

[deadgoodundies]

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I've just been going through our list of affiliates that are joined to our program and as like a lot of merchants (so im told) there are only about 15-20 good performing affiliates and a lot of people that who signed up but showing no sales and between 0-10 clicks in the past 4 months.

I could do with clearing these non performers so that i can better manage the good ones.

I've rejected affiliates before in the control panel but they still show in the list (with just rejected next to them) , is there anyway to permenantly remove them from the list?

Also what is the etiquette on clearing out non performing affiliates? i presume just an email explaining why and giveing them a lot of notice would suffice.

Anyone give me any pointers as i obviously don't want to upset anyone.

[Mogga]

Why?

Have you not asked them if they'd like to promote you more?
You might be ditching some good future affiliates.

[deadgoodundies]

I've sent out newsletters, emails, promotion codes, incentive offers etc. etc.

If someone isn't performing with even 1 click after 3 months when others are creating £2000+ extra sales per month then isn't it safe to assume they arent interested?

[Silverfern]

I have a few sites that due to work and other commitments havent been able to do much with, you've got me worried now that other merchants may drop me, even if I got a particular merchant one extra sale a year, isnt that better than not having that sale?

I may be the next freddy flintoff of the affiliate world!!!

[drivetowin]

I dont understand why clearing the nonperformers makes it any harder or easier to manage the good performers - surely you know who the good performers are so just keep track of them separately.

Like Mogga says, a non/poor performing affiliate today could be one of your top ten affiliates in six or twelve months time.

I, like I suspect many other affiliates, tend to sign up to new programmes as they launch but it may then be three, six or even twelve months before I actually get around to promoting them unless they have a really compelling offer which makes me want to promote them there and then.

A non performing affiliate is not costing you any more financially (you only pay commission and network override on any sales they make) so my advice would be to leave them where they are (or contact them and try to encourage them to promote you - many of the merchants I have signed up to and dont promote yet is mainly because I've semi-forgotten them - a good catchy upbeat newsletter often makes me review them and move them to the top of the pile)

As a merchant as well as an affiliate I would only ever consider removing an affiliate if a) they were sending fraudulent transactions or b) they were promoting me on a site I didnt wish to be associated with - i.e. hard core porn or promoting illegal activities.

[deadgoodundies]

Yes that is true one sale per year is better than no sales per year.
Im not saying I am going to drop affiliates i just wanted to see what other people do before I did anything.

So i guess the general opinion is just to leave them alone and you never know whats lies down the road

[Bod]

I would love more Newsletters from Merchants or emails addressing concerns about performance.

Having only started in February ( took 2 months to step up) and only just seeing a few trickling visitors to the main site I have has taken nearly a year, well 8 months of getting searched by google and other sites, and then trying to combat the big boys on SEO which i wont win. I do PPC so get small amounts of income but to start off with made a loss. Now getting a small profit.

I started off small and slowly started to build on that small area.

I have over 700 merchants that maybe only 500 have been added in this time and I wish i could just click me fingers and its all done but it doesnt work like that. I am also looking to see what works and what doesnt without maxing my credit card, as google want payment in 30 days while some merchants dont pay for 60 plus days, not saying you do but for us newbies to just be removed for that I would be a little annoyed, like ASOS and other merchants just blank removal of affiliates.

I was told when i first started not to see anything major for around two years in Search SEO and profits. I was also told by someone I spoke to that i have the desire to make it work and I will make it work but i know i need time, but will the merchants give us that time before booting us off there programme

[deadgoodundies]

Ok thanks for all that information it's much appreciated, im certainly seeing things differntly now.
My biggest problem i think is that because i've never experienced things from an affiliates view point i was lacking in the understanding from an affiliates side of things.

[eliteshops]

I would love more Newsletters from Merchants or emails addressing concerns about performance.

I too would love more newsletters. As we have over 1100 sites on Elite it is totally impractical for me to look at every site each week and see what is on offer.

I actually think this is the merchants responsibility. You will often see the best performing merchants are those that keep in touch with their affiliates and where successful affiliate managers score more points over their counterparts

Stick with your non performers, as mentioned twice (and sorry to repeat) these could be your best performers in 12 months. One good review in the media and from <100/week hits can shoot up to 3000 hits per hour.

We sign up to many affiliate programmes almost immediately after launch, but can take up to 3 months to get them listed, but a good offer or voucher usually causes a queue jump.

communication is everything in affiliate marketing. contact the non performers, ask them to get your site listed, offer them an incentive, keep them interested and I'm sure they will improve performance

[Mogga]

Is there a faq for merchants somewhere?

This is the sort of q that I'm sure lots of them ask.

[renegade]

So i guess the general opinion is just to leave them alone and you never know whats lies down the road

Definitely.

You'd be better off spending your time pro-actively encouraging non-performing affiliates to get involved with your program.

Visit their sites, see where your products could fit in, then send personal emails or get on the phone. Basically the easier you make it to promote your products the more active affiliates you'll get.

Like many other affiliates we apply for most new programs as a matter of course. Our broad shopping site is more likely to make a small number of sales for a wide range of merchants rather than loads for one or two and our mailbox is always bursting with newsletters and updates so it's the merchants that make things easiest for us that tend to get most coverage.