What Key Questions Do I ask a Network?

[Matthewtracesmart]

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HI I am looking to recruit an affiliate network, I attended the A4U Expo last week and have made some great contacts that I have asked the initial question regarding cost such as

Set up fee
Monthly Payments
Override (I realise that this is the standard 30%)
plus any additional costs.


However is there any further key questions I should consider when the prospective network? Is their number of affilaites important? Or their recruitment strategy key?

[djbarker]

hi, Matt, here are a few things you might want to look at:

• how they'll launch you & how they'll promote you ongoing
• their experience in your vertical & whether they have affiliates specialising in your vertical
• who your account manager would be, are they active here, etc.
• integration/implementation
• process for cancelling charges on fraudulent orders

daniel

[nim-b]

In addition, once you've narrowed it down to a couple I'd ask if you could have a tour of their interface (from merchant and affiliate side). You need it to be simple to use but have everything you need. In particular, look for:

- the process for checking and validating/cancelling affiliate sales
- what creative types they support and how these get uploaded and displayed.
- if they let you directly contact affiliates, and what system they have for you to do this
- how the reporting on sales, conversion, EPC, clicks etc is presented

I think this often gets overlooked by new merchants, but you need to bear in mind that the less time you need to spend wrestling with a complicated system, the more time you'll have to dedicate to your programme.

[JRBentley]

Hi Matthew

I have some information which I think may be of interest to you.

Drop me an email at : jamesrobertbentley@gmail.com

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

All the best

James

[Azam.net]

Some good advice there.

• who your account manager would be, are they active here, etc.

This is a key question. Worth asking how many accounts they manage and how much experience they have. Do try to nail them down on specifics, in writing. Most networks promise the earth when they are trying to win your custom; then, when they bring you on board, you have to chase them at every single stage.

Once they have your contract, they often fob you onto somebody who has been in affiliate marketing for five minutes. We had the case with one network recently whereby our Account Manager, who had been in affiliate marketing for six months, decided she was 'too senior' to deal with us and then our account was handed over to somebody who had been in affiliate marketing for one month. He didn't even know how to handle a product feed despite several emails or how their own systems worked - we ended up training him about their interface, despite us being the agency!

Also I can't emphasise enough how it's important to look beyond the fees; the service you receive is far more important. Some of the cheaper networks may end up actually costing you more because you'll have to write five emails to get the simplest thing done and their interfaces are more time-consuming to use because they are poorly designed, have bugs etc.

[arcticsunrise]

I agree with what Nadeem at Azam says.

You should ask them how many active affiliates they have in your sector - if you're selling mobility scooters for the over 60s then you dont want to be with a network whose main affiliate base concentrates on the under 16s

With regard to fees, you may wish to consider using an agency - we recently saved one merchant almost £5,000 in network fees over the first 12 months, and while that may be an extreme example, use of an agency may make networks that are 'out of your reach' suddenly become affordable options.

Most agencies will also give you an honest opinion on whether your product/service is likely to succeed via affiliate marketing - great as this medium is it is most definitely not a case of ''one size fits all"

[Chuck_Hamrick]

Ask if they have monthly minimums and the length of your obligation. A monthly minimum for a year of $500 means an additional $6000. (sorry across the pond but you get the picture)