What makes a good Affiliate program?

[moogie]

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Hi everyone
Question for today what makes a good Affiliate program?
We {Summit Media, Lee and Mark} work for different merchants managing there Affiliate campaigns on various networks and our hands on personal approach seems to work well as the sales keep on rising.

I want to get other peoples opinions on what they consider to be a good program, is it a whacking good commission, a good site that the merchant has, good product lines or something else?
I am interested to hear as many people’s thoughts on this, both merchants and Affiliates alike.

Don’t hold back, let us know!

[moogie]

On the point of rejections, earlier on in the month we had one Affiliate who I won't name who got hit pretty bad with credit card fraud. some idiot was using their site to come through to one of our merchants.
Anyway rather than not contact them I phoned them up and explained the situation. I think I got a lot of respect for doing that rather than just leave it for them to find out the normal way.

[pistol101]

The one thing i want as an affiliate is a big fat pay cheque!! I also like promoting the merchants that go that extra mile for you, you kind of build up a soft spot for some merchants, especially those small companies.

[Domain Assets]

All the above

+ the site encouraging the visitor to order online rather than wacking a prominent order hotline tel number, which on most programs are not tracked & the affiliate is not rewarded.

Telephone order tracking from the affiliates view is something merchants need to improve on. Its easily done imo, perhaps for consistant performing affiliates only as it could become a PITA.

Theres not many merchants that I,m aware of that consider the affiliate is actually providing more than the affiliates sales stats suggest.

If a site does have a tel order hotline prominent and it isnt trackable then I would like to see a few % more.

[mibut]

One that does not have links to other affiliate sites.
An example of a program I would like to promote but wont is eyestorm on dgm who have a britart logo and link on the home page.

[Mogga]

Order online discount or offer - love these cos they embrace the true spirit of affiliateness (and in most cases must be more cost effective than havng people ring up and order)


No banner ads for anything else ...


When sign up emails go bad - there is one set of merchants who send out SO much crappy mail (e and real) promoting everything from CC to other non-related items on a really regular basis - its well worth signing up with merchants to find out what they do with customers after you've sent them.


All the good stuff for customers too - a good merchant is easy to promote.

[watcher]

Discount affiliate links - i.e. an affiliate link that allows the affiliate to give some of their commission to the user in the form of a discount at the point of purchase. Ideally, the link would take a parameter that defines how much commission will be discounted.

[renegade]

- Promotional codes and exclusive discount vouchers.
- Promo copy that actually tells us the unique selling points of their products - instead of leaving us to winkle it out.
- Great artwork in all the popular sizes.
- Useful newsletter to affiliates keeping us up date about what's happening with their product range, no waffle, incentives and competitions are good too.
- CSV product feed with NO missing or overxized images and correct prices.
- Proactive affiliate manager (hi Jess) who makes things happen.
- Advance notice of major website changes.
- A program that doesn't get pulled and re-instated like a yoyo.
- Feedback, openness and smell of honesty when sales are reversed.
- Great website that loads fast and converts well, doesn't encourage telephone orders or feature their own affiliate links.
- Staff that know what an affiliate is, what we do and how to help us.
I can't think of many programs that fill this list...

[moogie]

Hi guys
Sorry for the delay in getting back to your replies , I have been so busy.
I have made a point of my lastest merchant [Days to Amaze]to drop the telephone number on the site and all new clients will be encouraged to do the same.
The point about Affiliates giving discounts to their customers would mean a drop in commission for the Affiliates and I am not sure if that would work however it is a valid point.

[moogie]

Joe
I am pretty confident we are up to scratch on just about all those points. I try to run things on a one to one basis with all my Affiliates and the guys who are working hard getting sales I will really concentrate on. I must admit this seems to work well, communication is the best as I have found out a lot of merchants do very little to help you guys out. I find this very strange as in the retail industry you wouldn't neglect your sales force would you? Often a freindly reminder to an Affiliate to up date their site reminds them somebody actually cares, it's not rocket science. If it was I wouldn't be doing it!

[renegade]

I have made a point of my lastest merchant [Days to Amaze]to drop the telephone number on the site

No problem with the telephone number being on site (I think it has to be to conform to new laws doesn't it?) but tucked away on the Contacts page rather than plastered prominently as a "Sales Hotline" or 0800 number.

The point about Affiliates giving discounts to their customers would mean a drop in commission for the Affiliates

Fair point, if there were a choice for some merchants I'd promote the discount to get the sales for others maybe not. If there were a choice it would be perfect. Sort of an up front cashback site alternative, now there's an idea...
[EVIL CACKLE ;-]

[Mogga]

There is a merchant somewhere which allows you to chose how much discount you give people...
Sadly my memory isn't what it was but I'm sure I'll remember sooner or later.

[NaturalInstinct]

Originally posted by Mogga
There is a merchant somewhere which allows you to chose how much discount you give people...
Sadly my memory isn't what it was but I'm sure I'll remember sooner or later.

Now that is a damn good idea!

[Shane]

I use template monster for the DreamWeaver templates and you can give commission away on there too.. so your customers get a discount

although I errrm don't ..ahem..