Another “help a merchant choose an affiliate network” thread

[Krock77]

Hello all, and thanks in advance (and sorry about the long post). We’ve done research on our own and reading through this site, but figured that it would be good to poll the collective wisdom of the forum for some advice.

We have recently launched Brass Bones, essentially offering handmade to order custom dress shirts for men. The product is targeted at 21+ professional males with a higher than average level of disposable income (or their wives / significant others if they purchase their clothes for them). Examples may include bankers/lawyers/consultants and extend to people in media/marketing/etc. It’s not a designer product in the sense of big logos, but rather a high quality, semi-luxury product aimed at the more subtle, but well dressed “man about town”. Reception to the product has been very good and we are already receiving multiple repeat orders.

One thing I should mention is that our current payment processing is through Paypal, but we have just received our IMA and the gateway and SSL certificate are in process. I presume that this would be important to affiliates, and should be up in the next few days.

Product / backend is working well, and now we are interested in tapping into affiliate marketing. We haven’t tried this before, and being a startup aren’t really looking to sink 500 pounds in setup fees for some of the bigger networks who have bigger merchants who may take priority. We ‘re interested not only in finding networks with the right affiliates, but also networks that will work with us to make sure we are offering affiliates the right campaigns

In addition to the above mentioned markets, we also see a potential in dating, weddings and job searchs, all things in which men really cannot afford not to look their best

A bit about the campaign we are thinking of running:

10% gross commission (avg order value is 65-75 pounds)
2% second tier (?)
30 day cookie (?)
10% discount to consumers
Likely no datafeed for the time being

We would love to hear some recommendations for networks which would be a good fit, feedback on the structure of our affiliate program, or any other general advice.

Thanks again,

K

[kier]

Hi there,

What's the reason behind not being able to supply a product feed? I'd strongly recommend that you don't set up a program until you have a high quality feed in place as it will seriously limit your chances of success.

10% commission is OK, but it would be worth offering a tiered structure going up to higher levels to offer an incentive to your affiliates to perform for you. One important thing to bear in mind if you are a new company entering affiliate marketing is that there are hundreds of merchants to choose from for affiliates already, you need to have the fundamentals of a good program well in place when you launch. This means, at the very least, a good product feed and creative, competitive commission rates (taking into account your converion rate, ave order value etc) as well as regular communication, customer promotions, affiliate incentives etc.

[Krock77]

Its not that we are averse to providing a datafeed. Our thought was just that due to the nature of our product, it might not be necessary as we are essentially selling variations of the same product in different fabrics, with the option to customize the details.

If it is something which would be required / have enough value, then it can dfinitely be done.

I might be mixing up terminologies here, but does the tiered structure you mentioned refer to additional levels of affiliates (affiliate A refers B, and gets a % of B's sales) or is it that orders 1-20 get 10%, 20-40 get 12%, etc?

I'm all for looking at creative options to appeal to affiliates. Do you ave any good examples (incentives, rate structures, etc) that you have run across?

Thanks again,

K

[kier]

Hi there,

I'd still say provide a feed if you can technically produce on. At the very least have an entry for each variation in fabric type with appropriate pictures.

By a tiered structure I'm talking about the commission specifically - for instance have a base rate of 10%, then if you make 10 sales a month you get 12% and so on.

[experienceadvertising]

I manage several large US based affiliate programs in Commission Junction and they all are doing very well and growing steadily. Are you products international? I think CJ has the best affiliate universe out there from being in the industry for 7 years. You simply must have a good check out process on your site, as few steps as possible. I would offer paypal to customers by not as the primary option. You need to have some really nicely designed animate .gif banners in all size that have good "call to action" in them. Also your landing pages, whether its your homepage or other, need to be as good as possible. Promote trust and security to your online shoppers with trust-related logos, we use the BBB online here and Verisign in the US. Let me know if that helps.

[mainlime]

Not knocking your experience but if you want to be taken seriously by UK affiliates I'd advise strongly against using CJ. A lot of affiliates have had problems with CJ and tend to avoid using them where possible.

[KamikzMX]

Originally Posted by mainlime Not knocking your experience but if you want to be taken seriously by UK affiliates I'd advise strongly against using CJ. A lot of affiliates have had problems with CJ and tend to avoid using them where possible.

Totally agree with that, avoid CJ...Personally my shortlist is webgains, POR, Affiliate window and Affiliate Future, these 4 seem to be the general favourites with affiliates, so it makes sense to me that they should be the first choices for a merchant.

[sgpratley]

I'd ring up each of the networks and ask what successes they've had in your sector. Ask what other similar merchants are on board and how long they've been with them.

There are a few similar programmes like Charles Tyrwhitt and Savile Row that have been around for a while so you're not completely on your own, but I suspect they do well because they are known brands, do a lot of sale offers, and are very easy to buy from.

If your site converts well you have the potential on any established network, I'd talk to each of them and see who you feel most comfortable dealing with. Your relationship with the account management team will be e big part of your success.

[Krock77]

Thanks for all the replies.

When people recommend networks such as "webgains, POR, Affiliate window and Affiliate Future", is this primairliy from the affiliate perspective, or are these networks which specialize in retail/appaerel/luxury goods/etc...

I have seen the affiliate stuff that Tyrwhitt / TM Lewin / etc do. They have a more established brand than I do at this point though, and I would say that we fit into a more upscale market. We would do well not for the average guy who just needs to buy a shirt, but rather for those looking for premium products / truly interested in their appearance. While we are not averse to offering discounts in the right situations, we dont want to become one of those "permanently on sale" companies which just ends up cheapening our brand. Our product is significantly better quality than most of those guys, and is priced accordingly. There is little point trying to compete on price.

As a small launching merchant do I sign up to the same network as the big boys figuring that thats where the right affiliates are? Or do I put my effort into the networks that they currently aren't using?

Thanks,

K

[RedHotLee]

Hi there - I think it really depends on the overall service you are looking for as to what network you join.

If you'd like to get in touch with me directly I'd be happy to offer some additional information.
Regards
Lee-Ann
leeann@premieraffiliates.com

[sgpratley]

Bit of both, they're all very pro-affiliate, but also have a lot of retail merchants on board, including in apparel.