Affiliates, why sign up but not promote?

[DanielAustin]

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You have this the wrong way around - having voucher codes will also stop some affiliates promoting.

My irks are simple - merchant info so full of wrong and misleading information, a large feed with no content, network ignoring requests, not knowing whom to contact, lack of easy communication, out of stock stuff, page leakage, etc, etc - make me wonder if there is actually a single Merchant that has actually got its act together such that they can be promoted by the various affiliate type strategies.

Interesting - Voucher codes can actually be a negative when affiliates consider promoting a merchant.

Going back to your last point is there in your opinion a single merchant that has got its act together, would be interesting to know who that is if anyone.

[Travel Pixel]

Interesting - Voucher codes can actually be a negative when affiliates consider promoting a merchant.

Definitely, there was a time when affiliates would and could add value.

:tup

[pandadragon]

Mainly my reasons are if i join a merchant on Network "A" then that merchant joins my preffered network, i will simply move my links over, but unfortunately some networks dont have an 'leave merchant' button for example like aw does, so im left on programs on networks i dont use anymore.

Phil

[ibenia]

I tried with some of them but they did not approve my websites.

[kolli-tosg]

Most of what’s above, with a few more:

Quality of site images and description – you find a nice shiny new programme to promote and sign up, but when you start having a proper look at the site the images are not very good and the product descriptions are poor.

You don’t know you signed up – with the API on Awin if a product is searched for and found with a merchant you are not signed up with (and the merchant is auto-approve) Awin signs you up – which is a great feature, but you don’t get any notification that you have been signed up to that programme – and if they don’t send out newsletters or emails you have to check what merchants you are signed up with.

Site changes – you start promoting a site and they change the site structure and links, so you pull all your links and then never get round to adding them again.

Deeplinks with custom tracking codes – if you need to add custom codes or use a deep link generator for every link I tend to give up and promote someone else.

You used to promote them – and they changed network you signed up again, and your waiting for them to not change network again.

One very specific to me – I am promoting you just not making any sales! :blush

[giggleberries]

Excellent post and some very useful information. I am learning a lot as a newbie to A4U

Jane

[yangss01]

Three reasons:
1. They have forgotten them.
2. They signed up too many products and can not promote all of them.
3. They signed up for fun.

[Sabcom]

Poor data feeds, I signed up to a few merchants last week and the description was mapped to the image url. I didn't bother.

[Karelellis]

Poor data feeds, I signed up to a few merchants last week and the description was mapped to the image url. I didn't bother.

Happens to me alot - I am signed up to a load of merchants who are "working on creating a datafeed" or the datafeeds are unusable with little or no hope of them actually getting them into a form I can use...

[Subsidesports]

Hi,

Simon from Subside Sports - we are an online football shirt retailer, private company, based in the depths of Devon.

I wanted to add my weight to this post for what it's worth...

I've been working within the affiliate sector since 2002 and the key i've found is to be as transparent and open to communication with both your affiliate pool and network/s as possible. At the end of the day, if the affiliates/networks can see you have an open dialogue and communication channel between all parties, this is a good foundation for a successful program to grow from.

Subside Sports works within a competitive sector, selling football shirts, but we do try to differentiate ourselves from the competition by offering our customer base something a bit different (other than discounting the product, which, in some cases we have to!) - I try and convey this message to our affiliates and I must say a large % follow suit within their own promotions. (pardon the plug). Take a look at what we're running with the British Legion, Poppy Scotland, 3 for 2 offer, commission tiers on key product lines e.g. 15% on our range of Retake Tees etc.

If I'm keen to recruit search/ppc affiliates to the program then I'll make sure the necessary tools are available for them e.g. top selling product lines, allow deeplinking to the Subside site, create specific product categories for their tailored football shirt campaigns.

Essentially, optimise your affiliate program to the wants and needs of your affiliates by the sectors they operate in (e.g. search, voucher based, shopping comparison etc) -.

Cheers,
Simon


Feel free to get in touch

[yepjamie]

I think this is a lesson to all affiliate managers out there. Its really important to welcome your publishers and keep them in the loop of whats going on. On another note, sometimes affiliate managers have so many publishers under them that it gets hard to contact everyone- Solution?= Less publishers per affiliate managers (The Jerry Mcguire solution!!:tup)

For me the main bug-bear and reason why I sign-up yet don't promote certain merchants is because certain agencies or networks aren't as pro-active as they could be in their communications. Like having to hear things through the grapevine.

[Subsidesports]

I think this is a lesson to all affiliate managers out there. Its really important to welcome your publishers and keep them in the loop of whats going on. On another note, sometimes affiliate managers have so many publishers under them that it gets hard to contact everyone- Solution?= Less publishers per affiliate managers (The Jerry Mcguire solution!!:tup)

Segmentation?

[yepjamie]

Ideally segmentation is a good idea- but that neglects all the new up and coming publishers who are not currently performing well. These new publishers can turn out to be super affiliates in the future. They may need some guidance to get there.

More like networks should hire more managers and have a limit of how many affiliates go under them. That way each individual publisher gets the attention needed to move forward.

Segmentation?

[Subsidesports]

Ideally segmentation is a good idea- but that neglects all the new up and coming publishers who are not currently performing well. These new publishers can turn out to be super affiliates in the future. They may need some guidance to get there.

More like networks should hire more managers and have a limit of how many affiliates go under them. That way each individual publisher gets the attention needed to move forward.

Dont really agree with this, and I've found even segmenting "new up and coming publishers" allows me to focus on their develolpment and contributions to our affiliate program.

Regular communication by email, phone and visiting these affiliates seems to have worked well for us and allows me to open a good dialogue to understand what needs to be done.

Think its slightly short-sighted to just expect networks to hire more managers - where do you draw the line in how many more managers you hire? This would undoubtedly mean higher running costs for the network? How would you expect to "limit how many affiliates to under them"??

[yepjamie]

Great points...

In reality, I realize that my response above can't really work. But the concept makes sense.
Networks can't just keep hiring managers...It doesn't work like that. I myself have about 400 affiliates under me. Email, weekly calls and visits are a must.

Dont really agree with this, and I've found even segmenting "new up and coming publishers" allows me to focus on their develolpment and contributions to our affiliate program.

Regular communication by email, phone and visiting these affiliates seems to have worked well for us and allows me to open a good dialogue to understand what needs to be done.

Think its slightly short-sighted to just expect networks to hire more managers - where do you draw the line in how many more managers you hire? This would undoubtedly mean higher running costs for the network? How would you expect to "limit how many affiliates to under them"??