pushy afiliate managers

[DioBach]

Course mate, I was working on the assumption that they knew how you sent traffic, operated, wanted to operate etc.

I know, I've just got my nark on, this fine day.

[prk]

Originally Posted by DioBach
I've got a good idea who this might be, I've had a couple of emails recently complaining about my performance with XXX programme. Here we go, a quick quote from the latest:

David, the performances this month are not good at all. We have 6 players so far comparing to 16 players we had in April. I think there are 2 major reasons for that:

playingbingo – we are not at the H.P. at all and not on the rest of the site.
bingocodes – we appear only in the inner pages

you mentioned the weather as a main reason but I think removing us from these sites have also contributed to the decrease….I’d like you to push XXX a bit more….could you do it please?

This is a typical example, with all the trademark mistakes: pessimistic, a tad cynical, and quite unhelpful.

Affiliate marketing is a service. this is the very nature of pay-on-performance marketing: 2 companies entering a non-exclusive partnership agreement for mutual benefits.

"Non-exclusive" means the partners are free to work with other companies should they decide to. This actually makes your affiliates "customers" of your affiliate program. In that light it beggars belief that a few account managers do take such an aggressive stance in their communication.

As an affiliate receiving this email -and provided no set targets were agreed on signing the affiliate agreement- I would probably end the partneship.

As a program director managing this affiliate account manager -and provided proper customer service training was given in the first place- I would probably send them packing for sending emails of that nature. Not only such poor communication affects the reputation of your program, but also the reputation of the merchants you promote.

The right approach is fairly simple, not more costly, and so much more beneficial in the long term. It's been outlined by many contributors here:

- Treat people with respect
- Be constructive in your approach
- Be fair

Thinking about it, that sounds a lot like common sense.

[oxleyBM]

I agree with a lot of what Sean has already said.

It can be a tough job with demands from Clients and the boss which are not realistically going to be met. Simply doing nothing or informing the client they are wrong is not a viable strategy if you want to keep the business, so the challenge is about trying to contact affilaites in a way that adds value for both parties.

If I'm not getting the performance or attention I need from an affilaite I usually try and ask "what can I do to get your attention?" , which works better than simply demanding it. Understanding the affiliate's business model and their websites should be a given prior to asking the question.

One frustrating point though that I, and most likely other affilaite managers face, is broken promises and hollow enthusiasm from Affiliates. So often I'll call an affilaite who is full of enthusiasm for what they can do on my program - I give them the details, the follow up email is sent, and then the silence begins. So as earlier mentioned,if you are not interested in the program please dont be afraid to just say so and you'll save us affiliate managers from having to send you several nagging emails - we might also be able to use the feedback you give us to customise the offering to your needs.

Matthew

[Hero]

you should see how these affiliate managers treat their network account managers. If they address their affiliates in this manner, who at the end of the day is who's going to bring in what they are after, their AMs are at the bottom of their politeness list...

[BallsUp]

Hmmmm I've been getting them emails too - I just havent bitten......YET, but it wont be long

[Simsi]

The thing I've found is that there is quite a culture difference out there. For example, I found many of the Israeli programs tended to go for the hard sell, probably because they are so target driven. But that's just not my style at all....constant emails and phone calls - everything was about money, money, money and how rich I could be. Made me very uncomfortable. So I decided to drop pretty much all of them a couple of years ago (bar a couple that never bothered me) and my hassles stopped virtually overnight. Had absolutely no negative impact on earnings...in fact quite the opposite - I found a number of great casinos to replace them and it was probably one of the best decisions I ever made.

Life's so much less stressful now

[AussieDave]

I've been in this game for years and it's very unusual to get an aff program emailing an affiliate to hassle them about lack of conversions. Unless there was an agreed CPA to deliver X number of players a month.

With that said, If I received an email like that I'd be asking myself is this place in trouble & then doing a bit of digging.

In my 8 years in this gig I've never received an email like the one you did rachae1.

Lets face it, regardless of conversions gaming sites receives free branding from every affiliate that promotes them.

I hope you've kicked their butt to the curb, rachae1.



Cheers

Dave

[findlite]

I think you should up and leave the pushy network.........

Iv always noticed how the easy to sell programs with the high % rate are the ones who bother you the least (if at all) and any questions are normally answered quickly with a smile and a touch of humour. Normally you get to know the guy in charge of that particular merchant and eventually your on name terms. No fuss, no dramas you send your clicks, they convert em and you get your cheque in the post

I think if a company is having to give the hard sell then there is something wrong you only have to look at yell.com or scoot.co.uk for examples of declining companies with questionable, pushy sales tactics. If a company offers a good service at the right price then people will buy its as simple as that. The minute you have to start giving it the bigun I think as a business you need to go back to the drawing board.

My two pence anyway :tup

[dganly]

Hey! Am only new to the world of AM. But, the last thing I would ever want to do is annoy any affiliates. There are some excellent points in this thread!
Hopefully, I'll take them all on board before any bad habits set in.