Help starting a finance affiliate programme

[Jonesco]

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Hi there. Can anyone offer some friendly advice on this?

I'm on a fact find for setting up an affiliate programme for a financial services company: (debt solutions, mortgages,loans,insurance).

I just wanted to get a bit of feedback to help me decide which route would be best to follow. Would you mind taking a couple of minutes to respond to these questions?


1 - Do you prefer working directly with the merchant through an inhouse programme or via one of the major networks?


2 - Which network do you regard as the leading network for personal finance products?


3 - Do you prefer 'pay per lead' or 'pay per sale'?


Any feedback is much appreciated. Thanks a lot.


Si

[Paul-Morris]

Of course regarding the friendly advice and always good to see a new member on the forum…..

1/ Not easy to answer as all depends on how good the network is and how good the in house department are. Unless you are a big name/ attractive proposition and have a good internal department (to help with management, attracting affiliates, dealing with payments, etc) then I would recommend going with a network. Whilst the network will cost you more (generally 30% override on affiliate commission) they will help with set up, strategy, attracting the affiliates, payment, etc. OR (going against my recommendation) do both if resource allows.

2/ There are a few however you should certainly look at OMG.

3/ All depends on payment level, % that convert, how long does it take the lead to convert, etc. Of course, generally the sooner the affiliate receives payment for their efforts the better however this should be tempered by cost/ risk/ benefit analysis on their behalf.

Good Luck,

Paul Morris
Yucca - Affiliate Marketing Management - Bristol

[Jonesco]

Thanks for the advice Paul - all duly noted. I've heard good things about OMG before.

[Michael_Anthony]

If you're running a finance lead program, then I know plenty of affiliates who will tell you nothing good at all about OMG.

They are very good at sales based insurance stuff, but their history in finance lead gen has been dire to date.

[Jonesco]

Thanks Michael.

I see that you offer leads, presumably direct from your own affiliates' sites? How do you ensure that your affiliates are compliant?

In this case I'm looking for traffic referrals to our website via affiliate links and banners - dows anyone have any tips for this kind of approach?

Thanks again

Simon

[Michael_Anthony]

Apologies for the delayed reply.

We have a site approval process for our affiliates, so we issue site guidelines from which they must work and they can only access our live system and deliver leads once their site has been approved by us.

We may be able to help you - send me a pm if interested.