Affiliate Marketing Blog by Shawn Collins

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One of the sections in my latest AffStat report of affiliate marketing benchmarks is dedicated to affiliate managers speaking out on topics of their choosing.

I agree with some of the opinions, and shake my head at others, such as the following…

I think a major issue is having affiliates who don’t understand your product, and just sign up because your earnings and price point are high. Also, many never even get around to building a site and don’t cancel their accounts. In over 5,000 affiliates, only about 250 might be active.

Assuming this affiliate manager is manually approving the affiliates, it should be somewhat apparent when an affiliate is applying with sites that have no relevance to the merchant.

In the event the affiliate manager cannot determine if there is relevance, they can certainly reach out and ask the prospective affiliate a question or two.

After the affiliate is accepted into the affiliate program, the onus is on the affiliate manager to provide the insight, tools and resources to the affiliates.

If they are inactive, it may well be due to lack of understanding of the product or service offered by the merchant. Knowing that this is an issue, affiliate managers should equip affiliates with an affiliate sales guide.

Don’t blame them for not having a grasp on your company when you never told them about it. Explain your product or service, the target demographic, the most effective ways to promote your affiliate program, etc.

And try using something besides your tired old e-mail to communicate with affiliates. How about some direct mail, an affiliate program blog, or picking up the phone.

Just stop with the complaining about inactive affiliates and take some action already.

Visit www.affstat.com for more information on the AffStat report.

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