Q: I run an affiliate marketing company and I am looking to hire affiliate marketers to work for me. I was wondering if you could suggest some remuneration models and incentives?
A: An affiliate marketing company? I am not sure if this is a network or merchant? I am not entirely clear on the question, but I’ll answer it assuming you are interested in launching an affiliate program for your company.
As far as the various payment models to affiliates, typically you would pay a percentage of a referred sale to affiliates, a flat fee for a lead, or per click.
Also, you could pull together a hybrid of any of these commission structures.
Incentives to affiliates usually work out in one of two ways: a graduating increase in commission rate based on the volume of leads or sales referred, or else cash prizes for affiliates that reach specified goals.
One thing to bear in mind is that you should budget for a “super affiliate” commission rate. If an affiliate has a reputation for being a top performer, they’re likely not going to work hard to promote your product or service if you’re only offering them the same rate as anybody that drives one sale or lead per month.
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Your Message@Zazzaaa:
What do you mean… recruiting affiliates to a program on a second tier?
What if you were an affiliate and were hiring other affiliate marketers?
@Stew Kelly:
Hi Stew -
Yeah, you are limiting growth if there isn’t room to pay a higher rate to the big performers.
Hey Shawn,
I liked your suggestions about being prepared for super affiliates and a sliding scale of incentives. That would give affiliates an incentive to grow and improve their efforts.
I haven’t heard about the flexibility in how commissions are applied, but it makes sense as fee structures get more complex.
Yes, we have certainly entertained that as an option. We have so many changes in the works, I can’t really say if we will implement that change or not, though.
The feedback from our affiliates always helps light the path towards our decisions.
Your Message@Ron Givens:
Hey Ron -
Since many of your affiliates are customers, have you considered giving the option for applying commission towards monthly fees?
I guess that might monkey around with recurring billing, but I think Rackspace does it.
I spend a lot with Amazon, and I like that I can have my commission paid to me in the form of store credit.
I definitely agree with your opinion about having a budget or incentive for super affiliates or affiliates that have proven that they can out perform the average affiliate.
Also, if they are bringing in a great deal of customers ( depending on your program ), the customers they bring in then have the potential for being affiliates as well.
In the case of AWeber, we are marketing to email marketers, so customers brought in by affiliates are already engaging in some type on marketing. This makes them even more likely to become motivated and productive affiliates.
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