It's no secret to both affiliate managers and marketer, that the key to success in such business is good relationships between affiliate partners. Here are some helpful tips in improving your affiliate marketing relationships:
1. Adjust to your affiliate's availability and preferred means of communication.
You have to understand that most of your affiliates can't attend to their affiliate program 24/7. Some of them may have a day job while others may need to run errands or have responsibilities to attend to during the day. This means, they won't be able to take a phone call or respond to your emails right away.
As much as you want your affiliates to get enough commission that would let them be a full-time marketer, you should also understand their life's or job's situation, communication preferences, and availability. Ask them what's the best times and ways you can reach them and adjust to their preferences.
2. Understand the needs of your affiliates and create new ideas and compelling programs.
Successful affiliate managers study their affiliate's website(s), ask appropriate questions, and take note of their answers. From there, they're able to understand what they need, and bring new ideas and programs that will give them opportunities to earn and become more successful in their affiliate programs.
To develop compelling promotions, you need to do a competitive analysis of your competitor's commission structure, and try to outperform that.
3. Be open to constructive criticisms from your affiliates.
It may seem difficult, but if you want the best solicited advice, don't think twice in asking your affiliates for constructive criticism and advice on how you can further improve your affiliate programs. You can do this by asking questions through email or via a short survey.
It would be better if you allow your affiliates to give free-form feedback. Just make sure to thank them especially if they submit their feedback personally. It's also advisable to send out a summary of the results and the actions you want to take as a response to their input. This is best way to show your affiliates that their opinion matters a lot to you.
4. Communicate with your affiliate marketers regularly.
As mentioned above, creating a good communication link between managers and affiliates is the most effective way to improve affiliate relationships. Aside from regularly updating their affiliates about the status of their programs and their new promos, managers should always be there to help and support their affiliates. You must always respond to their inquiries no matter how big or how significant their queries are.
5. Provide your affiliates with the resources they need.
It is also the affiliate manager's job to provide their marketers with useful resources that will help them become successful in this online money making venture. You can provide them with both soft and hard copies of the files or materials that will make them more familiar with your brand, products, and target consumers. You can avoid confidentiality issues by updating your affiliate program's Terms and Conditions and include privacy information as well as mutual non-disclosure.
6. Be professional when dealing with your affiliates.
In affiliate management, good personality can really go a long way. It's important that your affiliates know the actual person behind the emails you send and the one their talking to over the phone. Just be yourself; remember that it's your personality that will make you unforgettable.
7. Offer deeper discounts, more coupons, and exclusive deals to top affiliates.
Nothing beats exceptional offers and promos in earning the trust and loyalty of your affiliate marketers. If possible, offer bigger discounts or price markdowns on end-of-season clearance items. Costumers love coupons too, so marketers are more diligent in advertising them. Work with coupon sites and provide your marketers with such. It also pays to present incentives or special offers to top marketers. This is a great way to recognize their hard work and high sales.
Remember: if your affiliates know that they are enrolled in a good and fair affiliate program, they will be more motivated in finding ways to improve their sales and performance. It is the teamwork between the manager and the affiliates that will make their affiliate marketing business more successful and profitable.
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