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Phil Tanny
Joined:
22 Aug 2003
Posts:
1324
Location:
Gainesville Florida USA
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Posted: Sun Aug 15, 2004 4:25 pm
Post subject: Any Affiliate Program Managers Here?
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Do we have any affiliate program managers here? Any
managers care to share their experiences?
Some lazy whining people in this forum (that would be
me  ) seem to be having trouble talking themselves
in to being good affiliates, and I'm wondering if such
types might have more luck on the merchant side.
I've run three programs, so I'll start out with a quick
history. Perhaps others will follow with their
experiences.
1) My first affiliate program paid $50 to anyone who
would bring me a new list hosting client. I charged a
$35 set up fee, so I got most of the $50 back
immediately.
I was able to track the customer from a link to the
order form, but I didn't have an affiliate reporting
interface. Just didn't know how. That wouldn't cut
it now, but those were simpler times.
Affiliates seemed to really like the $50 payout, but it
wasn't an ongoing payment, and no 2nd tier (such as
Aweber has for example.)
Allan used to send me clients. And now he has a whole
network of beach houses!
The program was successful, but ended when I sold the
business and it wasn't continued by the new owner (??).
2) Then I paid affiliates to send me subscribers to
opt-in lists. This time I figured out how to code up
a real time reporting interface. But still no stats
history. Sign up and code generation was fully
automated.
I learned it was easy to get affiliates that didn't do
much, and more difficult to attract the real players.
I had something like 500-1000 affiliates, and only
wrote a couple dozen checks each month.
At one point I was growing the lists at 300-400 double
optin subs a day, and paying out something like $10,000
a month. So I did have some luck getting serious
affiliates.
But usually the best prospective affiliates were put
off by pay per action payments, hoping instead to hook
me on CPM ad buys.
In the beginning the payout was 50 cents for each
single optin sub. The payout dropped to 20 cents over
time and I eventually had to close the program because
that whole market simply collapsed underneath me. A sub
worth $2.50 per year in 2000 is now worth about a
nickel so there just wasn't any profit left to share.
3) Finally, I am currently running an exit exchange
network, which is somewhat similar to an affiliate
program except that the currency exchanged is traffic
instead money.
This time I cooked up a really snazy affiliate
interface with real time stats, stats history,
automated code generation, autoresponder ecourse, etc
etc. Affiliates find everything they need and more on
the site, so I get very few requests for support.
Similar experience to #2 above. A few big partners, a
zillion little ones, and a not so great business model.
The great interface means I could connect with a
zillion partners, but the weakness of the business
model doesn't merit the work of tracking down the
partners that really matter.
Lessons learned:
1) Business models really matter!
2) A well designed affiliate support interface is worth
every penny.
3) Big upfront payments are easier to sell than small
per unit payments, even if the smaller payments add up
to a bigger number.
4) Being a program manager is still almost entirely
about sales, but now you're selling serious affiliates
on your program instead of selling customers on your
product.
Affiliate management interfaces are much easier to come
by now, so anybody with a product to sell can be a
program manager.
If you've worked this biz from the merchant side, or
have considered doing so, will welcome your thoughts.
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Phil Tanny
Joined:
22 Aug 2003
Posts:
1324
Location:
Gainesville Florida USA
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Posted: Sun Aug 15, 2004 4:34 pm
Post subject:
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Oops, I almost forgot the most interesting lesson learned.
Affiliates really like being paid quickly.
I learned to write the checks for January on the first of February, and mail them on the 2nd. I think I might have been the fastest payer on the Net, and I wasn't shy about bragging about this.
I did this every month for 3 or 4 years, and it really helps build trust with affiliates. I'm pretty sure many affiliates stuck with me through dropping payouts specifically for this reason. When I closed the program a number wrote me and asked to keep working, at an even lower payout.
Lesson Learned: You gotta write the checks sooner or later, writing them immediately at end of month can be a good idea. (wouldn't work for some, but I proved it can work for some)
_________________
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