Affiliate Merchants Mistakes

Like any Affiliate Network Coordinator, I've did my share of Affiliate Marketing before switching the places at the table. It bought me dinner from time to time, paid for the gas and maybe some bills.

That doesn't make me a "superstar" but it really helps in laying out some of the things that matter most to affiliates and some mistakes that Merchants and Managers do.

Of course, I could go into details and lay out some very specific mistakes, but it would be far more interesting to issue some generic thoughts, because you can't fix things if you don't have the bigger picture and the general feeling of what needs to be done.

People seem to like and enjoy lists, so here is my

Top 5 Mistakes that Affiliate Managers do

1. Not helping affiliates make sales

I'm quite amazed to see a huge number of Sales/Affiliate Managers that don't really believe in Affiliate Sales. You heard me right. The exact same people that should set, grow and sustain any sales channel for their products miss to understand Affiliate Sales. Affiliates are an external sale force, part of the bigger sales Channel. If they don't understand affiliate sales, then they won't move a finger to help affiliates make sales.

They:

• don't send marketing materials

• don't send tips

• don't communicate their "sales knowledge"

• don't check the affiliate sites and the ways to improve

Actually, they "don't".

Now, really, it's very hard for an affiliate to understand a product, learn all it's features, see its strong/weak points then write insightful content about it. Even harder to find the best ways to promote it, use the appropriate "marketing slang". And if the Affiliate Manager doesn't help, then who else?

2. Affiliate leaks and not paying affiliates

That's actually a funny one (well not so funny to the affiliates that don't get paid). It's very sad to see Affiliate Managers looking for ways not to pay affiliates their rightfully earned commissions, based on the misconception that Affiliates don't do anything for their commission. I believe that affiliates actually take a bigger risk than an "employed salesman". They work to promote and sell a product, but they never know if it's going to work and for how long. They are not on fix payment, some days are better, some days are not so good, but they have to pay the bills.

If the fact that they work expecting their rightfully commissions to be paid is not enough for some Affiliate Managers to pay the commissions, then, there is an even simpler trigger: if they don't get paid, they leave.

3. Setting unattractive programs and commissions

Ah, it seems everything is related to Sales/Affiliate Managers that don't believe in Affiliate sales. I hear this every week: "I don't want to give affiliates more than 5%."; "If they want to be my affiliates, they should comply with my internal rules"; "let's cut the affiliate commissions".

To have affiliates, you need to "sell" your affiliate program to them. It should be nice, easy to use and benefic to them.

4. Bad affiliate support

This includes not answering to e-mails or requests in general. Each affiliate is different and has different needs for his particular sale mechanism. Not much to say here, but I really hate not getting any answers for a real good question, and most affiliate feel the same.

5. Missing human touch

We finally got to the only thing that really matters and could be a catalyst for affiliate sales: real and human contact with the affiliates. Affiliates are part of your business, your partners, and still, you never talk to them? (at least to the ones making sales)

I'm not sure how many affiliates got to be ever contacted personally by the Affiliate Manager, but it sure is one strong reason to build fidelity and step on the gas to make some sales.

Sure, newsletters, announcements and all this create some kind of communication, but nothing can be compared with that phone call to "get in touch". Affiliates are "solitary wolfs" - any human contact can make a difference in a dull life. Or let me put it this way. How many Affiliate Managers know something, anything personal about their affiliates?

Now that I’ve made the top 5 list, it’s time for a little bonus:

The Mother of all Affiliate Merchants Mistakes

That is trying to run or manage an Affiliate Program without being an Affiliate marketer for even one day. Yep, you heard me right, there are Affiliate Merchants that never tried to be Affiliates. This really makes their program and message to the market a bit strange. How can you tell, advice and help affiliates to sell your product if you don't know their business? How can you improve, promote and grow your program without knowing the driving forces for your partners, the affiliates? How can you feel the affiliates pains, needs and desire without being one, even for a little time?