If you’re new to marketing and selling online, then one tricky area of internet business is affiliate sales. You may be the adventurous type who will readily jump in with a new endeavor to see where it takes you and ride out the possibilities. This can certainly work in your favor. However, reward comes with risk. So, if you leap into affiliate marketing without a net, you may run into some trouble with your affiliates.
The first thing to know about affiliate marketing online is that there is a definite internet marketing culture and set of expectations. In many ways, the affiliates dictate the rules of how you play the selling game. After all, they are the people who will be recommending your content and information products to the rest of the world. And they’ll help you build your email list as they make you money.
Many affiliates may have already established a large following of subscribers who purchase through them. They want to keep their own customers happy and satisfied. They also want to be sure that their followers and fans are getting the best deals possible. And they do not want to promote people who make them look bad by way of association, whether said person means to or not.
Your affiliates are busy people, many of them killing it in online business every day. If you end up causing problems for the affiliates who promote your products, you may inadvertently put yourself on a proverbial blacklist. And if you come at them with promises that you don’t make good on, they will likely drop you like a hot potato and move on to someone else who seems to have their stuff together a little better than you.
If it happens that you get on the bad side of the people who promote you as your affiliates, know that this may impact your income and set you back a few paces. Even so, it’s not the end of the world. Remember that every successful entrepreneur has faced struggles. The ones who persevere and find ways workarounds for their biggest challenges are the ones who succeed.
Here are some ways that you could upset your affiliates without realizing it:
- Having a difficult-to-navigate member area.
- Being flaky with pricing.
- Setting your affiliate commissions too low.
- Handling refunds in a way that impacts the affiliates negatively.
- Not following through on your launch calendar.
- Sending too many or too few emails.
- Not being consistent with your deliverables.
- Over- or under-charging for other content products
- Product downloads that don’t arrive upon receipt of payment.
- Poor quality products that don’t stand up to the claims made in your sales copy.
- Not responding to customer and affiliate emails in a timely fashion.
- Broken links, which will cost you a sale and your affiliates a commission.
- Affiliate area that doesn’t function correctly.
If you do happen to burn some bridges or chase away some potential affiliates in the process of learning how to market online, all is not lost.
You don’t have to crawl under a rock and die or pack it in and return to corporate America with head hanging low and tucked tail.
Here are some tips for keeping your business afloat in the competitive and sometimes cutthroat affiliate marketing scene.
Be honest and forthright.
If you mess something up, say so.
Nobody is perfect, and it’s known that some people have been doing this online business thing for a long time, while others are learning and growing.
Apologize and make good on your mistakes.
A peeved customer is an opportunity to offer a gift.
If your affiliate system provides coupon codes, use them and hand them out to people who may be dissatisfied for the moment. You’ve likely been that unhappy customer who suddenly gets a special gift as compensation for your trouble. Most people walk away with a good feeling about that type of experience.
Always be improving.
If, today, your emails don’t send out in the correct order, investigate what the problem is and how to fix it.
If your members area is a mess, find a good VA to team up with.
If your cash flow is dwindling, and you can’t hire that VA, run a sale, and get some dinero flowing in.
If your affiliate brings up a concept that you don’t understand, research it, learn and try it out.
Increase quality control.
Are your products looking sloppy?
Do the broken links on your site detract from your professionalism and cause sales to fall through?
Take stock of what you’re selling and how you can improve both the product and the entire customer experience.
This takes time and manpower, but the mistakes you make now can lead to bigger value for your customers down the road.
Let your affiliates know that you and your site are a work-in-progress.
If you communicate with your affiliates that you’re working on things behind the scenes, they will be more likely to look your way again at the next evolution of your business.
Invite people to be a part of your growth.
Often, the best time to make great business connections and experience that synergy with another professional is during a grassroots effort. You get to find out who the hardest workers are, who the people are who won’t quit, and who will pitch in their best effort while believing in you and your cause.
Best Practices To Keep Your Affiliates Happy And Working For You
While maintaining a strong relationship with your affiliates is important, it’s equally important to provide them with the tools and resources they need to promote your products effectively.
One way to do this is by creating custom affiliate links and banners that reflect your brand’s image and are optimized for conversions.
By providing your affiliates with high-quality promotional materials, you not only make their job easier, but also increase the likelihood of them generating more sales.
And, in doing so, you’re guaranteeing that your brand identity is consistent on every platform that your affiliates use to sell your products or services.
Another way to keep your affiliates engaged is by offering incentives and bonuses for hitting certain sales targets.
Think of it as a form of gamification! This not only motivates them to work harder, but also helps build a sense of community within your affiliate network. After all, competition can be very motivating and healthy.
Lastly, regular communication is key. Make sure to check in with your affiliates regularly, answer any questions they may have, and provide them with updates on new products, promotions, and changes to your affiliate program.
Stick to these best practices, and you’ll create a thriving affiliate program that benefits both your brand and your affiliates.
Remember that no one is perfect and people make mistakes every day. If you want your affiliate program to be successful, foster great relationships with great people and bring more profits for everyone, then keep on pushing. Never let setbacks own you. Triumph through your less than stellar moments and become better for what you learn!
