E-mail Discussion Lists

Running a site can be very time consuming and, for your affiliates, just finding time to stop by your Web site to join in a discussion can be hard to do. That’s where e-mail can help. You can be sure that no matter how busy they are during the day, affiliates will check their e-mail at least once every few days. In addition, e-mail discussion lists are the best and least-expensive ways to build community.

A discussion list is a discussion board via e-mail. Subscribers to your discussion list receive e-mails on a regular basis, containing comments that are “echoed” to every other subscriber on the list. Every subscriber on the list receives every post to the list. All posts to the list are done via an e-mail message sent to the list.

Creating an e-mail discussion list and offering to your affiliates is an easy way for them to respond to comments made by fellow affiliates without having to go to a Web site and navigate around the discussion board or forum postings. Like the discussion boards, affiliates can discuss what banner links work best for them, answer questions from other affiliates about both the program and issues relevant to running a Web site, and share marketing tips and success stories. You can also use the list to make new announcements or for early notification of sales that could not wait for the next issue of your affiliate newsletter.

Discussion lists are easy to set up if you use the services of companies like Yahoo! Groups (groups.yahoo.com). This free resource is easy to use and doesn’t require the efforts of your IT department.

Affiliate Feedback

Affiliates have a lot to say, and their feedback can be a very positive force in the shaping of your program. It’s all a matter of asking affiliates what they want and giving it to them. Along those lines, you also should be open to asking your affiliates what they do not want and be willing to change your program to reflect the wants of your affiliates—being responsive and acting on the needs of affiliates is the ultimate way to increase loyalty.

When the members of the ClubMom affiliate e-mail discussion list were asked what they didn’t like about affiliate marketing, they were very eager to share their opinions (see Table 12.1).

Table 12.1. What Affiliates Do Not Want

Requiring use of the 1×1 pixel

Late commission checks and payment thresholds

Lack of response from the affiliate team

Limited creative

Reducing commission rates

Lag time in approving affiliates

Switching affiliate solution providers

Wrongful accusations of fraud

Lack of promotions or offers

One of the biggest complaints was the requirement that affiliates include the 1×1 pixel in their affiliate code. The 1×1 pixel is a tiny, clear graphic that is placed within links from many affiliate solution providers as a method to track the performance of various link types. However, affiliates can’t use the 1×1 pixel in text newsletters, or scripts and software that rotate banners.

Most affiliate programs issue commission checks after affiliates reach a threshold of $25 or $50. Affiliates would rather receive a check every month, no matter the amount. But they are not nearly as concerned with the thresholds as they are with programs that do not abide by their own agreements and neglect to pay affiliates within the agreed upon time periods.

Perhaps the biggest complaint from affiliates is that they can never seem to get a response from affiliate managers when they send e-mail. On the topic of poor communication, affiliates are displeased with the deficit in updates regarding new promotions, sweepstakes, sales, and offers. And affiliates would like some praise every once in a while, just like any diligent employee in your company. Show a little appreciation or acknowledgement for performance now and then.

Whereas some affiliate programs may have been created for the express purpose of free branding, those affiliate managers that operate a fair program would be well served to offer a variety of tested, quality creatives. Affiliates complain that too many programs offer up slow-loading graphics, large image sizes, a lack of choice in size and style of creative, no text links or content, and the absence of direct product links. As we mentioned in Chapter 5, “Step Two—Choosing Your Program Model,” a good affiliate program should offer tested text links, banner ads, text/banner ads, storefronts/mini-sites, and content.

If your boss told you that you were doing a good job, but you would be getting a pay cut, how would you like it? Affiliates have a very ardent dislike for a program that reduces their commissions. It’s understandable that you want to own your category and lure in the best affiliates with high commissions, but if your budget cannot sustain these commissions, you’re doing more harm than good for your program by starting high and then lowering your rates. However, it is an acceptable practice to publicize a temporary increase in commissions provided that you fully disclose that it is temporary. There are two distinct camps in affiliate marketing, those who insist that you must manually approve every affiliate, and those who automatically approve all who apply. While each strategy has its pros and cons, the only factor that concerns affiliates is the fact that programs with manual approval take too long to review sites.

Chapter 9, “Step Six—Tracking Your Affiliate Program,” discussed tracking your affiliate program. The decision of whether to run every component of your program in-house or to utilize an affiliate solution provider is one of the most important questions facing an affiliate manager. A key aspect of this decision is not necessarily whether your choice is best for you right now, but rather, which solution is going to be scalable and flexible for you down the road. It’s essential to conduct due diligence when you are determining how you will track your program. If you decide to change the way you track your program after you have already become established, you are going to rankle and lose a large portion of your affiliates.

One of the issues surrounding management is fraud and how to eliminate it. You must strike a balance between being vigilant overzealous. Good affiliates that are wrongly accused of fraud will not likely stick around with your affiliate program, so do your homework before making accusations. The use of Internet boosters, like Netsetter (www.netsetter.com), and the fact that AOL (www.aol.com) and WebTV (www.Webtv.com) users are represented by a finite bank of IP addresses, can simulate fraud to some fraud-detection techniques.

Finally, a big complaint from affiliates is that they feel like they are working for nothing, because many programs do not provide tools for them to succeed. One of the basic success tools to help affiliates facilitate clicks and conversions is to provide them with offers and contests. Not only will your current affiliates achieve more success if their links are more compelling, but you will attract additional successful affiliates if you offer freebies and operate sweepstakes.