Turn Up the Heat: Engage and Activate Ice Cold Affiliates
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This presentation is from Affiliate Summit East 2014 (August 10-12, 2014 New York City). Session Description: This presentation will show you how to re-engage dormant affiliates to become successful members of your program through outreach strategies, engagement techniques and methods for activation.
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Turn Up the Heat: Engage and Activate Ice Cold Affiliates
- 1. Prepared by Driving Performance Marketin Director of eCommerce All Inclusive MarketingJon Levine | Affiliate Summit East | New York City | August 2014 @itsjonlevine
- 2. @itsjonlevine Agenda • About me • Getting Off on the Right Foot • Affiliate Decline: The Why • Relationships & Communication • The Nitty Gritty: Tactics You Can Use
- 3. @itsjonlevine • Jon Levine, Director of eCommerce for All Inclusive Marketing • Director of Marketing for several industry leading companies over the last 14 years • Launched and managed affiliate marketing programs for different companies in multiple categories • Founded and launched three successful online startups • Featured speaker and panelist at ShareASale ThinkTank!, SFIMA, and Affiliate Management Days conferences and events About Me
- 4. @itsjonlevine Start the Relationship Off Right • You can’t connect with someone you don’t know • You’re going to have a program full of the wrong affiliates. • Not bad people, just not a good fit
- 5. @itsjonlevine Painting Into the Corner of Success • Overcome resistance • Take away failure option • Only option to move forward • Give them all of the tools needed • No excuse but to succeed
- 7. @itsjonlevine Your Very First Touchpoint: The Welcome Email • Contain items just mentioned, not links to them • Already coded with their affiliate IDs • Copy, paste and go • I’ve done everything but click the mouse for you
- 9. @itsjonlevine Money, Money, Money Get Active Get Money Banner or Blog Post $5 Bonus First Sale $10 Bonus
- 10. @itsjonlevine Affiliate Decline: The Why The Superhero The Everydayer The Giver-upper
- 11. @itsjonlevine Affiliate Decline: Money • Affiliates are in this game to make money • If they start out making money, they want to make more • Money declines, they’ll try to figure out why • Maybe try and fix the issue and maybe not. It depends if they deem it to be worth their effort. • If money issue, specific tactics can be used
- 12. @itsjonlevine Affiliate Decline: Competition • New competitors in their space • More hands in the pot means less money to go around • Pulling back from specific channels due to increase costs
- 13. @itsjonlevine Affiliate Decline: Method • Seen more in SEO affiliates • Google makes algorithm change • Rankings on SERPs start to plummet • Effort on affiliate’s part to either refactor their content or add new — both time consuming
- 14. @itsjonlevine Affiliate Decline: Life • Situations in the affiliate’s life has changed. • Maybe they had a baby • Maybe an illness. •They just can’t dedicate the time and effort they used to.
- 15. @itsjonlevine Relationships Cash is King Content is King Communication is King
- 16. @itsjonlevine Analytics • Congratulating affiliates starting to grow • Recognizing specific milestones • Lend assistance earlier in the process • Nip potential issues in the bud Either way, building relationships
- 17. @itsjonlevine Make it Personal • Everyone wants to feel special and everyone wants to feel like they’re part of a team. • Make your program personal to them. • When something is personal, it becomes less about dollars and cents. • You’re fostering a loyal relationship that help affiliates stay involved and grow • Keep them involved through some rough patches • More effort out of them because they want to be a part of something successful.
- 18. @itsjonlevine Outreach •Solid relationship with your affiliates •If a decline starts, you can reach out •Most importantly it’s genuine
- 19. @itsjonlevine The Nitty Gritty: Tactics You Can Use
- 20. @itsjonlevine Grouping • Identify these affiliates and group them together • Sending the right message to the right affiliates
- 21. @itsjonlevine Straight Up Cash Money, Homie. • Review your bonus structures. Are your bonus thresholds too high? This can discouraging some affiliates from even trying. • Create a special bonus plan exclusive to this group with lower thresholds • Turn back the clock. Tell affiliates in this group that you’re wiping the slate clean and that they can receive a first and second sale bonus again • Put up a banner by this date and send me the page, earn a bonus • Give the affiliate a specific goal and a timeframe to complete it. This helps to keep people focused. Bonus Campaigns
- 22. @itsjonlevine • Increase commissions for members of the group for a set period of time • Offer double commissions on their first X amount of sales (more than one) • Offer to pay increased commission on their highest sale of the month for the next three months (need to have a sale in each month) Commission Increases Straight Up Cash Money, Homie.
- 23. @itsjonlevine Free Products or Services • Especially good for ecommerce or specialty item merchants • Incentivize them by allowing them time with the product to have a better understanding of it • Offer them two, one for them and one they can use for a contest or giveaway on their own site
- 24. @itsjonlevine Exclusivity • Exclusive coupon in exchange for dedicated post or banner placement • Exclusive banner or content • Blog post that’s pre-written and pre-wired with their affiliate code • Exclusive coupon for special customers for a new post or putting up a new banner
- 25. @itsjonlevine Sales Contests • Most traffic driven or most sales made within a specific time frame • High-ticket-sounding items: iPad or cruise for two • Give away merchant’s products or free memberships to their service • Yearly subscriptions to tools affiliates use (Hootsuite, PopShops, etc.)
- 26. Prepared by Driving Performance Marketin Thank You! Director of eCommerce All Inclusive Marketing Jon Levine @itsjonlevine jon@allinclusivemarketing.com www.allinclusivemarketing.com
Hinweis der Redaktion
- Welcome to Turn up the Heat, how to engage and activate affiliates who’ve since gone cold. My name is Jon Levine and I’m the Director of eCommerce for All Inclusive Marketing I want to thank you for coming to Affiliate Summit East here in New York City and for attending this presentation. Hopefully, you’ll walk out of here with some ideas and tactics you can use in the programs that you manage.
- About me Getting Off on the Right Foot Why affiliate decline happens Relationships & Communication Tactics You Can Use
- Oops, wrong picture. There we go. Striking resemblance though, right? Jon Levine, Director of eCommerce for All Inclusive Marketing Director of Marketing for several industry leading companies over the last 14 years Launched and managed affiliate marketing programs for different companies in multiple categories including e-commerce, GSA government sales and luxury yachts Founded and launched three successful online startups, two of which are ongoing and one of which was sold in 2006 Featured speaker and panelist at ShareASale ThinkTank!, SFIMA, and Affiliate Management Days conferences and events
- If you’ve just propped the door open and are letting in anyone and everyone, two things are going to happen: You’re not going to know the members of your program Can’t connect with someone that you know nothing about. Affiliates who don’t belong in your program. Not because they’re not good or they’re doing something wrong, but because they’re not a good fit. As a result, this is going to drag your program down and result in a lot more work for you. You’re going to need to sift through a lot of garbage to get to the affiliates who matter the most. The key to any success managing an affiliate program starts with knowing your affiliates.
- So, how do you do this? Paint them into the corner of success Give them everything they need to succeed right off the bat to overcome any resistance Take away their option to fail and Make is so the only option is to move forward and be successful Give them all the tools they need No excuse but to succeed If you do this
- Load their guns Creatives, plenty of them. Any and all sizes they need. Datafeeds, up to date and constantly refreshed. Sample blog posts that can be reworded and posted. Recommended tweets that can be reworded and tweeted. Videos, widgets, storefronts… all of it. But that’s not the only thing.
- How many people send out a welcome email when affiliate joins? That email is the critical strike point. Needs to be chock full of everything I just mentioned. Not just, ‘hey, here’s a link to some banners’ or ‘visit our creative section on the network’. Already coded with their affiliate IDs All they need to do is copy, paste and go. I’ve done everything but click the mouse button. Remember… trying to build a relationship that makes them care about your program and create forward inertial momentum
- Example of welcome email for abe’s market. This is all one email, just broken up to fit on the screen Start by telling them about the program, it’s terms and payout along with a nice welcome message Widget panel that dynamically updates and all they have to do is drop it on their site Recipe with ingredients links already coded. Recipes don’t have to be unique content, so they can post, look at this great recipe I found. Done. Banners, banners, banners.
- Another motivator is money To sweeten the deal, you can also use action bonuses. $5 bonus for putting up their first banner or creating their first blog post with your links. Plus, you’ll give them a $10 bonus for their first sale. A free $15 for doing something that they’re going to do anyway.
- Jon, if all of that works, why would affiliates need to be reenergized? Won’t they all just stay on the path to success? Unfortunately, no. Some will and move forward become bigger, more valuable part of your program. These are the Superheros Stay at that mid-level of success where they’re active, sending traffic and some sales, but staying somewhat stagnant. Everydayers Then there’s some that start in that middle area, maybe even grow a bit more, but then fall off the table. I call these, the Giver-uppers BTW, it’s amazing what you can find on Google images when you search the word ‘quitter’. So, why does this happen? There’s a few different reasons. Some are unique to the type of affiliate they are, while some are universal.
- One of the reasons, M-O-N-E-Y. Affiliates are in this game to make money. Start making money want to make more. If money starts to decline, try to figure out why, maybe fix the issue and maybe not. It depends if they deem it to be worth their effort. If you deem it to be a money issue, there’s several tactics that can be used to bring them back into the fold. We’ll discuss those is just a bit
- New competitors in their space More hands in the pot means less money to go around Pulling back from specific channels due to increase costs
- This happens to SEO affiliates quite a bit. Google updates their algorithm SERP rankings plummet. Any affiliates that were optimized based on the old version of the algorithm suddenly find their traffic cut in half or worse Need to decide whether to refactor or create new content. Both are time consuming and could be costly
- Situations in the affiliate’s life has changed. Maybe they had a baby and are occupied with that. Maybe an illness. They just can’t dedicate the time and effort they used to. So, how do you know which one it is? The key is the relationship that you have with your affiliates.
- So, how do you know which one it is? The key is the relationship that you have with your affiliates. Cash is King Content is King Communication is king, especially here. If you don’t have an ongoing relationship with your affiliates, there’s little chance that you’re going to be able to foster one after a decline has started. Be more like Smokey Bear: only you can prevent affiliate deactivation
- The first stop to developing stronger relationships is Analytics Everyone looks at Number of sales, number of leads, overall number of affiliates. Affiliates generating clicks, affiliates generating sales. Dig deeper and get into individual affiliate metrics so that you can quickly spot trends. Two fold solution: *** Reaching out to affiliates who sales start to grow or who pass new milestones Possible recognition in newsletter Help build a solid relationship with your affiliates *** Also reach out to affiliates whose sales have started to decline Watch out for trends Nip any problems in the bud before they get out of control *** Either way, you’re building relationships
- The other marketing channels in your company are pretty stark, black and white concepts. They drive sales or they don’t. They’re profitable or they aren’t. Affiliate marketing has some of that, but there’s another aspect. *** Everyone wants to feel special and everyone wants to feel like they’re part of a team. If you can make your affiliates feel like they’re a part of a team, it’ll make your program personal to them. When something is personal, it becomes less about dollars and cents. You’re fostering a loyal relationship which will not only help affiliates stay involved and grow, but also keep them involved through some rough patches You’re more likely to get more effort out of someone because they want to be a part of something successful.
- So, now your relationship with your affiliates is good. Now, when declines start, you can reach out. You can reach out with a helping hand and, because you’ve been fostering this relationship from the beginning, And most importantly, it’s genuine. You can communicate with your affiliates to find out what’s going on and come up with solutions on how things can be improved. Start using some tactics to fix the situation
- So, now we have an understanding of what’s going on, what do we do next. There are several strategies that can be employed to get affiliates back on board. These can be deployed on an individual basis or en masse.
- Show of hands, who uses grouping or tagging? First thing we need to do is identify these affiliates and group them together. Segmenting your affiliate program is, to me, a critical strategy. We have a re-engagement group This has the effect of speaking to the right affiliates with the right message. meta-group called ‘re-engagement’ made up of any affiliate from any segment that needs this type of attention. So, now you’ve got groups, what can you offer them? How about ***
- Maybe the threshold to earn a bonus is discouraging some affiliates from even trying. Create a special bonus plan exclusive to this group with lower thresholds only for that group Turn back the clock Re-institute first and second sale bonuses. Tell affiliates in this group that you’re wiping the slate clean and that they can receive a first and second sale bonus again Put up a banner by this date and send me the page, earn a bonus Ensure that there’s a specific timeframe to complete it. This helps to keep both them and you focused. Don’t want to work too hard on lost cause
- Increased commission for specific period of time Offer double commissions on their first x-amount of sales with a certain number to qualify Pay increased commissions on their highest sale of the month for the next three months, provided they make more than one.
- Offer the merchants products or services for free Works great for ecommerce merchants Offer to get the product into the hands of the affiliate so that they can see it, touch it and feel it. Offer them two of the item or service. One for them and one that they can give away in a contest or to a valued customer
- Exclusive coupon in exchange for dedicated post or banner placement. Everyone likes to feel special, especially if you show that you’re trying to help them earn business. Exclusive banner or content Blog post that’s pre-written and pre-wired with their affiliate code that all they have to do is post? Give them an exclusive coupon that can be passed on to a valued customer or won in a contest
- Sales Contests: most traffic driven or most sales made by anyone in my re-engagement within a certain timeframe get an entry into a drawing to win something High-ticket sounding item like an iPad or a cruise for two? What about a product or membership from the merchant itself? Monthly or yearly subscription to a tool that they can use such as Hootsuite or PopShops Important on how you communicate, what method with affiliates