Hey everyone!  I’m Maura Godwin, Assistant Director of Affiliate Marketing at pepperjam.  I’m here at Affiliate Summit West, blogging for the first time ever on the pepperjam blog.  Today I attended “Managing Your Affiliate Manager” with Dan Murray, Internet Marketing Strategist of Ravenwood Marketing and Steve Schaffer, CEO of Vertive Inc.  It is always helpful to hear what affiliates are looking for in affiliate managers, so I was excited for this session, as I like to make sure that pepperjam is doing everything possible to keep affiliates satisfied. 

The theme of the session was  about keeping open lines of communication between the affiliate and the affiliate manager.  Most of the points that Dan and Steve touched on were expected.  However, for any newbie affiliate marketing managers out there, this session would have been useful to you.  You want to make sure that your affiliates, especially your top performers, are satisfied because they are going to drive your affiliate sales.  So, what is it that makes well-rounded affiliate managers?  Here’s a recap on what Dan and Steve had to say about managing your affiliate manager:

First and foremost, have a conversation with the affiliate about your goals and expectations for the program.  If you expect the affiliate to drive a certain volume of sales before they can receive a commission increase, communicate this information to the affiliate.  A partnership is not going to be successful if you do not share information.  For instance, talk about the commission rate, conversion rate and program terms so the affiliate can evaluate what kind of return on investment they can receive by promoting your affiliate program.   As the affiliate manager, you should know your program inside and out.  You should be able to explain your PPC policy, identify seasonality and recognize what methods your top affiliates are utilizing to drive sales.  The affiliates who find this information to be valuable are going to miss out on an opportunity if the affiliate manager cannot provide this info.  In turn, the affiliate manager is going to lose out as well because the chance to form a partnership has passed and potential sales are lost. 

It is also imperative that the affiliate manager understand that big-time affiliates aka super affiliates spend a lot of time and effort when putting together a PPC campaign or niche website for a merchant.  Don’t pull the rug out from under their feet by failing to tell the affiliates that the program had tracking issues for the last three weeks.  Those affiliates just spent several weeks or months building up their PPC campaign to make the merchant money!

To sum it up, communication is key.  Talk to your affiliates and take the time to explain what is going on in your affiliate program.  Send them promotions, make sure your PPC policy is clear and tell them what your conversion rate is.  Affiliates are looking for merchants that can provide them with stable, long-term relationships.  Without this information, how will they be able to help grow your affiliate program? 

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