What's The Best Way To Motivate Your Affiliate Marketers? (20)
Hello everyone. I hope everything is well with you all. May you share ideas how do you motivate or reward your affiliate partners please? Do you prefer giving them bonuses or gifts? What's the best way you've done so far that really help them drive more sales? I appreciate your help and answer. Thank you much.
I will answer from an affiliate's standpoint.
The most important factor is really a simple one: I need offers that convert well so I'm able to actually turn profit. If that's not the case, nothing can motivate me to do more business with that given network or advertiser.
But, assuming I have "two" networks/advertisers with solid offers/products that I can run profitable, there are some factors that would make me push more sales for one over the other :
- the personality of my affiliate manager or other point of contact. I prefer to work with people who are human... a bit of personal communication here and there helps for sure. Timely replies, the ability to provide me with what I need on top of the standard tools, some sort of exclusivity... that helps a lot.
- bonuses or gifts are nice, but I do consider them a reward once I have reached some numbers, they do not really motivate me to run drive more sales. Unless the bonus is really big so it makes sense for me to really push for it. I mean, getting a gift like an ipad is very nice, but when driving solid volumes, I can already afford to buy as many ipads as I want. So this is more about maintaining a good relationship and loyalty, not increasing the sales volume... but then again, loyalty can translate to higher sales over the long run, so it probably helps 
- fast payments can really help when running high volumes, it helps with the cashflow but that's not the most important part because again, when driving solid volumes, the affiliates usually have enough cashflow to cover this. The more important part for me is that faster payouts mean less risk, which is really helpful especially with new partners.
To sum it up... I try to send more volume to networks that have the right offers, pay on time and fast and treat me like a friend
To expand on @matuloo's point of maximizing profits for affiliates - here are some tips:
-Zero shaving + minimal scrubbing. Veteran affiliates especially won't only judge an offer based on payout. In the end, affiliates only look at final profits.
-Good infrastructure. Faster redirect speed can have big impact on conversion rates. Even if 2 networks offer the same offer at the same payout, the network that can achieve the fastest redirect speed can give affiliates more conversions.
-Custom/exclusive offers. It's not possible to do this for every offer type, but for stuff like sweeps (depending on what kinds of leads you can resell), sky's the limit.
-Custom/exclusive pre-landers that are pre-tested. And of course, only offer these to the bigger/biggest affiliates on your network.
-Tips for newer affiliates. Stuff like: Best traffic sources and best pre-lander styles/angles for different offers or niches. Many of the big networks offer education, usually in the form of a blog. And some would do relevant research and publish industry reports, for example on different niches and markets.
-Plus: If your network can secure special discounts on tools and services, such as trackers, ad accounts, spy tools - that would be great as well!
There must be more but this is all I can think of for now!
Amy
Thank you so much for taking the time to respond to my questions here @matuloo and Amy. I know this would be very helpful. Will take take note on this and thanks so much for the idea.
Originally Posted by junela
Originally Posted by junela
If its a question of finding new affiliates, I would just politely reach out and provide some transparent info, but only to people who might genuinely be interested.
Like "Hey, I saw you mentioned you run on ___, we have an offer called ______ that is doing well for some folks. We have a couple affiliates running it on ___ and ___ seeing some success. It pays ____ per lead and that is an SOI/DOI/etc. Our affiliates haven't had any trouble getting it approved on ___ or ___ traffic sources but ____ has been rejecting it. Would love to onboard you if you're interested in trying it out
Here's the link if you want to see what the offer page looks like: ____________."That right there would put you above 99% of the competition when it comes to finding new affiliates
If its a question of motivating existing affiliates, @matuloo and @vortex already gave some amazing advice above
PS Just noticed you just posted a thread on it lol... this one I mean: https://stmforum.com/forum/showthrea...528#post425528
I think that is perfect - lots of really good, transparent info
Its a pretty unique, specific offer, so any info on how its actually being run successfully is great too... Like is it mostly really niche organic sites sending leads? Or are there people running it via pops/push/native/facebook? If its a brand new offer obviously you won't have such info... but anything you can provide like that is probably super helpful as well
Originally Posted by matuloo
Originally Posted by junela
Working with influencers to endorse your brand is something very different from working with affiliates to actually promote your offers. So what are you asking about exactly? What rates to set with influencers who would help you get more affiliates? So like getting a blog written by some of the affiliate bloggers? Or are you asking whether I (as an affiliate) have some default budgets to use for new offers I want to test? I'm a bit confused here, sorry
Hi,
This is Hayden, the guy Junela mentions in her signature. My Telegram and Skype are there also. I am going to jump in here. Me and her are a team on this.
The nut we are trying to crack here is that we believe/think (maybe erroneously) that our in-house internal affiliate program may be a bit different than what most people on this forum are used to.
So far, what has worked well for our existing partners is:
- Bridge pages (landing pages) using a review format or explainer format (what is like to date a filipina or explaining our robust vetting system and real human adviser team that will actually call you and help you fill out a profile and give you a second opinion about the person you've met via the site. It is important to note here that buttons work far better than cross-reg forms. When cross reg forms are used - users rarely fill out profiles completely and leave a ton of information out of the basic sign up prompts like location and phone.
- Typeform type contact forms and messenger bots that "gate" users to the experience. For example, "are you really serious about dating a woman that wants a relations ship?" "Do you promise to treat the women on the site with respect?" Then, access is given.
- Informational videos on YouTube. Explainers on what it is like to date a Filipina.
- Long form blog content with banners and text links that optimize for long tail keywords also work well.
- Facebook of course has issue with dating ads. However, some partners have used Facebook to promote a newsletter brand that secures signups for the target audience. A good example would be www.gettheelevator.com which builds a list from FB ads and then markets their adult toys via the newsletter.
- In house - we have tried TikTok, but cannot crack that nut. We have even tried SnapChat, but the dating site game is a hard one to get approval with.
I hope that makes things a bit more clear? If you have any more questions. Please feel free to ask our reach out to Junela or myself via Skype or Telegram.
Originally Posted by junela
It sounds like a good, well thought-out business... but its very niche, so I can see how its challenging finding affiliates...
Do you guys pay on a cost-per-sale basis? Or cost-per-lead?
The only things I would recommend are:
1) get the offer setup with big affiliate networks like MaxBounty and Clickbooth... where there are affiliates from tons of backgrounds actively looking for offers...
2) find blogs and email marketers and social media influencers who are focused on the "INTL Dating/lonely guy" market, or whatever market it is your targeting, and set up direct deals with them (sounds like you're already doing this).
If you really want to get lots of affiliates to try it, I would set it up as a cost per lead where the affiliate gets paid like 4$ for every person who signs up, rather than cost per sale where it would be like $120 for every new paying customer... as its infinitely easier for an affiliate to try a quick campaign with a 4$ payout and see if it will work vs a $120 cost per sale offer...
Obviously the negative on cost--per-lead though is that you might get bad leads that don't pan out, but you can pause those affiliates after a couple hundred dollars in spend if the leads are obviously bad.
Originally Posted by jack_l
Yes. Thanks for the compliment. We've really put a lot of effort into the process to make it easy for those "lonely guys" to actually meet someone if they put in the effort (like fill out a complete profile) and to stand out from traditional dating offers. Our customer service and sales teams are legit. Once we find good pockets of converting traffic it's nice to know we have a team of caring real actual people nurturing those people with real phone calls and follow ups. We do lots of other non-traditional follow up and nurturing forms of marketing too with leads that are in our system.
Regarding the big affiliate networks - that has been a struggle for us. Since we use cookieless tracking and convert those leads across many properties - it is often a technical challenge to implement the third party trackers and other systems needed. And you hit the nail on the head - we did get a bunch of crap leads. It was as if someone created a script to just upload the basics. The profiles created never logged backed in, viewed profiles or performed searches. But, maybe it is a viable idea for targeting leads for ladies from the Philippines.
I get it's a tough sell with the pay-per-sale model. But, we are open to making it work. Landing page creation, banners, tools - whatever it takes. Junela and I are dedicated to trying and make this work.
Thanks so much for the reply. Your perspective and thoughts are really helpful.
Originally Posted by junela
Just for the heck of it I looked at some 'Asian Dating' type offers on a couple aff networks I work with (probably not quite as 'legit' as what you are doing but similar obviously).
Some examples and ideas I got from that would be finding some top of funnel action you could pay between $2.00 and $30.00 for and track easily (so you could get on MaxBounty and Clickbooth)... so like...
-A 1$ trial cc submit thing (with built in rebill at full amount) at a high price point (e.g. $30 or something like that)
-A really long quiz funnel with DOI at lower price point (to discourage poor quality leads) (e.g. at like $2-10 or something depending on geo)
-A DOI after a 5 minute VSL where the email opt-in doesn't pop up until they finish the VSL (same, and again, to discourage poor quality leads)
Just mentioning those for fun though - sounds like you guys have a good system already and hopefully there's some big-time dating-vertical affiliates here on STM who will reach out to you after seeing your threads
from an affiliate standpoint, there are several things to consider but the obvious is can you make me money? This is super important, affiliate are greedy little gremins and I think we just want results. There are very few of us left in the CPA space and more important want results. There are obviously other things I think as well such as resource to use, being prompt with my conversations, what value can you provide to my campaigns? fast payments is super important especially when scale is happening.
the other things are can we be competitive with the industry? can I get a higher payout, can I be the exclusive pub on the offer or traffic source, there are just way to handle an affiliate partnership. You have to look at it form a business standpoint and see what is asked of you and what can be provided. Anohter important thing is can I trust MY affiliate manager over the network? sometimes those relationships are more important than ever.
> Here is interview with Clickdealer about affiliate relationships and gave a lot of great information form my own past experiences > https://www.ianfernando.com/how-to-p...relationships/
Originally Posted by ianternet
While our product has been well thought out and our business model is solid and proven = we understand that it is not CPA. It is on a per sale basis. That's a worry for many affiliates from a cost and time sink perspective. I totally get that. Further, a forum post telling you how awesome we are or how well thought out our business model is will all go so far.
In regards to resources = you think you need a tool or some landing pages or some images or some banners? Let us know - we are team - right? We are 95% responsible for supporting you in delivering relevant and converting traffic - right? This may be an naieve statement, but as an affiliate you are not just delivering our brand relevant traffic - we are banking on your mindshare. Right? So - you need tools to make it work so we all make money.
In regards to communication - I am in US GMT-10 and Junela is in Philippines. Between the two of us we are available most times of the day and expeditious in handling communications.
Can you be competitive in this niche. At risk of sounding cocksure - YES YOU CAN. Why? Because we are cool as hell and will share with you our years of data about best converting geo areas and keywords. Then, you take your unique experience and expand on that.
Want an exclusive offer with a higher payout - sure. Let's talk. Unique offers - let's talk. Our model is a bit different. But, we are open to ideas.
The possibilities with us are limitless. This is not pie in the sky talk. As @jack_l has pointed out - we are kind of unique in that we do a commission based on sale - not CPA.
And - thanks so much for the video link and your pointed questions. All of you here have been so awesome.
OH. Last but not least - we pay like clockwork. We use Bill.com - need a more steady payout schedule. Talk to us. We can make it work.
@junela I'm not seeing your signature for some reason - have you removed it?
Amy
Hi there, Amy. Nope. I did not remove it. I just updated it today Here is the link to it. https://stmforum.com/forum/showthrea...f-Our-Partners!
Originally Posted by vortex
Originally Posted by junela
Here is the link to it. https://stmforum.com/forum/showthrea...f-Our-Partners!
You can create/edit yours here: https://stmforum.com/forum/profile.php?do=editsignature
Originally Posted by matuloo
You can create/edit yours here: https://stmforum.com/forum/profile.php?do=editsignature
Originally Posted by junela
Here is the link to it. https://stmforum.com/forum/showthrea...f-Our-Partners!For more tips on how to get exposure for your business, please see: https://stmforum.com/forum/showthrea...Vendor-Members
Amy
Originally Posted by vortex
Home > Questions and Answers > General Questions