Affiliate Program Time to Close
After three months, my company’s CEO is getting antsy regarding our affiliate program. We’re a somewhat niche market and we’ve had an account with Commission Junction that has so far yielded very little activity and even fewer sales. At what point should we simply pull the plug on our affiliate campaign?
Some programs, though, pay affiliate program and their downlines as well. This is referred to as multi-level marketing, and it’s the process of paying not only direct affiliates, but their referrals too. The leading affiliate can earn a 50% affiliate program commission for every sale he or she makes, and can also earn a smaller percentage for every sale made from the downline. While it does sound like a great money making opportunity, multi-level marketing can be very time consuming. In order for downlines to be successful, leading affiliates need to train everyone on their team.
If you’re new to the internet marketing business, you should start off with the regular affiliate program commission structure. You need to get started going yourself first before working with a team. It may take awhile before you earn your first affiliate program commission, but if you take the time to learn and to plan, you’ll be earning commissions in no time at all.
This doesn’t help you, but hopefully some future folks looking into affiliate programs will dig a little before deciding they need an affiliate program. So anyhow, your affiliate program isn’t working out after three months. I’d generally set an expectation of 3-6 months for an affiliate program to gain momentum, but that’s based on the affiliate program being proactively managed.
I’ve seen too many companies assume their affiliate program can run on auto-pilot. That’s not the case, and if you’ve been operating in that fashion, it’s times to allocate more resources to the affiliate program. I would recommend running your affiliate program with three ongoing directives: recruit, activate, and retain affiliates.
Finally, if your campaign is a success you should approach the merchant and negotiate an increased commission for your sales. You are a valuable asset to the merchant and if he is smart he will grant your request, rather than risk losing you. Don’t be shy about asking for an increase in your commission payment, but be reasonable with your request.
