Over the years I have worked with dozens, maybe even hundreds of affiliate managers and they range from awesome to terrible. Some of them get it and some of them are totally missing the mark with their efforts.
So what makes a good affiliate manager? Here are a few things I think an affiliate manager should do if they want to make their affiliate program successful and help their affiliates succeed:
1. Be available. I need to be able to contact my AM and get a quick response. If I send them an email (at least during semi-normal work hours) I want a quick response. Usually when I have a question or need something it is while I am in the process of building a site and if I don’t get a quick response I either lose interest in building the site or I find a different merchant. Even better than that I need to be able to contact them on IM. The good affiliate managers I work with are usually on IM most of the day and I can get an instant response.
2. Be quick. Once again, I like having a somewhat instant response. If I need a new datafeed, some new graphics, have a question about something, or whatever I want a quick response. I don’t want to have to wait a day or two to get what I need. It takes a lot for me to actually start building a new site and I don’t want to have to wait once I get started.
3. Actually help the affilates. I want affiliate managers who will give me feedback on my sites, give me new ideas how to promote their stuff, and help me increase sales. A lot of affiliate managers are much more passive on issues like this than others and the ones who aren’t proactive don’t really do much for me.
4. Affiliate Managers need to have flexibility. Many affiliate managers work for companies who don’t give them the flexibility to do their job well and if an AM is in this situation they need to fight for their affiliates and talk to management and help them see what will help the affilaites. If a company gives the AM the flexibility to be creative in helping their affiliates everyone wins. This could be in the form of affiliate promotions, custom graphics, custom landing pages, increased payouts for affiliates who perform, etc.
5. Affiliate Managers need to have the answers. Too many affiliate managers just don’t have the answers to some somewhat simple questions about their affiliate programs or what is allowed and what isn’t. They can give a stock, canned answer but I want a real answer that makes sense. A good affiliate manager will know the answers to my questions or at the very least find out the answer and get back to me quickly.
6. Affiliate Managers need to make sure the program is running properly. This includes stuff like being vigilant to keep parasites out, making sure affiliates who are violating their TOS are booted quickly, make sure links are tracking properly, payments are getting sent, etc.
7. Make sure the links you put out there work. If a merchant is on a network they need to be able to make sure their links work with all the tools provided by that network. Example: If a merchant is on Shareasale and I want to go use their custom link builder I don’t want to find out later there is something else I need to add to the code to make it track.
8. Affiliate Managers need to be nice. I don’t need to be their friend but the affiliate manager should at least be personable and easy to talk to. Don’t make me feel like I am inconveniencing you when I ask you for something. But many AMs I have worked with in the past I now consider my friends and not just business associates.
I am sure there are many more but those are a few I can think of off the top of my head.
So who meets these criteria? There is one AM I have only recently started working with that fits all these criteria and many more. Of the affiliate managers I am currently working with he is at the top of the heap even though I have only recently started promoting his program. That person is Matt McWilliams of Legacy Learning Systems. I talked with him a few times over IM before the Shareasale ThinkTank and was impressed but when I actually met him in person and talked to him I realized even more that he has his stuff together and knows how to run an affiliate program.
He is always available to answer questions and does a great job of promoting his program and making it easy for affiliates to succeed. Recently he started his LEGACY week promo offering stuff like increased lifetime commissions, double commissions for some products, and some giveaways. The great thing about promos like this is they are useful for all affiliates, not just affiliates who generate a ton of sales.
Yesterday I decided to build a site http://www.masterballroomdancing.com promoting their ballroom dance course. I build my site and let him see it and he noticed I could use a new banner. So within 10 minutes he had a new banner for me and I loaded it up on my site. I started sending some traffic to it and within an hour or so I saw my first sale. And wouldn’t you know it? That sale came from someone clicking that new banner.
So thank you Matt for getting it. Any affiliate looking for a new program to promote should check out the Legacy Learning System program. Any affiliate managers looking for someone to emulate should look to Matt McWilliams.
But that also raises a questions. What should you do when you have a bad affiliate manager? Should you just drop their program and look for someone else? Should you talk to their management and let them know how the AM is hurting the program?
What are some other things you look for in an affiliate manager? Who are some other good affiliate managers you work with? Leave a comment below and let me know.
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