In the manner of my recent experiment with LinkShare premium advertisers, today I have conducted a similar test with the top affiliate programs on Google Affiliate Network.
Having sorted advertisers by “Payout Rank”, I have applied to 100 4-bar ones (since each bar “represents one quarter of the advertisers payout to the network”, these would be the ones in the 76th to 100th percentile):
My applications resulted in 12 auto-approvals, zero automatic declines (Google Affiliate Network doesn’t show you these results right away, so I had to wait for email replies which came immediately following the online application), and the majority of my applications went into a “pending review” status. Therefore, the breakdown that I have registered with the top Google Affiliate Network advertisers looks as follows:
- automatic approvals – 12%
- manual mode – 88%
A truly pleasant surprise was to see zero automatic declines. The number of automatic approvals is also fairly low, and this is good too. No, don’t get me wrong: most affiliates will love your automatic approvals. After all, they can then start promoting you right away. However, the vast majority of affiliates won’t mind waiting for a manual review/approval either. And the latter is always better for the health of your affiliate program.
but an affiliate may see a merchant’s program, realize he can promote it well, and not want to wait. The mood or available coding time can be lost.
True, and there is that risk. However, I would argue that the immediacy of possible negative consequences (if it is a rogue affiliate that’s auto-accepted) is enough of a reason to be in manual mode full time.