Over 10 days ago I asked affiliates to help me figure out what pieces of information they really want to see listed in affiliate program descriptions. As you may remember, I came up with 9 options, put them into a ranking poll, and asked affiliates to prioritize them. Today I’d like to announce the results of that poll.
According to the current distribution, the top 5 pieces of program information that affiliates want to hear about:
1. Commission/payout info
2. Merchant info & competitive advantages
3. Bonuses & performance incentives
4. Tools & creatives (banners, widgets, feeds)
5. Statistics (AOV, EPC, conversion, reversals)
Naturally, the top priorities are centered around the details pertaining to how much an affiliate can expect to earn from the program (commission/payment details, bonuses, performance incentives, EPC, conversion and reversal rates, etc), as well as on the things that will help them make money with the affiliate program (merchant’s competitive advantages, affiliate program tools, etc).
Interestingly enough, cookie information didn’t even make the top 7 list, finishing only 8th. For more details (or to add your vote as an affiliate), see the poll here.
Ultimately, affiliates need solid tracking and payments. Everything else is icing on the cake!
Thank you for that affiliate comment, Mike.
I think that’s quite accurate.
At the end of the day, I’ve found that payout amounts and payment timelines are important, but nothing has boosted my sales like learning to use tracking codes properly.
Given I get about 75% of all traffic through organic search, I was able to build a little module that relays keywords to my affiliate panels. In turn, that made me understand exactly what part of my traffic sells, and what I should ultimately invest in / prop up / maintain on top of SERPs.
All of this to say that I don’t even consider an affiliate program if it doesn’t have good “tracking code” functionality, because in the end, I can’t tell what’s *really* selling.
Thomas
Funny, but I didn’t include “tracking” (as in “tracking platform” or “tracking and reporting info”) into the list of options on that ranking poll, presuming that this is a no-brainer. Good to have the importance of accurate (and detailed) tracking emphasized by you guys in the comments. Thank you for this.
@Geno – yeah – I’m with you on that – I knew tracking was there for awhile, but it took me awhile to use it.
As an affiliate, what’s important to me is what *actually* sells. With a set of data over a few months, you basically end up building a list of ‘core’ words that you focus on, because the intent to purchase is higher within that core (i.e.: people want it more).
Once you figure that out, you know where to invest for further results. That’s how I was able to increase rev.
Great post – keep up the great work! I’ll keep reading if you keep writing 🙂
Thomas
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