Note from Geno Prussakov: The list of our guest bloggers is constantly expanding; and today, in addition to Graham Jenner, Liliya Tyndyk, and Martin Osborn, I am pleased to welcome our newest contributor — Eric Nagel. Enjoy his first AM Navigator post:
As an affiliate, I’m always working on projects, joining programs, then moving on if I have to wait for acceptance. If I’m accepted in a short period, I’ll often go back to that project and continue working on it, or update my direct links to affiliate links. But sometimes, I get affiliate approval emails that don’t help me at all. Here’s a prime example:
What’s this email missing?
- Program Name – the only way I know what this email is about is because of the “From” email and Vendor email listed in the message. Luckily it’s a program that I can recognize from the “from” email address.
- Link to Affiliate Network – while it says, “log into your account,” this isn’t linked to the network
- My Affiliate Link – I would have quickly updated the link on my site if my affiliate link was in this email.
- Commission Structure – remind me what the payout is. If I see this is paying 20%, or a $30 CPA, I’d drop what I’m doing and update my site.
- Support Information – what if I have questions about PPC? Or coupons? Or other program terms? I don’t know who I’m supposed to contact, nor what their phone number is.
Now I’m going to Google the network name to find their site, then look up the merchant by Vendor ID and get my affiliate link. Mind you, if the above information was in the email, I would have done this weeks ago, when I was approved for the program.
Merchants, please make sure this information is in your acceptance emails! I was on a panel during Affiliate Summit West 2011 titled “Inside the Minds of Affiliates”, where we outlined more ways merchants and OPMs can better work with their affiliates. You may view it below:
Great post Eric! When I was building the Affiliate Program over at TemplateZone, your ‘Inside the Minds of Affiliates’ section was the most valuable session of the conference. After attending that show, I was able to lift affiliate sales over 400% in a few months.
Looking forward to seeing you in Vegas again…this time I’m not missing Karaoke!
Thanks Justin – glad to hear that about my session. I try to only speak (or publish) content that’s useful to others.
Looking forward to Vegas! I’d better start working on my song. Maybe we can find a 3rd and tackle Rappers Delight?
I agree with Justin: excellent post, Eric — and the advice is all the more priceless coming from an affiliate’s mouth.
It reminded me of this post I did over 3 years go: Affiliate Approval Email – Proposed Format (which echos many of the things you’ve mentioned).
Eric,
Thank you so much! As an advertiser I have never really given much thought to our acceptance letter. It was written before I took over the position. Now I am going to go back and edit it.
I actually opened this article because I thought to myself, “I hope this is not our acceptance letter.”
Could you clarify one thing for me. When you said that we should put the affiliate link in the email, are you talking about a hyperlink? If not, how would you like to see that?
Hi Susan,
Yes, I’m referring to the hyperlink. Just the most basic link, to your homepage, that gets the tracking set. Then I can use it on my own images, or any text I’d like. After showing my own link, you can say, “To see additional creative available, go to…” and link to your banners page within your network (CJ, ShareASale, etc).
Eric – From one affiliate to another, I agree! I prefer more info, not less, in the acceptance email. it may just be me, but I appreciate knowing how the merchant is going to communicate with me – will they send me weekly newsletters, do they update their links monthly in a network, do they have a blog for affiliates, do they have any special tools that help make an affiliate’s life easier, etc.