Affiliate Manager Feedback

share your thoughts

[SimplyMarketing]

I work with a few affiliate programs and have found that each affiliate manager has their own style. Some call once a week, once a day and some never at all.

I work with one who always has ideas and suggestions while others just leave me to it.

I am curious to find out what would be your ideal affiliate manager and what would be the worst?

[howiejs]

great question - I look forward to the replies as we are thinking about our own affiliate program.

[SimplyMarketing]

Positive Examples

1. Affiliate managers that give you a heads up or inside track to advance sales for you and not just the merchant.

2. Managers that pay on time and the right ammount.

3. Managers that listen to feedback and requests.

Negative Examples

1. Managers who take part in their own program and mis-lead other affiliates.

2. Those that don't have time to return phone calls or emails.

3. Managers who exaggerate conversions and commissions to entice you in.

[macz_g]

I was not aware that affiliate managers were allowed to participate in their own programs?

[growingdigital]

I have had good experiences with most of the Affiliate Managers I have worked with.

One of the biggest challenges is proving yourself in a new program. Affiliate Managers tend to pay more attention to their top performers. Being at the top of some programs, and at the bottom of others I can say that there is a clear difference in the way you are treated as a publisher.

I would encourage all publishers to climb to the top of their respective programs so that they have access to the same payouts, promotions and other tools that the "Super Affiliates" get.

[suzyvirtual]

I have been an affiliate marketer for 4 years and have yet to have a really great relationship with any manager. They seem to fall into 2 catagories for me:

1. Really annoying - call you frequently for no reason to make sure "everything is okay" or to bother you because you have sent them less traffic of late.

2. Never answer/return phone call or emails even when i'm asking really important time sensitive questions.

Oh actually there is a third catagory of affiliate managers that introduce themselves when they get the position, but by the time i have a need for them a month or 2 later, they no longer exist...

[Murfman]

This is very interesting to me. As one who participated in various affiliate programs over the past couple of years and recently launching my own program, I've wrestled with the appropriate level of communication. Ultimately, just as there are different types of affiliate managers, there are different types of affiliates who have their own preferred level of communication and it takes building relationships to establish what that is.

My style has been to send a quick personal email when someone signs up and then make sure that they know that they can contact me whenever they want. I provide access by phone, email and instant messenger. So, I'm there if they have a question. I suppose that could become an issue if somebody suddenly wants to super-chummy with me and IM's me every couple of minutes, but that hasn't happened so far. I also send out monthly newsletters just letting the affiliates know of any program changes, additions, etc...

If I see any extreme changes in the performance of an affiliate either positive or negative, I might send an email to the affiliate to check in.