Starting a 2-tier affiliate program

Questions as the merchant

[ted111]

Hi everyone,

I would appreciate if someone experienced can give more insight into this area.

I'm thinking of starting a 2-tier affiliate program.
I know it will be good to reveal the details of subaffiliates to the affiliate. But just how much details should be revealed?

- Should the details of the sub-affiliates be revealed to the affiliate? Details like email addresses, website url?

- Notification emails sent to the affiliate when a new subaffiliate joins under him.
Again, what are the details that should be revealed?

I believe it will be good to reveal details like affiliate id and possibly affiliate name. But should we reveal email addresses and urls?

I'm worried about areas like fraud (affiliates teaming up with sub-affiliates) and spamming (affiliates spamming the sub-affiliates). If there are other possible issues, please highlight as well.

What's the current practice of established affiliate programs that offer 2 tier?

Thank you for sharing.

[burgi]

if at all, give them the email address. Never give out the website of the subaffiliate.
If you give out the email of the subaffiliate, clearly tell them who the affiliate is that signed them up and put in your Terms that you will be giving the email address to the affiliate that got them to join the program.
Should the affiliate then decide to contact the subaffiliate, the subaffiliate can then decide if he/she wants to respond or not.
My opinion!

[Michael Anthony]

I run several two-tier programs and have found that the best way to succeed is to create a sense of community between the affliates and the merchant so that they all help each other. If there are media agencies or other middle men involved, they should also participate.

It also helps if affiliates are able to talk to the merchant about any problems in a forum or similar, where one affiliate's problems and solutions can be shared to the advantage of the group.

Open, honest communication is the best way to run things in any business, IMO. If someone's got something to hide, I'd rather not work with them.

[ted111]

Thanks Burgi for the suggestions.
I agree that if the details are revealed, it should stop at just the email address of the subaffiliate.
However, most of the times the email address will also reveal the website address.
Therefore I am now more towards not revealing any info (except the affiliate id and name) by default.

Thanks Michael for sharing your experience.
Do you also reveal the email addresses of the subaffiliates to the affiliates?
Aren't you afraid of some affiliates choosing not to be in your affiliate program because they prefer not to reveal their info to the affiliate above them?

[Michael Anthony]

Yes, all information is available and no, I don't have a problem with this type of sillines. Most people within my programs are my friends first and affiliates second. They're also all friends with each other too, so why wouldn't they share their email addresses?

I think you're paying too much attention to negative "what-ifs" here. Why not just start it with everything shared and see if it flies? You can always change it later if these "what-ifs" actually occur.