As I mentioned in my last post on how to recruit software affiliates, an important part of the recruiting process is the reason you give them to join your program. It may very well be a successful program with high commission rates, but sometimes this isn’t enough.
When trying to convince an affiliate to join your program (especially if it’s an important affiliate), nothing works better than something to welcome him with.
It’s not mandatory in any way, but like Geno Prussakov noted in his “Practical Guide to Affiliate Marketing” and from what I’ve experienced so far, an affiliate is easier to convince in joining a certain affiliate program if you offer her an incentive.
This incentive can be anything you can think of:
- a special commission for a limited time period
- a life-long special commission
- a bonus on the first confirmed sale (usually a fixed amount)
- the ability to use certain features – like generating their own discount coupons, getting credit for product renewals (if your software uses that business model)
You should pay attention to the amounts you offer. Before coming up with an affiliate recruitment campaign, you should make some calculations. Taking into account your product price and all the associated costs for you, find out what your biggest commission offered to the affiliates can be. Then, when you offer your new affiliates a commission based incentive, don’t give them the maximum, even if it’s life-long.
Keep at least 10-15% of commission head room in order to differentiate your affiliates later, based on performance or whatever criteria you have. Affiliates love to be surprised with an increased commission – it’s something psychological. It will also stimulate them into being loyal and working better with your software product.
Even if you implement a performance-based commissioning scheme, you must not forget about the so-called “idle” affiliates, the ones that don’t sell / haven’t sold something in a long time. You should find out what their issues are and try to help them in order to get back on track.
That about wraps what I had to say about recruiting affiliates. Should there be any other elements I missed, which you encountered in your experience of working with affiliates please share them with us!
