Many companies have created and run an affiliate program for a few years. After that amount of time has passed, the sales may still be trickling in, but your program may be getting a bit stale. It’s a good idea to make some adjustments every few years to ensure the continued growth of your affiliate sales. Here, we explore five steps that will refresh your mature affiliate program and keep sales growing.
1. Start with an Affiliate Program Review
You can’t make improvements until you know where you are. Take a look at how your program has performed since launch or in the last few years. Focus on order numbers, sales volumes, active affiliates and new affiliates, and see how each of these metrics has changed year over year. These statistics and their growth will help you figure out what you need to keep doing and what you need to improve.
2. Look at Specific Affiliates
Just like you segment your customers, you should segment affiliates as well. Take a look at your affiliate sales identify which affiliates sell the most, and which ones are underperforming. Take a look at which promotional methods tend to work best, whether it’s media buys or video blogs, and which are generating the most revenue. Once you understand what sells, you can focus on empowering the affiliate segments and encouraging the methods that make a difference, while also testing out new approaches that have the potential to keep growing your affiliate sales.
3. Think Global
You may have a solid affiliate program in your market, but there may be an untapped opportunity in other regions. Take a look at what countries show demand for your products or services, and consider engaging affiliates in these markets. Going global with affiliates can be a good way to test your products and messages in new markets without fully investing in international operations, and it will help grow revenue.
4. Raise the Bar
Affiliates like to sell the products and services that bring them the most money. Consider raising your affiliate commissions to stay competitive and explore offering bonuses to top-performing affiliates that reach sales targets. A few relatively small adjustments to your commission rates could have a big effect on the bottom line.
5. Give Your Creative a Facelift
Even the best creative looks stale after a while. Update creative elements such as banners, landing pages, images and videos to give your affiliates even more effective resources to use when selling your products. Consider creating custom elements for top affiliates to boost their performance even more, and don’t forget to let your affiliates know that these new creative elements are available to them.
Bonus: Connect with Affiliates
Affiliates are the heart of any affiliate program. Make sure to connect with them to understand their needs and make sure they have the tools they need to succeed.
Follow these simple tips to keep your mature affiliate program performing over time.
This article first appeared in issue 41 of FeedFront Magazine, published in December 2017.
