Advanced Affiliate Program Management

Advanced Affiliate Program Management & Analysis
Presented by: Geno Prussakov
CEO, AM Navigator LLC
Chair, Affiliate Management Days
URLs : www.AMNavigator.com
www.AffiliateManagementDays.com
Telephone : 1 -888-588-8866
.

Advanced?

Five Pillars

The Plate

Advanced? Essential

Outline
Analysis & Optimization Questions
Common Problems & Challenges
Outcome: 5 Action Points

Analysis & Optimization

Affiliate Applications

7
10 Red Flags:
URL-related mismatches
Trademarks in URLs
Nonsensical sounding URLs
Nonsense descriptions for promotional methods
Incompatibility of promotional methods
Inappropriateness of affiliate content
Inaccessible (or dangerous) website
Affiliate relying on adware, toolbars, BHOs, etc
Lack of response (give them 72 hours)
Strongly negative feedback

Quote to Remember
“… the chief distinction of a diplomat is that he can say no in such a way that it sounds like a yes .” (Lester B Pearson)

Don’t Burn Bridges!
We are sorry, but the website(s) and/or promotional methods listed on your affiliate profile do(es) not meet our approval criteria. We have therefore declined your application. If, however, you feel that we have overlooked your potential, we would like to hear from you. Just email us a brief explanation of how you were planning on marketing our product/service, and we will gladly reconsider your application.

Key Performance Indicators

2
Good Question
Lets say you had an existing business, with an affiliate program already up and running for several years. You have a large number of affiliates in that program, some very productive and some not at all. You then hired someone to be your affiliate manager… If you could base that manager’s success /productivity on 5 pieces of measurable data , would they be?

KPI #1 Affiliates Recruited Number of new affiliates recruited into the program.

KPI #2 Activity Index Percentage of affiliates active in the program over a given period of time.

KPI #3 Activation Number of previously stagnant affiliates activated within a given time period.

KPI #4 Traffic Increase in hits/clicks sent to your website by affiliates.

KPI #5 Sales / Leads Increase in sales (focus on monetary figure) or leads referred by affiliates.

Split Testing

Definition
Split testing – method of marketing testing whereby the performance of 2 versions of the landing page are being tested one against the other. Goal – determine which version performs better (lower bounce rate, better conversions).

3 Challenger Pages Tested A: Minimalist B: Screen Shot Isolation C: Video Player Isolation

Controlled Test Result << Winner: 17% CR Lift! © 2007-2011 WiderFunnel Marketing Inc.
What Did They Test?
Value Proposition headline
New persuasive copywriting
Clear call-to-action
Clarified product features
Testimonials

How-To
What to Test?
Headlines
Calls to action
Page style & layout
Images
Descriptive copy
Pricing & promos
.

How-To
What to Test?
Headlines
Calls to action
Page style & layout
Images
Descriptive copy
Pricing & promos
Tools to Employ
Google Website Optimizer
Visual Website Optimizer
LiveBall
A/Bingo
PickFu
Vertster
Unbounce
Sitespect's A/B Testing
Five Second Test
Vanity

Worth Mentioning…

Competitive Intelligence

Definition
Competitive intelligence – “the process by which companies inform themselves about every aspect of their rivals’ activities and performance” (Christopher West, Competitive Intelligence , p. 12)

7
What to Monitor:
Technologies used
Product/service features
Price levels
Customer-oriented promos, discounts, rebates
Distribution channels
Delivery methods
Perceptions they create for their brand
Means of creating perceptions online
Online marketing methods employed
Affiliate-oriented promos
Affiliate program specifics (commission, cookie life, performance incentives, etc)

Focus: Practical Application
“ The real purpose of competitive intelligence is to learn and to act ” …not merely collect data or “develop information”. (Seena Sharp, Competitive Intelligence Advantage , p 101)

ABCs, or 5 Ways to Spy:
A nalyze their performance stats
B ecome their customer & affiliate
C reate automatic monitoring campaigns
D o friend and follow them
E mploy traffic measuring tools

Misleading Metrics

Example

Common Problems & Challenges

Coupons

Problems
Last-minute coupon search
Pseudo-couponing
Coupon affiliates joining no-couponers programs
Coupon scraping

1. Last-Minute Coupon Search

2. Pseudo-Couponing
Police & Enforce

3. Joining No -Couponers Programs
Solution : Affiliate-referred visitors are not shown the coupon code box

4. Coupon Scraping
buy.at ’s solution

4. Coupon Scraping
Impact Radius ’ solution

Result? Affiliate confidence

Adware & Toolbars

Beware of…
Downloadable applications , browser add-ons (aka BHOs) that may interfere with one or all of your online marketing channels.

Example #1

Example #2

What to Do?
Have a TOS Clause on Adware
Monitor & Enforce Compliance
“ Play Without the Ball”

TOS Clause
Affiliate shall not transmit any so-called "interstitials," "Parasiteware™," "Parasitic Marketing," "Shopping Assistance Application," "Toolbar Installations and/or Add-ons," "Shopping Wallets" or "deceptive pop-ups and/or pop-unders" to consumers from the time the consumer clicks on a qualifying link until such time as the consumer has fully exited Merchant’s site (i.e., no page from our site or any Merchant.com’s content or branding is visible on the end-user’s screen). As used herein a. "Parasiteware™" and "Parasitic Marketing" shall mean an application that (a) through accidental or direct intent causes the overwriting of affiliate and non affiliate commission tracking cookies through any other means than a customer initiated click on a qualifying link on a web page or email; (b) intercepts searches to redirect traffic through an installed software, thereby causing, pop ups, commission tracking cookies to be put in place or other commission tracking cookies to be overwritten where a user would under normal circumstances have arrived at the same destination through the results given by the search (search engines being, but not limited to, Google, Bing, Yahoo, and similar search or directory engines); (c) set commission tracking cookies through loading of Merchant site in IFrames, hidden links and automatic pop ups that open Merchant.com’s site; (d) targets text on web sites, other than those web sites 100% owned by the application owner, for the purpose of contextual marketing; (e) removes, replaces or blocks the visibility of Affiliate banners with any other banners, other than those that are on web sites 100% owned by the owner of the application.

Resources
Ben Edelman - www.benedelman.org
Kellie Stevens - www.affiliatefairplay.com
my YouTube channel - youtube.com/eprussakov

Trademark Violations

For example…

Remember…
Do not call it a “violation” unless you’ve defined it as such in your TOS!

… and Be Clearer than:

What to Safeguard:
TMs ( and domains) as PPC keywords,
TMs in domain names;
… “ misspellings and variations” wording

How to Police:
In Paid Search Campaigns:
iTrademarkBidding – www.itrademarkbidding.com
Brandverity PoachMark – brandverity.com/poachmark
SearchMonitor – thesearchmonitor.com/affiliate_monitor
AdGooroo Trademark Insight – www.adgooroo.com
In Domain Names:
CitizenHawk – www.citizenhawk.com
.

FTC Compliance

FTC's Rules on Endorsements
In essence…
merchant-affiliate = sponsor-endorser relationships
relationship must be clearly disclosed by marketer
advertiser responsible for educating , equipping , and policing compliance

What to Do:
Sub-clause of Affiliate Obligations clause in TOS
Provide affiliates with disclosure template(s)
Routinely (and yes, manually) analyze sites of top performers
Look into solutions like SearchReviews.com, or invest into a tool of your own

Sub-clause Example
We strongly advise affiliates to stay compliant with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) guidelines on testimonials and endorsements. All endorsements, reviews, testimonials on CompanyName.com’s products and services, as well as relationships between other types of content websites (forums, blogs, microblogs and other Social Media channels) and CompanyName must be clearly disclosed in a separate policy on the affiliate sites. FTC points out that “when there exists a connection between the endorser and the seller of the advertised product” it is imperative that such connection is “fully disclosed”. FTC deems the relationship in an endorser-sponsor light, and believes that the end user has the right to understand that one exists [ more on FTC.gov ]. We share the undergirding idea of this approach, and strongly encourage our affiliates to adhere to the FTC’s rules. We also reserve the right to terminate relationship with any non-compliant affiliates.

Resources:
www.ftc.gov/os/2009/10/091005EndorsementGuidesFNNotice. pdf or http://1.usa.gov/FTC-affiliates
http://1.usa.gov/FTCGuides-videos
http://bit.ly/FTCGuides-FAQs
www.amnavigator.com/blog/tag/ftc-disclosure-rules

In Conclusion…

Example Performance-based doesn’t mean effortless

Thank you!!
www.amnavigator.com/blog | www.AffiliateManagementDays.com Action Points
Screen applications
Analyze KPIs
Test (to optimize)
Spy on competition
Monitor :
a) Coupon violations
b) Adware & toolbars
c) Trademark abuse
d) FTC compliance

http://www.amnavigator.com	1145
http://www.twylah.com	24
http://localhost	8
http://a0.twimg.com	8
http://www.edmodo.com	4
http://www.comtel.in	2
http://www.onlydoo.com	1
http://www.netvibes.com	1
http://us-w1.rockmelt.com	1
https://abs.twimg.com	1

Advanced Affiliate Program Management

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