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

Advanced?

Five Pillars

The Plate

Advanced? Essential

Outline <ul><li>Analysis & Optimization Questions
</li></ul><ul><li>Common Problems & Challenges </li></ul><ul><li>Outcome: 5 Action Points </li></ul>

Analysis & Optimization

<ul><li>Affiliate Applications </li></ul>

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

<ul><li>Quote to Remember </li></ul>“… 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)

<ul><li>Don’t Burn Bridges! </li></ul>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.

<ul><li>Key Performance Indicators </li></ul>

2 <ul><li>Good Question </li></ul>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

<ul><li>Definition </li></ul>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).

Example © 2007-2011 WiderFunnel Marketing
Inc. Test Page: Pluraleyes Software Landing Page Audience: Affiliates, Search, Direct Goal: Software Downloads

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. <ul><li>What Did They Test? </li></ul><ul><li>Value Proposition headline </li></ul><ul><li>New persuasive copywriting </li></ul><ul><li>Clear call-to-action </li></ul><ul><li>Clarified product features </li></ul><ul><li>Testimonials </li></ul>

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

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

Worth Mentioning…

Worth Mentioning…

Competitive Intelligence

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

<ul><li>Focus: Practical Application </li></ul>“ 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: <ul><li>A nalyze their performance stats </li></ul><ul><li>B ecome their customer & affiliate </li></ul><ul><li>C reate automatic monitoring campaigns </li></ul><ul><li>D o friend and follow them </li></ul><ul><li>E mploy traffic measuring tools </li></ul>

<ul><li>Misleading Metrics </li></ul>

<ul><li>Example </li></ul>

Common Problems & Challenges

<ul><li>Coupons </li></ul>

<ul><li>Problems </li></ul><ul><li>Last-minute coupon search </li></ul><ul><li>Pseudo-couponing
</li></ul><ul><li>Coupon affiliates joining no-couponers programs </li></ul><ul><li>Coupon scraping </li></ul>

<ul><li>1. Last-Minute Coupon Search </li></ul>

<ul><li>2. Pseudo-Couponing </li></ul>Police & Enforce

<ul><li>3. Joining No -Couponers Programs
</li></ul>Solution : Affiliate-referred visitors are not shown the coupon code box

<ul><li>4. Coupon Scraping </li></ul>buy.at ’s
solution

<ul><li>4. Coupon Scraping </li></ul>Impact Radius
’ solution

<ul><li>Result? Affiliate confidence </li></ul>

<ul><li>Adware & Toolbars </li></ul>

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

<ul><li>Example #1 </li></ul>

<ul><li>Example #2 </li></ul>

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

<ul><li>TOS Clause </li></ul>Affiliate shall not
transmit any so-called &quot;interstitials,&quot; &quot;Parasiteware™,&quot; &quot;Parasitic Marketing,&quot; &quot;Shopping Assistance Application,&quot; &quot;Toolbar Installations and/or Add-ons,&quot; &quot;Shopping Wallets&quot; or &quot;deceptive pop-ups and/or pop-unders&quot; 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. &quot;Parasiteware™&quot; and &quot;Parasitic Marketing&quot; 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.

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

<ul><li>Trademark Violations </li></ul>

For example…

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

<ul><li>… and Be Clearer than:
</li></ul>

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

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

FTC Compliance

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

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

<ul><li>Sub-clause Example </li></ul>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.

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

In Conclusion…

Example Performance-based doesn’t mean effortless

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