Affiliate Manager Tip – Contacting Affiliates
Since I have been working as a Affiliate Program Consultant, I figured I would dive into a hot topic. How to contact an Affiliate. This is directed towards Affiliate Managers of course.
When contacting Affiliates, its best to KISS (that’s Keep It Simple Stupid in case you have been living under a rock for ever). You never want to be to pushy, and never want to seem uneducated. Its important to remember that you won’t land them as an affiliate with your first contact email, but you can DEFINITELY lose them.
Keep in mind these emails are unsolicited. This is why when I am sending the first email out to a possible Affiliate I will make a statement like “Hope you don’t mind the email” or “Sorry for the disturbance”.
I always make sure to get the point across and put the ball in their court. I don’t talk about what type of deals I can give them, and I don’t lay out all that my Affiliate Program has to offer. I would rather talk to them personally and explain my program to them on Skype or over the phone. This way I can A. Sell my product and show how much I truly believe in it, and B. Answer any questions they have.
Now, you never ever want to send some template email out to Affiliates, because they can sniff this out very quick. They then think you don’t even care enough to send a personal email, so why they hell would they work for you.
I usually mention their site so they know its not a spam program sending their email, but I always mention that I want to work with their sites. I do this because most Affiliates own multiple sites, and if I am going to work with them, I obviously want as much exposure as possible.
I am sure I am going to get some opinions that differ from my own, which is great. Many people think that you should think outside the box and do something creative. I just think its a waste of time for both parties. If an Affiliate is interested in adding you, they will contact you to start dialogue. You are not going to woo them over by telling them how great your program converts.
Some more tips:
One of the ideas I am toying around with, is creating a page on the Aced Affiliate site that is sort of a sales kit. It would either be a couple pages, or a pdf that basically explains who Aced is, and whats great about it. I would then link that page in my sig, so that if the Affiliate is interested in learning more before actually having to chat with me they can. What do you think?
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November 19th, 200810:30 pm at
Brandon,
Very solid post. If I received two emails, one of which was a mile long and outlined every detail at a program, and one that had a skype name and said “I represent XYZ poker, Let’s chat”, I’d definitely respond to the second one first.
I like the idea about the sales kit page, that’d really help affiliates get an idea about your program to see if they’re interested and want to chat more.
- Mike
November 25th, 20081:20 am at
Brandon,
I agree with Mike on his reaction to different approaches in e-mails. I am sick and tired of reading through long e-mails and want to see the 8 seconds elevator sales pitch also in e-mails. The option of a personal contact via skype or phone is the winning point.
With regard to the sales kit, as an affiliate manager as well as an affiliate I would only want to use a real good kit. With all the same stuff out there, I would not want to get another ” oh, we have the best software and the coolest graphics” phrases packed in a beautiful sales kit. Your sales kit would need to address good arguments why affiliate manager benefit from selling your product and why affiliates also benefit from pushing your product to the front row, all compared to market standards. “A player gets $500 up to 100% match up first sign-up bonus” doesn’t pull the trigger any longer.
Adi
March 4th, 200911:37 am at
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