Effective and strategic programme management is the cornerstone of success in affiliate marketing. It provides the foundations for building a dynamic, high quality and creative programme that can deliver real commercial value in line with an advertiser’s objectives, be they to drive incremental sales, retain customers or drive traffic.
Solid account management will ensure that the affiliate programme is aligned with the wider marketing goals of the organisation and objectives should be reviewed to make sure that as they change, the programme adapts to ensure that it is continuing to deliver commercial value. Here we look at the role that ongoing and strategic programme management has to play in helping advertisers to evolve their affiliate campaigns.
Getting the basics right
Typically advertisers will go through three key stages (of which there will be more later) in their affiliate marketing 'lifecycle.' At each stage they will have different needs and requirements, but regardless of whether or not they are just starting out or consider themselves to be industry pros, there are some basics that all advertisers need to bear in mind:
Tracking and reporting - The ability to track sales and reward affiliates is the basis for the affiliate model. Effective tracking and reporting is therefore the most fundamental element of any programme. In order to ensure that they have the right process in place for both their online and mobile sites, advertisers need to implement tracking, test it and regularly review it. Simple things like a small change to your site can impact tracking and reporting, so it is important that it's reviewed regularly.
With the right tracking and reporting in place advertisers can see which customers they are selling to, via what channels. This insightful data can help advertisers to develop a more sophisticated and targeted affiliate strategy.
A lot of advertisers use third party companies to help them track sales. This isn't right for everyone, but it's certainly worth considering as it can provide a broader view across multiple marketing channels and help with deduplication.
Regularly review your commission structure - Sticking to the same commission structure 365 days of the year may not be to an advertisers benefit. Making strategic increases around certain times of the year or events can help advertisers to better target certain audiences. Having the flexibility to change the structure to reflect which affiliates you are engaging with across different channels can help to bolster sales.
Be creative - Keeping things fresh not only makes an advertisers brand more compelling to consumers, but also to publishers. Don't push out the same content and offers across multiple channels. Think about the audiences you are trying to reach via different publishers and what is likely to grab their attention. If a publisher knows they have something unique and different, the chances are they are much more likely to promote an advertiser.
Reaching out to affiliates to get feedback from them about what they feel they need in order to really promote an advertiser's brand is a great way of engaging them and involving them in the process.
Validation and invoicing - It is vital that any advertiser can validate sales (see point one about tracking) and is in a position to pay publishers their commission - on time. To do this advertisers need to implement a straightforward validation process that they apply across the affiliate channel. If an advertiser cancels a sale, they should be transparent about the reasons why so that the affiliate understands the reasoning and can avoid the situation happening again in the future.
Review - Ensure that you have a regular review process in place. This is essential for ensuring that the programme is performing in line with the business goals and continues to deliver value.
The affiliate programme lifecycle
For the purposes of this article, we've identified three key phases that advertisers go through with their affiliate strategy: Start, Growth and Optimise. These have been simplified for this discussion and of course vary based on an advertiser’s size and the industry that they work in. The point we are making is that each stage is very different and is governed by differing strategic objectives. Recognising these is key to not only managing the programme correctly in its current stage, but thinking about how it can evolve to become ever more valuable.
On your marks get set.....
When an advertiser kicks off their affiliate marketing programme, the core focus tends to be on generating as much traffic and sales as possible by getting your brand known in the affiliate space through the deployment of good offers.
This focus brings with certain behaviours. Starters tend to be a lot more experimental and so are open to the different opportunities that the affiliate channel presents, such as exploring tenancies. A desire to attract customers and close as many sales as possible, means that an advertiser in this phase is more likely to have a stronger focus on the short tail. They are often able to set up very fruitful partnerships with these publishers, as typically Starters adopt a more flexible approach to commission levels they are paying, in order to see quick results.
Ready to grow...
In the second stage, Growth, advertisers are looking to balance the need for sales and growth, with supporting the brand and its objectives. Sales are no longer enough, advertisers in this stage want to talk strategy and return on investment. And this is when you start to notice their relationship with the short tail change. Advertisers in this stage tend to be more strategic and start to think about the audiences they want to reach and how each publisher can help them to do that. This makes Growth a very experimental phase, where advertisers look for new affiliates that can help them to broaden their appeal, such as niche content sites and price comparison sites.
During the growth phase programme management comes into its own, as it is vital to ensuring the rapid development of the publisher base that the advertiser can tap into in order to scale up their programme activity.
Optimise for success....
Optimisers tend to be brands like Debenhams that have well established affiliate programmes. They know every aspect of the programme and are focused on how they can strategically use the affiliate channel in order to grow their business.
For example, they might be seeking to increase their sales amongst a specific audience. By linking the affiliate programme with the rest of the digital marketing strategy Optimisers can better understand the customer journey and the various touch points they have with consumers in store, on their mobile and online. Using this knowledge, Optimisers are able to strategically align publishers to audiences and match content/offers accordingly to help them with their core business objectives. Given their focus on refinement, Optimisers are generally more open to having conversations about different commission structures that reflect the contribution both the long and short tail make to sales.
The role of programme management in this stage is to help advertisers constantly seek to evolve their programme and keep pace with consumers as they adapt and change their behaviours.
Good account management plays a key contribution to helping advertisers develop their affiliate strategy over time. Without it advertisers could well be missing out on different opportunities, publishers and strategic input needed to grow a programme and help it become an asset that helps to underpin an advertisers growth. Programme management can feel time consuming, but as with so many things in life, you get out what you put in.
By Helen Southgate, MD of Affilinet.
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