Basic outline of what an affiliate expects?

[akorff]

We are releasing in the next couple of weeks, and our first goal after live is to flush out our affiliate program. I've posted elsewhere on this topic, and just to repeat the highlights: We are releasing online software (ASP model) and as custom software developers, we have implemented affiliate programs for our clients in the past. To that end, we've decided to handle the affiliate system in-house.

My question is this: If I'm looking at a phased approach to releasing my affiliate program, where should I start?

Phase 1: I was thinking with friends & family that we could start with a simple coupon code. The trust factor is there so the reporting could be very basic to start. We could use this period to fully automate our payments so it's smooth when we start working with "strangers". Even though we would keep the reporting simple in this phase, I would want to structure the system to track the proper metrics so we can provide the correct reports in the future, so we need to have some idea up front as to what the end goal would be.


Phase 2 is where I have questions marks. Obviously we want to strike a proper balance. We could develop reports until the end of time, but would rather create a standard set that affiliates are used to seeing. Also, we obviously have to automated everything. Our software has a ticketing system, so we would use that for the affiliates as well (for support issues). Other than support, my initial perception is that we need: (a) banner/link material (b) tracking incoming (c) reports (d) payments (e) help files, but I'm worried I'm missing something fundamental in that list.

Any comments/suggestions would be appreciated, thanks.


Aaron

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hi Aaron,

I strongly recommend against companies developing their own in-house tracking. Affiliates don't trust it and like the comfort of using software they are familiar with. There is NO WAY you can build software that has everything and does as good a job as software that's been out the for years, has been through beta testing, then used and improved via feedback from thousands of affiliates.

If cost is the issue there are lots that are so affordable there is no way you could pay programmers less. Think of it this way. Why in the world would you want to pay your programmers to build a custom word processing program and try to get all your employees to use something so foreign and different than what they are used to, when you can just buy Word?

Don't know why you wouldn't just buy idevaffiliate or something for $100 and be done with it???

That said, I'm not understanding how you can build it if you don't know the basics all affiliate tracking programs need to have. I suggest you and one of your programmers go through the idevaffiliate demo together and review all the different reporting options. Here's a list of features and logins to the admin demo are at the bottom of the page. iDevAffiliate - Affiliate Tracking Software

FYI I'm not saying idev is the best, I don't really have a personal fav low end tracking solution. It's just one of the lowest cost, well respected ones I know a little about.

 

[akorff]

Thanks Linda. I've used a different affiliate software product in the past and it was horrible, but since you mentioned idev, we'll definitely check that out.

As for whether or not to build it in-house: As an owner of a Custom Software Development firm, I could debate this ad-nauseum.

I think Word isn't the best analogy because it's a generic product for a very matured industry, where affiliate market software is a not nearly as matured. Think of it this way: yes, I would definitely use Word to write a memo, fax, short-story, or white-paper, but there are other products out there that lawyers use to compose contracts, and publishers use to manage content. And some law firms and publishers custom build their own software so it's tailored perfectly for their businesses (we just created a 30K newsletter creation tool in fact). The main argument against custom software is the expense, but since I have a team of 5 custom software developers on my payroll, it's more an issue of priority, rather than expense for my firm.

That said, yes, getting a huge cheap code-base for free is great, but either you have to (A) use it as is, with all the unnecessary features, to enjoy the benefits of what has been fully QA'd or (B) tweak and adapt it and, believe me, it goes to s--t sometimes then.

A final element to the whole decision is this: Our main product is billing and tracking software, so the affiliate data can actually be loaded into that system. Using our system for the affiliates themselves is a marketing boost for us because it will expose our product to a very desirable audience.

Thanks for you advice on idev. Would you recommend we check any other products in particular?

-Aaron

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hi Aaron,

Not to belabor the point, but I guess I didn't explain part of it very well or stopped short of the point with the Word example. The main point is from the affiliate's viewpoint in terms of usability and time efficiency - not just the feasibility of you doing the programming.

Let me use the Word example differently. Imagine if everyone that sent you an email used a custom Word Processing program. You had to learn each program to reply to that person. Some were missing features you were used to, all had different menus and all felt foreign compared to what you were used to. It would be a huge time suck to use each different program and switch gears each time you had to reply to an email with each custom word processor.

To some degree if an affiliate joins several different programs that have their own custom software, that’s what it's like. Smart affiliates don’t like to waste time fiddling with different logins and interfaces and reporting anomalies if they don't need to. Plus they've all been burned using in-house software that didn't track right or was missing vital info they needed to be able to do their job.

So that's the rest of my 2 cents.

 

[akorff]

Now you really got me thinking . Good points.

Thanks.

-Aaron

 

[ruins411]

Thoughts

Hey Guys,

First off I just have to say that I recently found this blog and love it! Lots of great information and hats off to you Linda for all you've done here.

As a former affiliate and current AM I would have to strongly urge you not to invest in tracking software that is already out there. At this stage in the game it puts you at a disadvantage in that you can't act quickly enough. Problems are always going to happen but having an in house tracking software makes it easier for you to fix. If you purchase DirectTrack or something you are at their mercy.

Invest in something good and invest in keeping up with it. Tracking is a huge thing for affiliates and I know many that refuse to work with any company that doesn't have their own inhouse.