How Often To Contact?
- Thread starter AMFM
- Start date
Hi David,
Welcome to 5 Star and thanks for starting off with a great question.
Since I no longer do any program management I'll give you my 2 cents in hope some other affiliate managers will jump in with their thoughts.
It's a tough question because yes this is a relationship business, however some affiliates are very independent and don't want to feel managed, pitched or even hand held. So you need to find a balance.
Now some of this depends on the program, but in general I feel there should be at least one monthly newsletter. More for really big programs that have frequent updates.
I think if you have the time and your program isn't too huge it would be nice to do one personal contact to welcome new affiliates as they join and maybe just ask. How can I best help you? What types of things to you want me to let you know about and how do you prefer I contact you? Then segment your list into affiliates that really seem to value the attention and like the personal contact, those that only want important updates and those that don't like to be contacted at all.
Your top few affiliates you should try to stay in more contact with IF you have some news that will help them. But your top guys are probably top guys for others and very busy so I would not bother them to chit chat, just when you have something that could help them earn more.
Other thoughts???
Welcome to 5 Star and thanks for starting off with a great question.
Since I no longer do any program management I'll give you my 2 cents in hope some other affiliate managers will jump in with their thoughts.
It's a tough question because yes this is a relationship business, however some affiliates are very independent and don't want to feel managed, pitched or even hand held. So you need to find a balance.
Now some of this depends on the program, but in general I feel there should be at least one monthly newsletter. More for really big programs that have frequent updates.
I think if you have the time and your program isn't too huge it would be nice to do one personal contact to welcome new affiliates as they join and maybe just ask. How can I best help you? What types of things to you want me to let you know about and how do you prefer I contact you? Then segment your list into affiliates that really seem to value the attention and like the personal contact, those that only want important updates and those that don't like to be contacted at all.
Your top few affiliates you should try to stay in more contact with IF you have some news that will help them. But your top guys are probably top guys for others and very busy so I would not bother them to chit chat, just when you have something that could help them earn more.
Other thoughts???
Personally I don't like to be contacted too often. 2 times per month is alright. but 1 time per month is great for me.
I feel most people get upset receiving many emails from one source.
Hope I helped.
I feel most people get upset receiving many emails from one source.
Hope I helped.
Right on!!!
Way to "raise the bar" for the slackers all over the place.
I can never remember being contacted like you're saying by any affiliate manager for anything but more stuff to buy. Really.
Way to be a role model. Keep it up, seriously.
I feel very passionately about raising the expectations of people who are marketing affiliate anything. No matter the business model. People have just come to expect less because it's the norm. I say, crank up the heat and make it the norm to go above and beyond the non-supportive way things have become.
Sheree
Way to "raise the bar" for the slackers all over the place.
I can never remember being contacted like you're saying by any affiliate manager for anything but more stuff to buy. Really.
Way to be a role model. Keep it up, seriously.
I feel very passionately about raising the expectations of people who are marketing affiliate anything. No matter the business model. People have just come to expect less because it's the norm. I say, crank up the heat and make it the norm to go above and beyond the non-supportive way things have become.
Sheree
As Linda said, it depends on the program and even your niche. Your communications should also depend on the Network your program is on.
I think, and this is JMO with regards to contacting affiliates, it is important to only contact them if there is something to contact them about. If you have a custom code for them, if your store is going to have a sale that they could capitalize on, etc... Contacting them just because you want them to know you are there isn't always a good idea, even though it does allow them to know there is an active manager there.
One thing you may want to do is send a customized and personalized email to each affiliate that applies to your program with your contact info. This helps to add the feeling of a real person they can reach out to, however a generic email with one or two differences is easy to pick up on so make sure they are each unique. This is a key part in getting your affiliates to activate.
As for contacting via which network you are on. Some of the networks charge per newsletter or email so you may want to hold off unless it is something important. Networks like Performics have a feature called orange links so that if you upload new links into Performics it will send them out to all your affiliates who have requested to receive Orange Links and that is a way to contact them without being intrusive as they are only getting what they need without the extra words and info which may not apply to them. They also use them to paste them into their sites faster so your links get moved up in priority. Share a Sale has their deals database and some other affiliate networks offer RSS and download-able databases for affiliates to get them live faster. Find out what your network offers and use them as it will help to get your links on sites faster, not to mention a much higher reach rate.
Newsletters are fantastic, but make sure there is something the affiliates need and can use in them, otherwise you may get put into the merchant ignore folder that many affiliates have.
I think, and this is JMO with regards to contacting affiliates, it is important to only contact them if there is something to contact them about. If you have a custom code for them, if your store is going to have a sale that they could capitalize on, etc... Contacting them just because you want them to know you are there isn't always a good idea, even though it does allow them to know there is an active manager there.
One thing you may want to do is send a customized and personalized email to each affiliate that applies to your program with your contact info. This helps to add the feeling of a real person they can reach out to, however a generic email with one or two differences is easy to pick up on so make sure they are each unique. This is a key part in getting your affiliates to activate.
As for contacting via which network you are on. Some of the networks charge per newsletter or email so you may want to hold off unless it is something important. Networks like Performics have a feature called orange links so that if you upload new links into Performics it will send them out to all your affiliates who have requested to receive Orange Links and that is a way to contact them without being intrusive as they are only getting what they need without the extra words and info which may not apply to them. They also use them to paste them into their sites faster so your links get moved up in priority. Share a Sale has their deals database and some other affiliate networks offer RSS and download-able databases for affiliates to get them live faster. Find out what your network offers and use them as it will help to get your links on sites faster, not to mention a much higher reach rate.
Newsletters are fantastic, but make sure there is something the affiliates need and can use in them, otherwise you may get put into the merchant ignore folder that many affiliates have.
Niche Marketer
New Member
I don't contact my "clients" more then once a month if everything is going smoothly. I also don't like to be contacted too often especially if you're trying to push something on me.
