Merchants declining affiliate applications

[dazedandconfused]

Hi All,

A good part of the time I get approved as an affiliate for a merchant, but there are still a number of times I get declined with no explanation.

Any advise on how to get approved? Or why do they sometime decline your application?

Thanks,
Dazed

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hi Dazed,

I can imagine how frustrating that must be. If it makes you feel better it even happens to Super Affiliates sometimes. Check out this blog from Super Affiliate Zac Johnson: <a href="http://zacjohnson.com/where-did-all-the-good-affiliate-programs-go/">Where Did All The Good Affiliate Programs Go?</a>

Declines happen for a variety of reasons and each merchant/affiliate manager has different criteria.

1) Some affiliate managers and merchants are just plain clueless and don't know how to review and select affiliates.

2) Many screen out affiliates if their site does not match the merchant's product category. Example: affiliate applies to a baby stroller affiliate program with a golf site. Narrow minded AMs decline. Sharp AMs realize that the affiliate is probably smart enough not to put baby stollers on a golf site and realize the affiliate either has another site that's a good fit or plans to build a new one around the merchant's products.

3) Some AMs screen out affiliate that have site that are new or don't have a certain PR or a certain Alexa ranking or a certain CJ EPC. Again I think that's pretty narrow minded because everyone has to start somewhere and today's n00b could be tomorrow's super affiliate.

If you have another site that's targeted or plan to build a new site around the merchant then sending an email explaining why they should reconsider your app sometimes works. Also some apps have an open field where you can explain things like that to optimize your chances of being approved.

Realize that some of the bigger affiliate programs get 100s of apps a day, so it's hard to review them all and so some AMs just take a quick look at a bunch and decide they don't make the grade for whatever reason. So if it's a program you really want to join you make need to take the extra step to try to reach them and sell them on partnering with you.

 

[dazedandconfused]

Decline Application....

Whoa Linda, you surprised me with such a quick answer.

It make sense what you said, thanks again.

 

[Julia15]

Just wanted to add that as an AM myself, I would highly recommend contacting the program that has declined you for more details. They should be more than willing to give you feedback on why you were declined.

 

[longroad]

What I find frustrating is when a merchant in CJ declines you immediately. This is obviously automated but what is their basis?

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hi longroad,

Lots of CJ merchants screen out and auto-decline affiliates from certain countries or below a certain CJ ranking level.

Narrow minded, lazy, short-sighted way to manage a program IMHO, but that's how some of them do it.

 

[longroad]

Well they are really missing out...

 

[max0410]

I think this is the craziest thing I ever heard. What person would turn down an opportunity to make more money?? I don't believe it costs the advertisers anything to approve you. It's their loss!

 

[Guppy Support]

Hi Dazed,

Relevance is important when merchants are reviewing affililates. When browsing through offers from a merchant or affiliate network, choose relevant offers that pertain to the content of your site. It is valuable to have relevant offers because there is a higher chance of visitors clicking on it.

Merchants and affiliate networks have an approval process which reviews affiliates based on media types, relevancy, and promotional plans. If you provide them with sufficient information, it will help you in the approval process.

 

[mjzsmith]

As an AM, I agree with all the advice given above and cannot emphasize the importance of giving sufficient information. I find that there are times when the affiliate application process doesn't give the whole story - a lot of affiliates will only list 1 domain which may or may not be relevant to the program.

Dazed, if you've got a lot of different domains that operate under different email addresses, be sure to check your email -a lot of times AM's will reach out to you to garner more information-so be sure to check the appropriate email account to see whether anyone's reached out to you for more information.

 

[yanamk]

Have you read the program terms and conditions? Maybe there is an explanation there.

Also, in case you have misstyped your website url and they get an error message while trying to open it - that can be a reason for decline too...

One more thing - have you called yourself with a super fake name and listed all the fake details in the application form? That can be a good reason for turning down the application.

 

[AffRep]

There is also the GEO problem. As you know affiliate programs are constantly being attack by any kind of scammers. Most of which come from certain countries.

If you do not live in the US it could be enough for some programs to reject your application.