What do JVs look for in evaluating an affiliate opportunity?

Hi everyone,

I'm new to this. I'm developing an online course that is closely tied to my core business. It will be something of real value to business owners, so I feel that the value to price will be high. Since I've never done anything with JV partners before. Is there anything specific you look for aside from having a great product and the marketing materials needed to support it?

Also, I've heard that some JV partners will only consider affiliates who use some of the bigger, more well known and pricey services like 1shoppingcart or clickbank. I don't really need either of these and there seems to be some duplication in what those guys offer with what I already have, and am considering something like Idevaffiliate which provides only what's missing from my membership site plugin. I would be paying commissions directly, instead of it being paid by the affiliate system itself.

I've heard that some JVs only want these big guns, but I can't help wondering if they're motivated by their own affiliate relationship there :)

What do you think?

Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer.

If they are not mining their data to deliver targeted messaging to the clients that come through the coupon affiliate door, then they are simply training their customers (like Pavlov’s dog) to expect a discount. Instead a better approach is to review their transaction history, email activity, site activity and other factors such as social media to determine the correct sentiment driven products that lead them away from the discount habit and into deeper levels of engagement with their products and brand. Like the way NectarOM handles predictive behavior using transactional, clickstream and social media data to flash relevant products on the advertisers website and in emails.

Thanks Yanbi Bee, I'm sorry but I'm still a big naive, how would I review their transaction history, or even find out who they are in the first place? Would you suggest for a course in the $400-500 range that I use something like clickbank? I thought that were for lower priced, purely downloadable products, but perhaps I'm wrong about this?

Susan, I've never seen something that price on ClickBank before. However, JVZoo has several courses in that price range. A buddy of mine, Brian Johnson, just launched one that sells for around $500 and that's the platform he runs on. Hope that helps. By the way, here's the link JVZoo.com

Hi Susan,

Yes the quality of the product does matter as does the sales letter and promotional tools the affiliates can use. But you are talking about using your own affiliate tracking and paying the affiliates yourself. If affiliates have never worked with you, how are you going to guarantee you will pay your affiliates when you promise.

When affiliates use vender/affiliate platforms like ClickBank they know without a doubt that they will receive their promised commissions when promised because it is not the vendor that is paying the affiliate but it is the vendor/affiliate platform that will be paying the affiliates just like clock work.

I hope this has been helpful,
Steve Yakim

Hello Susan,

Strong affiliates or jv partners are always looking to promote the course that will generate most income/visitor,they will search for the product with the best EPC to promote.

I came to understand that lately, there are several strategies to be employed in order to attract quality partners.I will get back to it later.

Since you do not have a history or being a well known author in your niche will not help you. Also, I highly suggest that you use clickbank as the payment processor.

I have seen, lately, on clickbank, products with value of $1,800 so your price should not be a trouble for clickbank.Also, using a payment processor that will automatically pay the affiliates is a big + for the affiliates.

Now, to attract affiliates, and have a successful launch, you will first need to get in touch with other serious people in your niche and try to partner with them. Offer them what the competition is not, for example bigger commissions and cash prizes.

Many affiliates are going to use media buy to push traffic, so be sure to also hand them the tools to do so. Other affiliates will use social media, be sure to have the banners sizes that will be used on social media marketing. Other affiliates will use email marketing, be sure to have quality email swipes. Do not forget to add keywords and unique articles for the affiliates that will promote your course via SEO. Adding cash prizes will also incentivize the affiliates.

Cheers,
Darius

As Far as i know with my little Exp, First they are gonna evaluate your product, Sales Page and its Demand.. Then Commission comes into game.. If all these are rock solid then they will be promoting your offer.

In my humble opinion, the things that affiliates see is EPC and conversion rate. Generally, as the EPC should be more than $1 per click and the conversion rate as high as possible. That way, the affiliates have a higher chance of making money when they mail for you.

I agree with Jason Chan, plus a few more factors.

The following are a list of criteria based on my own experience from my own launches and conversations with several big affiliates that have given me their opinion (I mean, humbly, not on the fact that I've sold thousands and thousands of my products, because I haven't, I'm a product creator trying to grow step-by-step).

Things potential affiliates look for BEFORE you launch
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- Obviously, they'll look at your product trying to ascertain if there may be demand for it. Depending on your niche look at what's selling right now; for instance in the IM niche there are trends, like some months everyone launches products about CPA, other months it seems to be the official "video marketing tools month" etc.

- Even if you have chosen a good sub-niche, they will also consider if it matches their list. I've had some affiliates told me they would be very glad to help me if I create a product related to [insert whatever topic here] because they have a list of thousands of people interested in that, but for the particular offer I was presenting them, they thought their list was not a good match, so they preferred not to promote. I understand them (many make a living out of this, so they can't risk "wasting" promotion slots in something that won't convert FOR THEIR LIST, and it's also better for the vendor as they won't send "useless" clicks that only drive conversions down.

- They will take a look at your sales copy.

- And also, they may be influenced by other affiliates you have on board. If X, Y and Z super-affiliates are going to promote, this must mean something, so they are more likely to get on board. It's kind of a snowball effect.

- The price tags, funnel, commissions. Even if you've not launched yet, obviously a product with a 7$ F/E at 100% commissions, OTO1 17$ at 100% and OTO2 at 47$ recurring at 50% is more attractive than just a single F/E offer with a 27$ price tag at 70% commission.

- And don't neglect the importance of affiliate contest. An afiliate could double his profit by promoting you offer if you give a juicy price to the person topping the leaderboard.

After you launch
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Once the product is live, obviously there are several figures they can check (and you should too, but the main ones are those pointed out by Jason:

- F/E Conversion rate. A F/E converting at 3% will get very few affiliates on board, unless it's a very high-ticket product. Depending on your price tag, you should aim at least at 10%, 20 or 30% being much better, of course, especially for very low-ticket prices.

- EPCs. This is the key metric, in the end. If an affiliate sends you 1000 clicks, and your EPC is 0,2, they'll make 20$. They won't even bother. If the EPC is 1.75$, they'll make 175$ for every 1000 clicks, so that's more juicy for them, especially if you add the contest to that.

As said, this is my experience based on conversations with medium - big affiliates.

I hope it helps!

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Originally Posted by Shane Boyd

Susan, I've never seen something that price on ClickBank before. However, JVZoo has several courses in that price range. A buddy of mine, Brian Johnson, just launched one that sells for around $500 and that's the platform he runs on. Hope that helps. By the way, here's the link JVZoo.com

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ClickBank usually restricts price to $300 until your product has sales with an acceptable return rate. Then, you can request a price increase beyond the initial max.