A launch is a launch is a launch… Yes? Not really.
I have a number of $$$ launches under my belt. These were off-line product launches, which certainly had their challenges, but did not involve dealing with the force majeure of today’s online launches: affiliates.
I had the pleasure to get more familiar with this enigmatic army of virtual miracle workers during my recent launch on JVZoo. This was my very first online launch, and I have no intention to delve into the obvious: the key to success is to get on board as many experienced affiliates as you can.
However, I would like to share with you a few observations about the opposing pole of the affiliate scale: newbies.
Many sellers do not approve affiliates unless they have at least 100+ sales. There is a lot to be said for this strategy, but I did not follow it. I approved everyone who wanted to promote my product. Why? Because I know how hard it is to break through when you are starting from zero. And because I believe in the power of long-term relationships, which you obviously cannot build if you do not let people in.
Well, it takes two to tango. Many of the inexperienced affiliates took the first step and signed on, but did not tango after that. Zero activity, but no harm done. Other newbies generated clicks, but their conversions were way below par. Such well meant but not quite successful effort has a rather undesirable effect: it drives down your conversion rates, and thus makes your product potentially less attractive to other - more successful – affiliates.
Anyhow, what happened? Did these newbies fail to offer enough perks to their prospects and succumbed to the more established affiliates in the ‘Battle of the Bonuses’? Did they offer the product to poorly targeted audiences? Did they give up too soon in the campaign? Yes, some of them threw in the towel after a day or two, which is easy to trace; the other causes of the lesser performance are not so obvious (unless you see tons of clicks and no conversions; such clicks are probably coming from an illegal clickfarm and you should disapprove the affiliate immediately).
We could say that there is sufficient evidence pointing to the ‘do not approve’ horn of our dilemma. Yet, such short-term pragmatism could limit our ROIs in the long-term: refreshing the affiliate army with new hungry ‘recruits’ who expand and enrich the pool of prospects can eventually lead to higher profits for everyone involved. But if we do not approve inexperienced affiliates, we will not be able to spot the new talent…
In my opinion, in the end it all boils down to building and maintaining good working relationships with affiliates, whether they are experienced or not.
In any event, I am very interested in your ideas about approving newbies. And if you work with newbies, please share the strategies that are effective in helping them getting up to speed.
Thank you.
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