How to keep affiliates in your affiliate program active?

One of the most serious drawbacks of a poor affiliate program is that it leaves affiliates feeling totally unengaged and detached from the brand. Aside from the commission they get, if your affiliates don’t feel interested or included in your company, they won’t actively participate in promotions. 

It is not as easy as simply supplying the affiliates with campaigns, material, and links to promote and then leaving them to their own devices. After all, what difference does an affiliate make that an automated display advertisement campaign does not? Affiliates want to be a part of affiliate services for a variety of reasons. You must capitalize on this initial inspiration and not let it lapse.

This is why it is important to cultivate relationships with your affiliates. 

By cultivating a connection with your company, you can eventually give your affiliate program an advantage over other programs in which your affiliates may be involved. Affiliates who are made to feel like they are a part of the team are more likely to participate in the program, resulting in higher profits for you and more commissions for affiliates!

Affiliate Newsletter

Never underestimate the importance of keeping your affiliates up to date with what’s going on in your company or even just your affiliate program. Through providing affiliates with quality information on a regular basis with an affiliate newsletter. You will make them feel more connected to your brand and help develop the relationship you can eventually leverage through the affiliate marketing process. Keeping affiliates informed keeps them engaged, interested, and on the lookout for you and your company.

A newsletter keeps your affiliates updated and up to date on any relevant developments, allowing them to reflect your brand more accurately and authentically. It may introduce your affiliates to facets of your company or brand that they were previously unaware of, and that nugget of relevant knowledge may be the key to successfully encouraging your affiliate’s audience to participate in those desired conversions. After all, knowledge is strength, and clear, insightful communications provide your affiliates with the tools they need to succeed.

Affiliates believe there is something unique about your brand or company that is important to their audience, and they believe that special something will eventually result in the conversions needed to receive commissions. That being said, even the most interesting and important campaign will lose its luster in the eyes of your affiliate’s audience over time. You absolutely must rotate promotions and mix things up every now and then. Brands’ marketing campaigns adapt and adjust over time in order to remain relevant and keep customers informed, and affiliate marketing is no exception.

Much as breaking news headlines disappear and fizzle out of public consciousness in a matter of days or weeks, so do the viewers of your affiliates. Why aren’t you publishing new content to keep your affiliates’ audiences coming back for more? One of your top goals should be to create and introduce new promotions and remind your affiliates about those promotions so that they can share them with their audiences.

Maintain Contact

What better way to connect with your affiliates than to introduce them to and communicate with a member of your team? Conference calls, phone calls, Zoom meetings, and even daily virtual office hours can all make affiliates feel included and respected. It allows affiliates to ask questions and receive customized (and in some cases, live) input, and it may also involve other affiliates, which is an excellent way for affiliates to pool their resources and collaborate to develop successful marketing strategies. It’s a win-win-win scenario!

Provide Resources to Affiliates

Sure, affiliates have access to graphics, affiliate links, and even your company’s website, but do they have access to additional tools that really inspire them to be the best affiliates they can be? Demonstrate to your affiliates that you care for their success. Not only do your affiliates have a vested interest in the success of your brand and affiliate program, but you should have an interest in the success of your affiliates that extends beyond conversion rates. Sure, it’s clear that you care for your affiliates’ success because their success is essentially your success, but you need to demonstrate this to them. Again, give your affiliates the tools they need to succeed and help them.

Some useful resources for affiliates can include insightful articles about affiliate marketing, different tools to improve their results, and even success stories from other affiliates that dig into their winning strategies. Making an effort to provide the affiliates with useful information would go a long way toward building a relationship and driving affiliate excitement and encouragement.

Affiliate Incentives

Nothing beats a good dose of competition to keep you motivated! Affiliates who are motivated will go the extra mile, particularly if they know there is something extra in it for them. Some of the most active affiliate services have an affiliate leaderboard or provide a bonus to top affiliates. This tactic is especially intriguing because it would encourage affiliates to spy on their rivals, evaluating their competitors’ strategies to determine what would work best for their audience to increase conversions. Friendly competition is an excellent way to get down to the point and distill successful strategies down to their most essential components.

Adding incentives to the affiliate program does not have to result in direct competition between affiliates, and many affiliate programs have used a number of creative incentives to get their affiliates more active. These rewards empower the affiliates to be more involved and engaged, whether it’s a bonus for meeting a certain goal, a limited-time raise in commission for a specific product, or even tiered commission percentages!

Educate Your Affiliates

Despite the fact that Scaleo is the creator of the leading affiliate marketing software, we use all of these strategies in our own affiliate program! At the end of the day, developing a relationship with your affiliates and keeping them informed allows them to actively participate in your affiliate program. Your affiliates will go the extra mile in driving up conversions for mutual gain if they receive proper funding, new promotions, a healthy dose of inspiration, and the skills they need.