Creating a thriving affiliate program begins and ends with individuals – so much so that almost all of the previous affiliate marketing elements we’ve discussed on this blog come back to human relationships in some way.
Affiliate marketing is clearly not a solely transactional arena; it is important to create and sustain real results over the long-term, one of which is strong affiliate relationships.
A healthy partnership with your affiliates promotes loyalty, which ensures that you spend more time empowering current affiliates and less time hiring new ones.
Plus, affiliates who feel inspired and personally connected to you are more likely to become great spokespersons for your brand and to market your products in the best way possible.
In this article, we’ve put together some of our top tips for developing good affiliate relationships, so make sure your affiliate program is one that delivers real results! Don’t forget to check out Scaleo, if you need a reliable and robust affiliate marketing software for managing your affiliates.
Read also: Top affiliate marketing hacks to increase sales.
1. Focusing on confidence
If there’s one single thing that makes up the cornerstone of a good relationship, it’s confidence. It can build or break a partnership, and it can either attract or, on the other hand – dissuade high-quality affiliates.
If you really want your affiliates to perform well and remain loyal, you can’t do it without confidence. So how are you making it?
- Be upfront and be honest.
Look, there are a lot of businesses competing for the attention of their affiliates. Competition is everywhere; everyone has something to sell and some opportunity to give, and it can be difficult for affiliates to evaluate all the knowledge that is being thrown at them.
What sets you apart from your rivals and makes your affiliate program more appealing?
Sure, it’s important to have generous affiliate commissions and other benefits, but one of the most successful things you can do to create trust from the outset is to be open-minded and transparent.
It also reduces the friction of decision-making faced by the affiliates as they go through the consistency and validity evaluation process of the programs.
In brief: Transparency makes it much simpler and much more convenient for everyone!
Here are some things you might consider to be as open-minded and honest as possible about:
- Conditions
- Level of the Commission
- Incentives and rewards
- Expectations of Affiliate
- Brand Guidance
- Promoted goods that you like
Actions to take: Consider having a FAQ section or affiliate info page that gives affiliates easy access to all the information and tools they need to understand exactly what you have to offer and what they should expect if they partner with you.
2. Take the time to get to know them
We’ve already spoken about the importance of getting to know your affiliates and all the advantages they can bring to your affiliate program.
Not only is this critical for identifying quality affiliates and selecting the right affiliates, but it is also in your best interest if you want to have a reliable affiliate base that can provide you with valuable feedback and observations that you can use to develop your program over time.
What does “get to know” mean to your affiliates?
- Researching their brand or their personalities
- Finding out what they’re like
- Seeing who they’re following
- Seeing who is trailing them
- Observing their personality, their appearance, and their tone on social media
Remember: People want to do business with people they know.
Get acquainted with that. Be very competent. Be very supportive. Create a study. Show your affiliates that you’re the real deal, and don’t expect your affiliate program to run on autopilot!
Try this: take note of the names, brands, niches, histories, and desires of your affiliates, and put them on a spreadsheet. You should refer to these things later in your correspondence, in your artistic work, etc.
3. Personalize as much of it as you can
Building good affiliate relationships is not only about your engagement with your affiliates; it is also about the overall experience they have as part of your program. This is where personalization can be extremely strong.
Personalizing your affiliate experience makes it more engaging and – well – personal for your affiliates. Even the easiest, most common touches, such as using their actual names in your messages, will make a difference.
Here are other ways you can make use of personalization:
- Segment the affiliates to niche-specific email lists so that they only get the most important communications.
- Submit customized newsletters and emails to various parts of the affiliate
- Develop tailored creatives, such as co-branded graphics, customizable affiliate landing pages, or pre-written content for various affiliate niches.
In the end, you want your affiliates to feel respected. So the more you can give them individual attention, understand them, and speak to their needs, the better!
Actions to take: Create an innovative batch for different affiliate segments to save yourself some time!
4. Achievement on a daily basis
In addition to trust, what’s the other main component of relationships?
Contact. Communication.
There are a number of reasons why keeping in close touch with your affiliates is vital. People are just busy for one thing. Often, accidentally, affiliates tend to drop off – and it does not have anything to do with you!
In reality, we wrote a whole post on how to get dormant affiliates to promote again. Well, check it out here.
Plus, as you grow your program over time, you will want to keep your affiliates up-to-date and up-to-date so that they are well trained to market your brand and goods at all times.
In addition to making sure they are aware of your new promotions, creatives, and other tools, this also helps keep your program recognizable and at the forefront of the minds of your affiliates.
Try this: build an affiliate onboarding mechanism for new affiliates to get them to promote quickly, and schedule emails for current affiliates focused on new promotions, rewards, success goals, etc.
5. Help them help you out
If you want to build a successful relationship with your affiliates, you can do all you can to help them succeed. Oh, because if they succeed, you do!
This is one of the best aspects of affiliate marketing – it’s focused on building win-win relationships.
Helping your affiliates help means encouraging them to be their best, helping them, and actively contributing to their success.
Offer them easy access to creatives, brand guidelines, and other marketing materials that help them get started promoting your products.
Having them out regularly to figure out what’s going for them (and what’s not)
Reward them for their success and loyalty
Actions to take: Ask your affiliates for their truthful input on their experience with your program. This shows that you’re listening and that you’re involved in optimizing for their benefit as well as yours.
Conclusion
Remember, Rome wasn’t built in a single day.
Don’t expect intensely loyal affiliates overnight – the partnership will take time and effort. You’ve got to play a long game.
Establishing confidence, getting to know your affiliates, personalizing the experience, keeping in close touch, and inspiring your affiliates with what they need to succeed are all techniques that combine to promote a healthy, fruitful, and mutually beneficial atmosphere – and that’s what makes affiliates want to stick around and perform well.
What did you find to be successful when it comes to your own affiliate relationship? We would love to hear from you about your experience! Please leave us a note below.
Last Updated on November 9, 2023
