A plea for transparency, affiliates & networks need to give it up
“Transparency” in regards to affiliate marketing can go so many different ways. Affiliate networks are defining it from a managers/retailers point of view and opening up contact information and details about the affiliates. This enables an affiliate manager to make better choices on promotions, fraud prevention and helps keep the pulse of their program. What retailers are missing in some cases are true business plans and insight into what the affiliate is actually doing. Without the proper click tracking or analytics tools you literally could be getting traffic from any where in the world, from unsavory sources and causing your business more harm than good.
On the flip side, affiliates should be demanding some transparency from the merchants, as most are completely in the dark on a true conversion rate, keyword/coupon performance & other metrics. Not to mention affiliates are at the mercy of inventory, demand and competition. Of course there has to be some protection on key business strategies, but what is stopping merchants from providing some demographics and performance data so affiliates can invest their time and resources accordingly? Turn it into a white paper to help promote your affiliate program, affiliates will eat it up.
Great post!
As a affiliate i definitely agree! We have to normally provide this ourselves, and if some dont even know how to perform this, how are they supposed to know which marketing strategies are working?
Thanks for the article!
LaPrentiss Sampson
Amen to that, Ian!
There is a need for a “relationship” if you will, between merchant and affiliate. After all, as affiliates, we are selling their product, so how about a little more insight and assistance? When becoming involved with affiliate marketing, there are tons of networks to choose from and within each, various methods of advertising! It would promote such a strong business relationship if the two could actually collaborate on some marketing strategies. The network could actually offer certain advertising packages, complete with tools such as videos, photos and/or articles or blogs, and even hosting! That way, this enables the affiliate to know EXACTLY what they are getting into, and not be held responsible for having to learn how to do so much, in turn producing better sales. And the merchant would know EXACTLY what the affiliate is marketing out there, because they created the advertising themselves.
Thanks so much for this article!
Shirl