How to work with affiliate managers
Affiliate managers often get criticized like they don’t know what they are talking about and when you’re working with them they harass you about lots of non-performing offers and drop comments that leave you wondering who hired them and why you see them randomly popping up in Facebook groups, blog posts or websites.
But really, affiliate managers aren’t all bad if you know how to work with them in the right way. They have insight into some of the funnels or sources you might need to grow your campaign. Unfortunately, most affiliate networks aren’t talking about how to make the most out of your affiliate manager, so here is our advice for you.
Go through the points below to get a few do’s and don’ts for working with your affiliate manager.
- “I am running an X offer by the competitor on more than 3 digits a day”
Affiliate managers often get hired on their competitiveness and sales drive. In this small industry, any affiliate network wants to be the best and losing traffic to a direct competitor is not an option. Dropping a sentence like this will instantly trigger your affiliate manager to give you some higher cap or an even better payout at the same or similar offer. - “In the past iPhone trial offers used to work well on this source I am using”
Affiliate managers know who else ran this successfully and will check what is the next big thing. By indicating what used to work well they will have an indication of where to look. - “Can you screenshot me on the top volume offers on X vertical?”
Most affiliate networks’ EPC’s are not the most relevant to pick your offer on. EPC’s in networks interface are combined EPC’s from different sources and a mix of customized payouts. So either you are looking at the top EPC of one guy of which you have limited info, or you’re looking at a network-wide spread EPC. Requesting a screenshot on volumes will give you an indication of what is really running. Keep in mind that if networks select on EPC only it probably won’t be the offers that are actually receiving a lot of traffic. - “I have a friend that is also interested in running your offers”
New publishers are always interesting for affiliate managers. Referred guys are an affiliate goldmine, no application processes or introduction, and a minimized fraud risk. For you, it’s also a win-win situation. You did your AM a favor which if you’re lucky return to you in terms of offers (And you just got yourself a nice referral fee as well) - “These are my plans for the next week(s)”
It is not what networks like to admit but it the truth, networks are dependent on others as well and that can take time. The sooner you know what you need the better to drop this info with your AM. They do need the time to communicate, setup or argue over the right payouts and get everything in place for you in time. - “What am I not seeing in the newsletter or interface?”
Probably no news for most of you, but always a good reminder. The hidden gems will not be shared in the general newsletter. Just keep on checking what treasures they are not telling you about. - “When and how are you available?”
Money never sleeps, but AM’s do. If you already know you’re on different timezones make sure your AM checks and replies to your messages in the overlap you have. You get to keep on going and your AM knows what and when to expect. - “What is the best that you have in X vertical X country and with X payout?”
Be specific! Is it an AM’s job to give you the best offers? Definitely! However, keep in mind that there are thousands of offers live in multiple verticals and in all geo’s within a network. If you already know you need certain geo, vertical of payout, tell your AM. It saves them a lot of time to build you a list across all of the verticals and geo’s.
Pro tip!
Make it personal and if possible make sure to contact on a regular basis.
Affiliate managers have an average portfolio of a number of affiliates. The new offer is logically first plugged to the people on top of the mind.
