Key Traits of Great Affiliate Managers

Jun 262010

What is the difference between a lame and kick ass affiliate manager you ask? What tips do I have that may help AM’s get more volume from publishers? You’re about to find out in my quick list of key ingredients for great affiliate managers.

Knowledge of the industry
Every affiliate manager should start their job by being forced to run a few offers until they are profitable before they run out of money. This is probably the only way an affiliate manager can ever really understand this industry. Affiliate managers need to know what average conversion rates are for different industry segments, understand the basic prices publishers are paying for ads, and figure out a fair way to stand in the middle and take just enough commission off the top to make what they are doing worthwhile to both the advertiser and the publisher

Respect and understanding
Don’t try to act like an expert all the time. Treat your publishers with some respect, they are why you make money. Consider the person may have been awake 36 hours straight making you and her/himself money before you act like you are too busy dealing with other stuff to care about his account today. Smart ass statements are amplified 20x when you’re exhausted, so don’t accidentally make someone irate just because you’re not thinking before you talk.

Communication
Can I call you from 8am til 1am 7 days/week and get a call back relatively quickly? I think most of the real money in this business is made in very small windows and quite frankly having an affiliate manager that answers the phone all weekend is a necessity. Most of the volume comes during the weekend, how is it that this is the time almost every affiliate manager isn’t working? Instant messengers and mobile numbers are a given.

Execution
There aren’t many things that come “standard” in affiliate marketing. Affiliate managers that turn around quickly on the never ending stream of questions and requests will have the happiest publishers. I feel like our affiliate managers are high level members of our marketing team and I hold them to our own operating performance standards. If you are ever unhappy with your Affiliate Manager a quick call to the network can generally get you promptly reassigned.

Transparency
Affiliate managers need to be as transparent as possible with their publishers. Think of yourself as sports agent for traffic players. Publishers will feel like they are getting a fair deal if they know the numbers. If I know how much a network is making per lead it generally keeps me from shopping around. If you’re taking so much per lead that you never give your publishers straight answers on your own internal payouts you won’t be around for long. The industry is changing.

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