Did you know that 9-40% of typical online merchants’ sales come from the affiliate program, yet many ignore to perfect it. Could it be that we don’t want to spend too much time on affiliates or maybe we just don’t know how to?

Companies think that if you apply the same “marketing” approach to affiliates, that they apply to their customers (yelling how great they are, how their product is the best and the excellent name and corporate culture they have), it will appeal to affiliates and get them to work harder. I’d argue that.

What your affiliates want is to know that when they get you that lead, your marketing will work to convert that lead. From a test done by MarketingSherpa, 27.04% of affiliates surveyed said that conversion was their primary concern. 17.78% were concerned about the outdated coupons and data feeds supplied by the company.

When asked what would help affiliates generate more business, 30.02% wanted more content they could use on their website or newsletters. 25.09% wanted better coupons and data-feeds. 24.67% wanted a higher commission. Interesting right?

Now, what tactics do affiliates use to sell today?

Text Links = 19.88%

Banners = 18.80%

Content = 18.40%

Are you surprised that banners are so popular today when it comes to affiliates? Don’t be. Many of these affiliates have websites that are specifically targeted on the area of interest (they learned about relevance!!!) and thus these banners do more than provide a nice colorful wallpaper around a web-page.

Bottom line is … if you want your affiliate program to produce more sales;

1. Provide affiliates with more marketing material (banners, text ads, content, coupons…)
2. Make sure your website has a good conversion percentage. (For a certain industry I only launched an affiliate program when we reached a 5.0% conversion rate.)
3. Don’t try to make friends with affiliates by e-mailing them weekly about how good your company is. Instead give a higher commission, be prompt with payments and contact your affiliates only when whatever you have to say will add to their pocket.

To learn more about affiliates and their needs (I feel like I’m talking about women here) … anyway, see this great place where affiliates network.