According to AMNavigator …

In most affiliate programs less than 10% of affiliates drive more than 90% of traffic and conversions.

With that being said, it’s easy to understand, that the most frustrating scenario an affiliate advertiser can meet, is to put in a huge effort to recruit new affiliates, only to have them do … nothing. Having thousands or tens of thousands of affiliates is the biggest dream of any affiliate advertiser, but the truth is, that these numbers are completely irrelevant. What really matters: the actual number of the active and successful affiliates, and of course, the number of sales made by them. What I am trying to say here: 500 active and productive affiliates are much more valuable than 50,000 inactive, useless “subscribers”. This is why need to know how to manage an affiliate program in order to get the desired results!

The very first and very obvious question: who is considered inactive? An affiliate without sales in a given time period? An affiliate with clicks but no sales? And what about an affiliate with opt-ins but no sales? As you can see, the answer isn’t at all obvious! What is obvious: you’ll have to decide for yourself.

My recommendation: make a few separate categories, try to find out what problems are they facing and approach them differently! Maybe they didn’t received the information they needed in order to get started. Or they may lack the necessary experience in affiliate marketing. Perhaps they have switched to your competitors products. And so on. Understanding the reasons is the first step in successfully re-activating your dormant affiliates! And re-activating your dormant affiliates is one of the most important factors if you want to crack the “how to manage an affiliate program” mystery.

OK. Now, let’s see what options do you have. In order to (re)activate your newly recruited or previously acquired, but now dormant or under-performing affiliates, you’ll have to provide – and use – a few key ingredients, such as:

1. Instant or daily activation

First impression matters. A lot! In theory, each new affiliate comes with an immediate desire to promote your products. If you don’t have an instant or at least very efficient and prompt approval system, they will simply abandon you. Period.

But, running an instant approval system can be quite challenging. The cheapest and easiest solution – an automated script-based approval system – can be dangerous, because you can easily let unwanted and potentially harmful affiliates into your affiliate program. The safest and most obvious solution – an instant manual approval system – will be much more expensive, because you’ll have to hire at least 2 or 3 program managers to perform instant 24/7 manual approvals. And of course, there is a third possibility: to constantly monitor all auto-approved applications on an ongoing basis.

My opinion? If you can afford it, you should definitely choose the instant manual activation. If it’s too expensive for you, focus on monitored auto-approvals.

And one more thing. Always give the applying affiliates the benefit of the doubt. Even when declining an application, show them that you are open to further communication. Here is an example:

“We are very sorry, but we have declined your affiliate application, because your website doesn’t meet our approval criteria. If you feel that we have overlooked your potential, please email us a detailed explanation of how you were planning on marketing our products. We will gladly reconsider your affiliate application.”

2. Welcome letter

In many cases when I joined an affiliate program, I received an instant automated message – often without any personalization – with something like “Welcome! … Bla, bla, bla … You’ve been approved into our unique, outstanding affiliate program.”.

Well, I am going to say it again: the first impression matters a lot! It’s OK to use an automated message, but you need an action-oriented welcome letter! You can’t build trust or to drive action with a few impersonal, low-grade words or phrases! Be polite, cordial and be excited about your new relationship. Be personal and enthusiastic. Be human! Include the most important program details, the most relevant conversion stats, the best performing items, the best converting creatives, the most attractive incentives and of course, your contact details. An unpersonalized, impersonal and passive message won’t generate action! So, don’t forget: you need to keep your affiliates close to you from the beginning … Don’t forget this if you want to learn how to manage an affiliate program!

3. Straight talk

Don’t forget, that you are dealing with business persons! Don’t waste their time and don’t be long-winded, equivocal or ambiguous! Cut the fluff! Be concise, transparent and straightforward.

4. Continuous presence

At a first glance it may sound a bit strange for you, but it’s till a fact: many of your previously recruited affiliates probably forgot you already. Most likely they are busy people and no doubt, they are overwhelmed with dozens of other new offers and opportunities every single day. Don’t worry, the solution it’s extremely simple! Send them gentle periodical reminders, which doesn’t even look as reminders.

The point is to grab their attention. Send them a short, personalized email with a free downloadable gift. Use periodical value-packed newsletters. Invite them to participate in a brand new survey. Give them a heads-up about a newly created marketing asset or promotional material. Announce your newly launched performance contest. And so on …

5. Educational resources

Offer free resources that can help them to make educated decisions! The only limit is your imagination: affiliate marketing tutorials and resources, performance data about your own affiliate program, demographic information that affiliates could use to target their campaigns more efficiently, video lessons, downloadable stuff, best practices, help center, supporting blog and/or forum, etc. ANY information that is useful for them, it’s a potential profit-generator for you and your affiliate program.

6. Tools

Give them proper tools that they can use to market your products! Again, the only limit is your imagination! If you really want to crack the “how to manage an affiliate program” question, use ANYTHING that could help them to promote your stuff! Here are a few examples:

• a large variety of outstanding creatives; banners of all sizes, email templates, social media messages, landing pages, etc

• content creation tools

• keyword research tools

• API access to your product database

• widgets

• browser extensions

• WordPress – or other CMS – plugins

• squeeze page creators

• promo checklists

• mobile apps

7. Incentives

If you want performance, you’ll have to offer powerful, tangible incentives and motivators! Make a comprehensive niche-oriented research, put yourself in their shoes and try to figure out what are the the most attractive motivational factors. Sales contests? Performance-based bonuses? First-sale bonuses? Tiered payouts? Threshold-based super-bonuses? Free test products? Special trademark usage terms? Promo codes? And of course, test, test and test.

8. Activation campaign

Having a set of efficient, well-balanced incentives is vital for your affiliate program especially on long-term. However, the hay must be made while the sun shines and your short-term goal is to instantly activate and engage your newly recruited affiliates.

One of the most efficient methods is the so called activation campaign, where you are offering some jaw-dropping benefits such as increased commissions, flat bonuses, valuable giveaways, etc for a given period of time (for example, 30 or 60 days). Just find the best solution for your business: extra second-sale commissions, coupons, co-branding opportunities, free product giveaways, etc.

9. Support

Having a truly outstanding non-stop support is crucial for the success of your affiliate program. Believe me, if you are easily reachable and you are there for them ANYTIME, your efforts will be appreciated and rewarded.

Trust is everything in affiliate marketing, so back them up by offering multiple easy-to-use communication channels. Also, segment them into specific groups to offer tailored suggestions and targeted, segment-specific help. Finally, it’s always a good idea to run regular surveys in order to learn more about their needs.

Wrapping up

Without active, interested affiliates your affiliate program is completely useless. You’ll have to make great, constant efforts to (re)activate them and to keep them active. Be straightforward and find the most efficient ways to make them interested! Use any available communication channel to reach them out, and – over time – try to figure out what are their preferred communication methods. Saying a prayer won’t hurt, but probably is wiser to take action, so use gentle reminders to get back into their heads.

Also, if you are facing serious, large-scale inactivity issues, you should probably re-evaluate your business concept including the available products, the commission structure, the payout policy, the current set of creatives, etc.

If you really want to learn how to manage an affiliate program, you’ll have to pay a great attention to the above factors!