The Secrets to Success in Affiliate Marketing
“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity,” said Albert Einstein, 1879-1955.
So, here we are in the middle of economic turmoil. Every medium you watch, listen to or read is full of the economy’s downward spiral. However, there is a light at the end of the tunnel for savvy list managers. While many agree with this and have felt the effects of the economic downturn, including its effect in the political arena, email marketers are in the prime spot to capitalize on current trends and monetize future economic movements. Even though email marketing has become widespread, email marketers are still not leveraging the medium’s true potential. With simple monitoring, measurement, and developing a strategy, a list manager can weather the economic storm and come out ahead of the game.
Wherein then lies the secret to success? While a deep analytical process is sure to be applied at some point, let us not forget that we need to crawl before we can walk. Email marketers and list managers need to have a strategy. While this can take form in numerous ways, we need to start simply. The days of simply loading offers and hitting the “Send” button are gone. One size fits all offers have also gone by the way side. Today’s marketer has to have a strategy that not only targets a consumer, but also focuses on compliance and deliverability.
First, study your lists and segment them out by vertical. Know your customers and only deliver them products related to their needs and wants. Monitoring the response and really studying your list will help determine what your customers are looking for. This will ensure that when you are picking offers, you can get the best conversion rates. Targeting your consumer can come into play in different avenues. What vertical does the list fall under? Where are we finding our highest response rates? When we talk about response rates, we are also no longer speaking about a simple click. While the validity of a click cannot be denied, what is happening from the click to the lead? Where are we seeing our highest response rates? What is triggering our users to take that next step?
Secondly, it is always important to determine the best offers for your segmented list. Remember to be sensitive to the consumer and the market right now. They are seeing the same doom and gloom in the media as everyone else. Pick offers that will entice them, lift their spirits or help them. What creative’s are getting the best response? Do different creative’s convert better with different segments of our list? Which “Subject” lines are working well with our list? Should we combine two or more “Subject” lines? Do longer or shorter “Subject” lines perform better? What “From” lines in an email convert the best? How could we get more creative with these “From” lines to drive conversions?
Third, work with your affiliate manager and make sure they know what you need. Talk to them about your lists, and make sure they understand who and where you are sending the offers. A dedicated AM will ask these questions so they can help build your conversions with you. They can provide you with the best offers, and work with you and your list to drive higher conversion rates. They can see conversions on creative’s and help pick offers that are best suited for you and your customers. A good AM is your partner and should save you an enormous amount of time in your marketing process.
While this is in its simplest form, the point is that a strategy is an important part of list management. Learn from monitoring and measuring the information you have at your fingertips to provide customers with relevant offers. Dissect and study your list and only push the offers they want and need. Work with your AM and find out what is doing well in the marketplace. List managers have already proven that email marketing works well. Now is your opportunity to develop your strategy and to claim it as the most relevant channel available to get the best ROI.
