Cindy Ballard Marketing

A Must Read for Merchants on How Not to Treat Your Affiliates Like Pets Warehouse

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I’m not in the habit of sharing other people’s posts but I felt like I should share this one for a couple reasons.

Pets Warehouse: Negative Feedback is Damaging to Affiliates

First off, this is a good example of what a Merchant should NOT do. Do not belittle your affiliates, whether they have sent you sales or not, you don’t want to get the reputation of being rude to your affiliates.

Second, this post shows you that as a Merchant, you need good affiliate management. While you may think you know it all, chances are you do not. Affiliate managers in general have a plethora of knowledge on how affiliate marketing works, how to identify scammers or someone not adhering to the TOS properly, not just assuming and making accusations such as Pets Warehouse has done to this affiliate.

Last, if you don’t have a professional affiliate manager or OPM for whatever reason, you should at least have whoever in your company is managing your affiliate program take a course like mine to learn not just the basics but also the intricacies of managing your affiliates and getting the most out of your affiliate program.

The affiliate marketing industry is changing daily and one of the best ways to keep up with it is to attend conferences like Affiliate Summit West or Affiliate Summit East which I will post about in the coming weeks.

My New Program Launch Will Raise Your Pulse

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When I went into semi-retirement after years of being an Affiliate Manager I decided that being a consultant would be a great change for me. My years of experience as both an affiliate and affiliate manager gave me an advantage over those that have only known the management side.  I formed a consulting program and have been doing affiliate marketing consulting since the day my website went up. However, now I find myself on an additional venture, back to being an Affiliate Manager.

Through  all the years and all the programs I have managed I have never been as impressed as I am with my newest clients site, affiliate program, customer service, innovation and products, therefore, I have made the decision to accept the role as the new Affiliate Manager for PulseTv. Having been a consumer first and now the affiliate manager, I can honestly say that this is probably the best merchant program I have ever managed. Their private label digital store is genius and anyone that has an affiliate site with some traffic would benefit greatly to talk to me about this concept. There is no charge to join the program or set up the digital storefront and very limited work on the affiliate side. We can customize the store to your niche also.   Of course, you can also sign up for the affiliate program and use their data feed in a traditional way.

Pulsetv. com has been around since 1996 and has grown stronger each year adding thousands of products from As Seen on TV, to Pet Supplies, Electronics, Dollar Deals, Kitchen Supplies, and tools and has sold to over 5 million consumers. They are one of the most successful online retailers that your readers have probably never heard of. Their Daily Deal is exceptional and well received by readers from all sites.

To say I am extremely excited about this is an understatement and I’m hoping PulseTV can partner with you and create the excitement for you that I feel.

To learn more about how to join and start earning money today, you can contact me at cindy@cindyballardmarketing.com.

Hold Those Business Cards

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It’s that exciting moment when you finally get your own business cards, now you are formally legit, so you are going to pass them out to family and friends, enemies, the mailman, anyone that you come in contact with. To you they mean so much, but to other people, maybe not so much.

But they should.

Over the years I’ve handed out and collected a multitude of business cards. Many are from the line of business I’ve haven’t been in for years, others from within the last 10 years. So, what do you do with these cards? Pitch them? Nope. You just never know when they may come in handy.

Now, this doesn’t mean you need to keep 500 cards stacked up on your desk. You can start by prioritizing them, if you don’t recognize the name or at least the company, you probably won’t keep the card. Next, decide whether you want to keep them as hard copy or digitalize them. Many of these cards can be scanned in to your phone or tablet with software that will automatically match it up with your contacts. Others can be kept the old fashioned way in a Rolodex or some sort of card file.

So, why do I mention this ? Because at some point in your life you may find yourself wondering about that contact you made years ago and need to talk to again. Just recently I was contacted by someone that I met 5 years ago, but they remembered my name and still had my business card, and though I’m no longer with the same company, they were able to track me down and continue a conversation we started long ago. As a new business owner, that’s important to me. As someone seeking information from someone they trusted and thought could help them, it was important to them.

So don’t just dismiss that pile of cards you have garnished over the years. One day one of those cards may be just what you are needing

1-Click Check it Out

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With today ending the 1-click patent for Amazon I figured I would take this opportunity to discuss merchants check out processes since it is an important topic of discussion during my consultation.

Why is that you might ask? Because we are the people that stand in front of the microwave yelling to hurry up, make right turns on red even when the car coming straight is only 10 feet away from you and even make check deposits right from our smart phones. Everybody is in a hurry. They want their purchases now and they want purchasing their items to be easy and since not everyone has an Alexa to make their purchases for them, the 1- click check out is the next best thing.

What is 1-click?

So for those new merchants who are wondering what 1 click check out is, here is how it works (though I’m pretty sure you’ve probably shopped on Amazon). The first time someone makes a purchase on your site they will add their name, shipping address and form of payment they want to use. In the future, when they choose the 1- click check out all the previous information is stored and with…one click….purchase completed.

It’s a great concept, right? However, prior to this advantage, I encourage the merchants to have their shipping costs already in place so that the buyer doesn’t have to search all over to see what their charge will be, whether it’s free, flat rate based or product (weight) based. The least amount of steps a buyer has to complete an order to make their purchase, the more likelihood of higher conversion rate.

How does this affect cart abandonment?

Experts in the industry estimate that billions of online shopping dollars are lost every year to cart abandonment, and the majority of it is because of long check out processes and the lack of knowing the full purchase amount, including shipping and tax until the end.

Streamlining your check out process is essential, and the now available 1- click checkout process is a great way to improve your buyer’s experience.

How Important Are Your TOS

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Prior to launching your affiliate program you want to be sure you have a thorough set of Terms and Conditions. Though they will need to be modified occasionally, its best to start off with a strong foundation so your affiliates know exactly what they can and cannot do.

Your Terms of Service should start with an overview of what is expected and make it clear that by submitting an application to the merchant program the affiliate understands this is a legal agreement and has read this agreement.

Sections to be included in the TOS should include:

*Merchants rights and obligations

*Affiliates rights and obligations

*Payment provisions

*Promotion restrictions

*Confidentiality

*Indemnification

*Warranty Disclaimer

*Termination

*FTC compliance

*Misc. (if needed)

Most networks do have a standard TOS that you can base your individual agreement around, however, you may have a different position regarding promotions or obligations therefore you can adjust it to your specifications.

It’s important for the TOS to be precise, easy to read and understand and naturally protect the rights of the merchant as well as the affiliates. Most affiliates in honesty will never read them, however, if there is ever a need to remove an affiliate for breaching the TOS you will have an excellent source to reference to them.

A New Beginning at the Affiliate Summit Conference #ASE17

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Now that the dust has settled at home and emails sent to new folks and old acquaintances from ASE17, I am actually finding the time to sit down and write about another fabulous conference experience.

This year was a bit different for me as I attended as my own boss and was able to control my own schedule and meetings. I have to admit, it sure was fun.

Sunday morning kicked off with a PMA brunch and I was asked to guard the door, checking the invitees in and handing out name tags. This was so much fun for me since I was able to connect with people that I had not seen or talked to the past couple of years.

Keynote Touchdown

Kickoff was with Joe Theismann and his opening keynote. I found it to be exhilarating. Not only because I am a huge football fan, but also because he seemed so genuinely honest. He elaborated on his past ego, how he learned lessons the hard way and being fortunate to do what he loved and make money at it. I was able to identify with all of that, since in my past my profession involved one of the things I love most, animals, and now its affiliate marketing which I love also (I know most of you thought I was going to say wine taster, maybe someday). This was truly one keynote that initiated a lot of excitement for those that attended and I hope it pumped up everyone there as much as it did me, a fabulous way to start a conference.

After the keynote motivation it was easy to start introducing myself around at the Meet Market and attend the snack breaks. I could feel the jitters for Monday morning’s session already surmounting so I wanted to keep busy, and I did. Though there weren’t many opportunities for me in the Meet Market since there were a lot of CPA and Traffic buying booths, I managed to snag a little swag and hang out until my slotted time to also work at the PMA booth.  This gave me the opportunity to talk to a lot of strangers and explain the importance of the PMA and their role in representing the Performance Marketing industry. I’m hoping that from the many cards that were collected they have received a lot of new members because they are the only ones to represent our industry, a much needed and at times troubling task.

Session Jitters

Monday morning I don’t even remember eating breakfast but I’m sure I choked down a little bit of food, along with a lot of coffee thinking about my 10:00 session with Tricia Meyer of Sunshine Rewards. Our topic, Affiliates and Affiliate Managers: A Show in Partnership was well received. I’m not sure if it’s because everyone likes the mother/daughter banter or because we offer great information or a little of both, but we do always have great audience participation and a good crowd even when pitted against other well-known sessions. So much relief after and then on to really enjoy the conference with that behind me.

Renewed friendships and meeting new people

The rest of the show entailed meetings with Nathan from FMTC, JT from Daft Labs, Todd from Impact Radius, Michele from Pepperjam, Choots and Tara from Link Connector and many more which were equally as important. As time progresses so have their companies, so staying up to date on what they offer is so important for someone like myself in affiliate consulting.

All in all it was a fantastic conference and anyone in the affiliate marketing business should make it a point to attend at least one conference. If you want to progress and make money in affiliate marketing, love making friends and love bacon, this is the conference for you.

How Amazon’s New Return Policy Affects Merchant’s Relationships

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Amazon has announced to its sellers a new return policy that is sure to please the consumers but not so appealing to their merchants that do not use Amazon’s shipping facilities. The way this will work is that if a seller ships from their own location items that they sell will be included in their “automatically authorized for return policy.”

What is the automatically authorized for return policy? It means that the buyer will not need to contact the Amazon seller but will instead get an instant return label from Amazon to return the item. Unfortunately for the merchant, they won’t have the chance to talk with the buyer in hopes of clearing up any misconceptions about the product, perhaps user error or something very simple that the merchant can send to them, even something like a missing part.

Furthermore, the processing of the return labels will be an additional expense for the sellers.

So, what does this mean for affiliate marketing?

It’s no secret that a lot of merchants tip toe into affiliate marketing through Amazon. It’s appealing because it provides thousands of shoppers swiftly; however, it also includes hundreds of competitors so lower pricing is almost inevitable to make sales. On top of the lower pricing is the commission fee paid to Amazon for being part of their marketing, which can be quite high. Now, on top of lower prices and high Amazon fees, the sellers or merchants will be losing more revenue with the automatically authorized for return policy and the chance to actually provide customer service to their buyers.

This may be a great time for those merchants looking to stay or join in the Affiliate Marketing industry and have the control over their own pricing, return policy and prove their customer service. Joining one of the larger name networks where there are thousands of affiliates will give them instant exposure to sites that are wanting to promote their products. In addition to the networks there are also other outlets they can join like FMTC that are packed with affiliates waiting to join quality merchant programs.

Normally there are just low one time fees to join a network and very small commissions based on their sales and commissions to their publishers based on their sales. The merchants are in full control of refunds and shipping costs. They are able to offer competitive coupons or sales and have a fabulous way to communicate through those networks to their affiliates who in turn will share with their buyers.

Customer service is extremely important to consumers, which is why Amazon is proposing this new return policy. However, with it they are essentially taking the authority of the sellers/merchants away and while it looks great for Amazon, it does nothing to inspire a relationship between the buyers and the sellers themselves. In fact, this policy could be more detrimental to its sellers/merchants relationship with buyers than helpful.

If you are currently selling on Amazon and do no have an affiliate program, now is the time to investigate your options in affiliate marketing.

The Importance of Affiliate Network Options

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Whether you are new to affiliate marketing or have been around over a decade like I have been, you know that there are a plethora of Networks to choose from for your merchant program. Unfortunately, many affiliate managers or OPM’s treat the networks like their favorite shoes or ice cream and refuse to try something different. This is not in the best interest of their clients.

All of the networks have good and bad features about them. Some are certainly more progressive, have easier interfaces to use or offer more convenience for their merchants and publishers. Not every network option though is needed for every merchant, therefore each should be looked at to see which will meet the needs of that particular merchant.

As a merchant you should make a list of the top 5 priorities that you are looking for in a network in the order of importance. Is it cost, affiliate recruitment options, free extra promotions, tracking requirements, attribution programs, customer service, do they offer international affiliates, fraud control or other options that are provided by the networks?

If you are setting up your merchant program on your own, google affiliate networks and chose a half dozen or so and ask them what they have to offer and include in your questioning your top 5 priorities. If you are hiring an affiliate manage or OPM, ask them to give you a breakdown of the pros and cons of each network. A good affiliate manager or OPM should be familiar with the top performance marketing networks.

Not all networks will be beneficial for all merchant programs but choosing a network wisely will make a huge impact for your success in affiliate marketing.

How Attribution Helps Merchants

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When we think of attribution in affiliate marketing we typically associate it with affiliate commissions and how they are affected. Of course, with a fair attribution program set up by affiliate management, affiliates involved in the click stream can all end up with at least some portion of the commission from a sale.

However, how does this affect the merchant?  With an innovative attribution program, merchants are able to track and measure their affiliate’s contribution to the end sale. This is helpful to them in that they can then check with the affiliate to identify what type of campaign or marketing efforts they are using to help not only attract consumers but also in learning how they are closing the sale.

I find this to be especially helpful to new merchants that are trying to brand their products. They should be regularly monitoring their attribution results and communicating with their affiliates for best results. Doing this will give them a better understanding of the direction they should take in marketing their products and securing a strong brand. This can also in help them optimize their organic search efforts or paid search efforts.

Maximizing affiliate marketing options is a key to a strong affiliate marketing program and can be achieved with an advanced attribution program which rewards not only the affiliates and keeps them happy but is also useful to the merchant.

 

What a Consultation With Me Offers

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There are 3 basic components we will touch and expand on for this consultation. They are as follows:

Evaluation and Preparing for a merchant site launch.

  1. Is your site ready
  2. If not, how do I prepare it
  3. If so, where do I go from here.

 

What I need to do after Launch.

  1. Communicating with affiliates
  2. Providing affiliates what they need
  3. How to get the most out of my affiliate

 

Continuing the Program Successfully

  1. Keeping affiliates engaged
  2. Using social media to its fullest
  3. Can I continue to manage on my own or do I need more help

 

No big words, no big hype, just a lot of facts you need to know in order to properly manage your program or hire someone to manage it for you. You will get the benefit of my years of knowledge and experience as both an affiliate and affiliate manager. Many of these things you can’t learn from a book, it takes practical industry experience, just like mom use to say, learn from my mistakes.