With affiliate marketing spending expected to grow by 10% through 2022, there’s a good reason why you chose to start an affiliate program. The overall market is worth $12 billion, with affiliates generating 15% to 30% of all spending for advertisers.
However, it’s not as easy as signing up a few affiliates and snagging some advertisers. You could be asking yourself now: “Why is my affiliate program failing?”
Let’s look at some common mistakes you could be making — they could be why your affiliate program isn’t successful.
1. You’re Not Attracting High-Quality Affiliates
You need high-quality affiliates to make your program a success. If you’re noticing that your efforts at attracting promising members keep getting rejected, you may need to up your “curb appeal” to turn things around.
Start by making it easy for affiliate members to track you down. Upgrade your membership page to use visually appealing imagery. Make it clear why an affiliate should want to join your program. Streamline the sign-up process so that it’s short and smooth.
Invite your customers to join your affiliate program. Many times your affiliates can be the best affiliates as they already know and love your brand. This method is especially effective if you can provide affiliates with tracking codes that can double as discount codes. Affiliates earn money while their friends get a discount on their orders.
Encourage your existing affiliate members to promote the benefits of your affiliate program by creating a tiered affiliate compensation plan to reward them for recruiting more affiliates. That’s another good way to attract quality prospects and cut down on time you have to spend recruiting new members.
Expand the channels through which you recruit members. Consider recruiting on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or Youtube.
2. You’re Not Using Enough Automation
Affiliate programs get harder to manage as they grow. Doing too much manual work to maintain your program can quickly get overwhelming. You may start having issues managing your affiliate links or keeping up with the activity of your affiliates. How can you be sure they’re doing everything possible to promote your products?
When choosing affiliate software, look for platforms with features to automate the more tedious aspects of managing an affiliate program. Some of these features might include the ability to preload content to your affiliates, automated emails to engage affiliates, or tools to manage the payouts made to your affiliates. That leaves you more time to focus on initiatives like expanding an incentive program or signing up promising new affiliate program members.
3. You Lack Experience
Running an affiliate program is not a get-rich-quick internet scheme. If you lack experience and dove in thinking you’d start making big bucks immediately, the reality can be a shock to the system. Many novice affiliate program managers think their work starts and ends with getting affiliates to sign up with their program.
There are affiliate program management guides available that walk you through different ways of optimizing your affiliate program. Learn as much as you can about affiliate marketing and how to manage an affiliate program effectively.
4. You Expect Your Network to Do All the Work
Don’t lean on your affiliates to do all the legwork to make your affiliate program successful. Remember, they exist to facilitate the effort you’re already putting into managing your affiliate program. Learn how to use the tools made available through something like affiliate marketing software, like the ability to track your metrics better.
Also, make sure the affiliates associated with your program align with the products you advertise. What good does it do for you to have lots of affiliates if they focus on auto repair and you represent a lot of beauty brands?
5. Your Commission Structure Is Wrong
Trying to work out the proper affiliate commission structure for your affiliate program can take a lot of trial and error. If your commissions don’t seem to prompt more effort from your members, it may be that the commission structure isn’t sufficient enough to get them to put more effort into pushing your brands. It stands to reason that they would have more enthusiasm if they thought they could earn more money or incentives.
However, you have to be careful about making your commission rates too high and cutting into your profits. Typically you won’t want to reduce affiliate commission rates. Run the numbers to look for ways you can fairly compensate your higher-performing affiliates while still looking out for your affiliate program’s bottom line.
6. You’re Not Looking Out For Fraud
Affiliates creating fake sales with stolen credit cards and the use of bots to influence click counts are just some of the fraud efforts you should watch for in your program. Don’t ignore red flags like a sudden spike in the use of specific discount codes or low-quality affiliates pretending to be part of your program. The former can cause you to lose a lot of money, while the latter can end up damaging your affiliate program’s reputation.
Place limits around how discount codes can be used. Use automation to track suspicious activity around your affiliate links. Your metrics can be a big help in pinpointing anything that doesn’t look right so you can deal with the problem. Watch out for affiliates who may be using self-referrals.
Increase Your Affiliate Program’s Chances of Success
No one can do it all, which is why affiliate program managers should invest in tools like affiliate program software. With the right tools, you’ll never again have to ask: “Why is my affiliate program failing?” Also check out our tips for growing your affiliate program.
LeadDyno integrates with various other platforms to streamline the management of your affiliate program. Their software also helps you manage marketing campaigns, keep up with coupon codes, and other program initiatives.
Improve your affiliate marketing strategy! Try LeadDyno for yourself by signing up for a free 30-day trial.
