So, you’ve set up an affiliate program and invited people to join. You can now sit back and relax leave your affiliate program in autopilot mode – right? Not quite. Simply having an affiliate program isn’t enough. Even if affiliate sales are trickling in, you also need to make sure that your affiliates are motivated to sell your products.
In this article, we’ll show you how to activate and motivate your affiliates so that they drive more sales.
This article part of our larger guide: Ultimate guide to starting an affiliate marketing program for SaaS.
1. How to get affiliates to sell your products – Create an activation campaign
Create an activation campaign to make sure your program and product is on the minds of your affiliates.
The activation campaign can include:
- A clear and concise overview of your affiliate program
- The benefits of referring customers to your company
- The types of products or services you offer
- Any extra bonus or rewards programs you have in place
Make sure that your activation campaign is engaging and informative. The goal is to get your affiliates excited about selling your products. You can use a variety of marketing channels to reach your affiliates, such as email, social media, or even advertising.
2. Make it easy for them to sign up and get started
Signing up for an affiliate program should be quick and easy. If it’s too complicated, people will throw in the towel before they even get started. Here are a few things to keep in mind:
- Automate the sign-up process as much as possible.
- Keep the process straightforward.
- Allow affiliates to sign up directly from your website.
- Make sure the affiliate agreement is clear and concise.
- Provide clear instructions on what affiliates need to do to start promoting your products.
3. How to get affiliates to sell your products – Approve affiliates daily
Once someone has applied to become an affiliate, don’t let their application sit in your inbox for weeks. The sooner you approve them, the sooner they can start promoting your products. If you have many applications, set up an automated process to help speed things along.
Create a checklist for approval and rejection of applications. This can help you avoid having to wade through a bunch of applications that don’t meet your criteria.
4. Create an action-oriented welcome email
Once an affiliate has signed up for your program, send them a welcome email. Avoid generic greetings – for example, “Welcome to our affiliate program!” or “You have been approved for the XYZ affiliate program.” These types of openings do little to inspire action.
You want people raring to go, so give them a call to action in your welcome email. For example, you could say “Congratulations on joining the XYZ affiliate program! To get started, we suggest you create a blog post about XYZ product and include your affiliate link.”
5. How to get affiliates to sell your products though up a communication schedule
Once you have affiliates promoting your products, it’s important to stay in touch with them regularly. First, it shows that you’re interested in their success. Second, it allows you to give them the latest information about your products and any new initiatives. Third, it helps you build rapport and trust. Both of which are essential for maintaining a good relationship with your affiliates.
There are a few different ways to stay in touch with your affiliates:
- Send out a monthly newsletter. This can be a great way to keep affiliates up-to-date on your latest products, news, and initiatives.
- Schedule regular conference calls. This gives people a chance to ask questions and get clarification on anything they’re unsure about.
- Send out emails when you have important news to share. This could be a new product launch, a change in your commission structure, or anything else that’s newsworthy.
6. Offer a generous commission structure
Affiliates are more likely to be motivated to sell your products if they stand to make a good commission on each sale. Research other affiliate programs in your industry to see what sort of commissions they offer, and make sure that your program is competitive.
In general, you should offer a higher commission for higher-priced products and a lower commission for lower-priced products. If you want to offer higher commissions, make sure that you can afford it and you have your profit calculations in place.
More about commission structures in our guide: Affiliate marketing compensation models for SaaS.
7. Offer attractive incentives
Offering attractive incentives is a great way to get affiliates excited about promoting your products. And when affiliates are excited, they’re more likely to sell more products. Here are a few ideas for incentives you can offer:
- A higher commission rate for hitting certain sales targets.
- Bonuses for selling a certain number of products.
- Discounts on your products for affiliates to use themselves or give to their friends and family. Coupon affiliate marketing can help your affiliates drive more sales.
- Free products for top-performing affiliates.
- Access to exclusive content, such as video tutorials, tips, and tricks.
8. Provide high-quality marketing materials
What your affiliates use to sell your products is just as important as what you’re selling. Poor-quality marketing materials not only reflect badly on your products but can also make it difficult for affiliates to sell them. So, make sure you provide high-quality marketing materials that affiliates can use to sell your products.
Some things you can provide include:
- Banner ads in a variety of sizes
- Email templates
- Social media assets
- Swipe files
- Product images
- Pre-written blog posts
9. Suggest a content-related collaboration
Creating content is one of the most effective ways to sell products online. And when you collaborate with affiliates on content, everyone wins. The affiliate gets great content to share with their audience, and you get free promotion for your products.
Here are a few ideas for content-related collaborations:
- Webinar
- Podcast episode
- Blog post or video review
- Infographic
- Case studies
Before you launch a collaboration, make sure you have a clear idea of what you want to achieve and what each party will be responsible for. This will help the collaboration run smoothly and avoid any misunderstandings. Also, make sure the affiliate you’re collaborating with is a good fit for your brand. Otherwise, the collaboration could do more harm than good.
10. Have a system in place for tracking sales
Paying affiliates accurately can boost morale and encourage them to sell more. So, make sure you have a system in place for tracking sales and paying commissions promptly. There are a few different ways you can do this:
- Use a tracking URL. A tracking URL is a unique link that an affiliate can use to promote your products. When a customer clicks on the link and makes a purchase, the affiliate is tracked, and you can see how much they’ve earned in commissions.
- Use software. There are many software programs that can track sales and commissions. These in house software solutions make it easy to keep track of sales, commissions, and payments.
- Send out commission notifications to the affiliates through email as soon as a commission is generated. This gets them excited and makes sure they see the benefit of their promotional work.
11. How to get affiliates to sell your products – Ask affiliates for feedback
Getting feedback from affiliates can help you improve your affiliate program. And when you make improvements, affiliates are more likely to sell more products. Instead of asking for general feedback, ask specific questions about what you can do to improve the program. Here are a few things you can ask affiliates for feedback on:
- The products they’re promoting – Do they think the products are high quality? Are the products easy to sell?
- The affiliate tools you provide – Do they find the tools helpful? Are the tools easy to use?
- The commission structure – Do they think the commissions are fair? Would they like to see higher or lower commissions?
- The payment process – Do they think the payments are fair and timely?
- Are there any materials they would like to use that you havent provided yet?
When you ask for feedback, be prepared to make changes based on what you hear. Otherwise, you’ll just end up frustrating affiliates. Also, the next time you ask for feedback, they may not be as willing to give it.
12. Have communication in place for managing affiliate disputes
No matter how well you run your affiliate program, there will always be the occasional dispute. It’s important to have a system in place for managing these disputes quickly and efficiently. Otherwise, they can drag on for months and damage relationships with affiliates.
Here are a few tips for managing affiliate disputes:
- Be proactive – The best way to avoid disputes is to be proactive. This means setting clear rules and guidelines from the start. It also means being clear about what you expect from affiliates.
- Be responsive – When a dispute arises, be quick to respond. The sooner you address the issue, the sooner you can resolve it. .
- Be fair – When resolving a dispute, be fair to both sides. This means taking into account the affiliate’s perspective as well as your own.
- Be firm – Once you make a decision, stick to it. Otherwise, you’ll just end up prolonging the dispute.
13. Keep affiliates updated on changes
If you make changes to your affiliate program, be sure to let affiliates know. This includes changes to the products they’re promoting, new products to promote, the commission structure, the payment process, and anything else that might affect them.
The best way to keep affiliates updated is to have a change log on your affiliate dashboard. This is a place where you can list all the recent changes. Affiliates can check the change log anytime they want to see what’s new.
You should also send out an email notification whenever there are significant changes. This way, even affiliates who don’t check the change log will be in the loop.
14. Let affiliates test new features or products
If you’re thinking of making changes to your products or affiliate program, let affiliates test the new features or products before rolling them out to everyone. This will give them a chance to provide feedback and make sure the changes are positive.
To do this, set up a beta test group with a few select affiliates. Then, when the changes are ready, let them test it out. After they’ve had a chance to use the new features or products, get their feedback and make any necessary adjustments.
15. Provide affiliate support
Affiliates are more likely to sell your products if they know they can count on you for support. This means having someone available to answer their questions and help them resolve any issues.
The best way to provide affiliate support is to have a dedicated affiliate manager. This person should be responsible for managing the affiliate program and providing support to affiliates. They should also have a good understanding of your products and be able to answer any questions affiliates may have.
16. Offer affiliate training
Affiliates are more likely to sell your products if they know how to use them. This is why it’s important to offer affiliate training. By providing training, you’re not only helping affiliates sell your products, but you’re also building relationships and trust.
There are a few different ways you can offer affiliate training:
- Create video tutorials – Video is a great way to teach affiliates about your products. You can create step-by-step tutorials or general overviews of how to use your products.
- Write blog posts – Blog posts are another great way to provide affiliate training. You can write posts that show affiliates how to use your products or that highlight new features and updates.
- Offer webinars – Webinars are a great way to provide in-depth training on your products. You can use webinars to show affiliates how to use your products, answer their questions, and give them tips on selling your products.
Make sure that the training content is a true value-add. Otherwise, affiliates will quickly lose interest.
How to get affiliates to sell your products – Conclusion
By following these tips, you can activate your affiliates and motivate them to sell your products effectively. Having a strong affiliate program is an important part of any successful online marketing strategy. So make sure that you take the time to build a program that will work for both you and your affiliates.
If you are setting up affiliate marketing for your SaaS company find more in tips in the article: Affiliate marketing for B2B: how does it work?