Affiliate Manager pet-peeves

This is a guest post written one of my friends, who work as an affiliate manager.

I asked if he would write a guest post because I have had trouble finding information about how to build a good relationship with your affiliate managers.

Affiliate Manager pet-peeves

The relationship between an Affiliate and an Affiliate Manager can be complex, rewarding, frustrating and lucrative. It is hard to say exactly what creates a great relationship between the advertiser and a manager, but there are definitely some key points to avoid as an affiliate trying to get the most out of an affiliate programme.

The first and most important thing for an affiliate to remember, as well as the Manager, is to have respect. In many cases Affiliates can be extremely demanding when it appears that their affiliate manager is not living up to expectations. But Affiliates must remember that an Affiliate Manager will not be dealing with just one, but often hundreds of Affiliates. Affiliate Managers, on the whole, are genuinely concerned about making their affiliates happy with what is provided by their programme, and they will do anything they can to ensure that their programme is perceived as a fair, loyal and profitable Affiliate Programme. This means they will do anything in their power to keep things transparent.

Patience is essential. There are many affiliates that do not make the most from a programme because they constantly complain and demand what is not possible. But for an Affiliate Manager to fully understand what an affiliate wants more is needed than a few stats and a list of demands via email. This partnership needs to be long term and therefore deals must be discussed at length, otherwise you will never be optimising the potential of both the Affiliate Manager’s and the Affiliate’s experience.

If an Affiliate Manager disagrees with the ideas presented by an affiliate it does not mean that the Manager is trying to save money. It is more often the case that they will have done similar deals that have not worked, for either party, in the past. The Affiliate Manager’s experience of what works and what does not will be extensive. They will have experimented with all forms of CPA and Revenue Share deals, and there has to be some trust in your Affiliate Manager’s opinion, as this is their job. They will not always be right but more often than not they will know what makes money and what does not.

Probably the most frustrating thing an Affiliate Manager must face is when an Affiliate tries to use them as a port of call for all queries. In many cases affiliates use AM’s as a support agent, Technical assistant and Cashier agent. This is not the Affiliate Manager’s role. They will not have the sort of access needed to be able to answer questions about player deposits, software malfunctions or hand histories. They probably will help if they can, as they see the benefit of that sort of loyalty – but understand that you will be asking them to go beyond their roles requirement. Issues like these are actually resolved quicker when contacting the correct department.

All in all Affiliate Managers are tolerant people that will be more than happy to go the extra mile, as they want to earn you commission. But in terms of a longstanding partnership that creates long term profit there has to be a relationship based on trust, patience, knowledge and respect.