How To Motivate Affiliates To Generate More Sales

A set of motivated and enthusiastic affiliates mean more money and
revenue for your affiliate business. If you want to retain high quality
affiliates, then here are some tricks to keep them motivated and
inspired.

1. Commission rates

Let’s face it at the end of the day we are all driven by rewards
and remuneration. So if you want your affiliates to perform to their
best ability you need to provide substantial commissions too. Usually in
the case of high-end goods like digital products, you can provide a
70-30 percent commission break-up. That means you get to retain the 30%
commission and provide the affiliates with 70% of the profits. That will
surely keep your affiliates motivated and encouraged to work well.

2. Long term commissions

On a long term basis, you could consider even providing a 100%
commission to your affiliates. Once they know that they are going to get
a substantial profit, they will tend to work harder and promote your
products heavily. While such an approach is sure to eat into your profit
margin, it will ensure retrieving more customers onto your database. So
although you might not earn much initially due to the 100% commission
package, you will make up for it with an influx of good quality
customers in the long run.

3. Ready, pluggable content

The good quality affiliates always like affiliate merchants who have
ready available content. It enables them to work immediately and start
on promoting and earning commissions. So if you want to start getting
headway into sales and product promotions, make sure your affiliates
have instant access to good quality promotional material.

4. Imbibe best practices

There’s a reason why some affiliate programs are really successful.
It might help if you were to sign up for such programs as an affiliate.
That way you get to see firsthand how the programs get managed. You can
look at their business model up close and even use parts of it for your
own affiliate business as well.

5. Realistic goals
Nothing de-motivates an affiliate more than
unachievable goals and unrealistic expectations. When it comes to your
affiliate products, make sure you have lain down some definite criteria
and goals which are perfectly achievable. That way, once those goals are
achieved, the confidence and morale of the affiliates will be boosted.

6. Don’t ignore the smaller ones

One mistake affiliate merchants make is to focus on the motivated
performing affiliates and completely ignore the smaller revenue earning
ones. This is a big mistake because although they may not be performing
as well as the others, they are still bringing in a certain chunk of
revenue. If you ignore them, they might get de-motivated enough to leave
your affiliate program. That will result in a huge setback to your
business.

7. Establish a 2 Tier program

Two tier programs are very much sought after these days. They not
only allow an affiliate to capitalize on the actual sale but also when
they recommend and include a new candidate one level below. This is a
double incentive kind of program which is sure to keep your affiliates
motivated. Plus, it also gets you more promotion and sales.

8. Train them adequately

It is essential to train and educate your affiliates as much as
possible. It’s only when they have a fair understanding of the product
that they can propagate and promote it effectively. So make sure to
conduct workshops, training sessions and seminars to provide as much
information and practical know-how of the product.

9. Create tools which affiliates like

Another tactic which really helps is to develop tools and resources
which affiliates like to use. This way you get to attract more top
quality talent. Plus, it’s essentially a win-win situation where both
you and the affiliate get more commissions and sales. While your
affiliates will promote your products better, you will earn more profits
and they will earn more commissions.

10. Targeted affiliates

One of the tricks to keeping your affiliates always motivated and
happy is by finding affiliates who are interested in what you are
selling. If they aren’t interested, you cannot possibly expect them to
promote your products effectively. Therefore, you could try searching
in relevant sites and even in competitor websites to search for
affiliates who promote similar products online.