The Good and Bad With Offering Bonuses To Affiliates
Posted by | Posted in Internet Marketing | Posted on 09-02-2010
If you run an affiliate program, the effort put forth by your affiliates impacts on your profits. They more they market a website, the more views your links will get. This must lead to enlarged sales. Although an affiliate has some control over the money they create, not everyone puts forth that additional effort. For that reason, you may consider offering bonuses to your affiliates. It appears like an excellent idea, but is it? Familiarize yourself with the pros and cons of affiliate bonuses and then make the decision for yourself.
The Pros of Offering Affiliate Bonuses
Your options. Affiliate bonuses come numerous different formats. You can decide on how you want to give this reward. For example, you can do a onetime commission increase for top performers. Increase their commission from 2% to 3%. You can opt for a short-term commission increase. For example, increase all of your affiliates’ commission levels from 2% to 4% in the month of December. There are also year-end bonuses. You can opt for bonuses for all affiliates or just those who made a certain amount of money.
They work as an excellent source of motivation. As previously stated, not everyone is encouraged when it comes to affiliate programs. Yes, it seems silly. An affiliate is in control over how much they make, but some rarely do any work. In fact, you may have affiliates on your program list that don’t even have your links displayed. These persons will be motivated when they hear about a bonus. For that reason, announce all bonuses ahead of time. Give your affiliates a goal to work towards. If they meet that goal, they are rewarded. If not, it is their failure.
They impact your profits. Your one concern about providing affiliate bonuses is the additional money it costs. Yes, you will spend more, but think of the end result. Your affiliates are going to put forth extra effort to promote their website and your links, especially if they know there is the chance to get a great year-end bonus! Where to want to be cautious is with under performers or those that do not even have your links displayed. Don’t offer bonuses to these individuals, as you automatically lose money.
The Cons of Offering Affiliate Bonuses
They can be tough for you to apply. As previously stated, if you like to do a year-end bonus, make sure your best earning affiliates get the most. After all, they did the most work. This means going down through the list of your partners and calculating bonuses. This can take time. It may be better to select an increase in everyone’s commission for a month or two. This involves changing a few settings in your affiliate tracking software and nothing more.
Your affiliates may come to expect these bonuses. Yes, bonuses do act as a source of motivation, but your affiliates may come to expect them. If you cannot afford to give a bonus next year or raise commissions, you may have a disgruntled bunch. If you offer year-end bonuses, tell your affiliates it is a one-time thing. If you can afford and choose to give a bonus the following year, good. If not, there isn’t a big loss or uproar.
Some of your affiliates may get mad if they did not receive a bonus. You should have a terms and condition contract that your affiliates agreed to. If not, make one. In that agreement, must be information about compensation. If not, update. Your affiliates should not reveal their commission rates or bonuses. Healthy competition is great, however discussing bonuses when not everyone got one often leads to trouble.
