The Problem(s)
Each and every week our team compares our clients’ progress month to date compared with their forecast. With this particular client our team noticed on the 15th of the month that the channel was projected to miss forecast, based on MTD performance, by $150,000.
Further investigation showed that 3 of our top affiliates were contributing to over 85% of that gap. The real problem was that the gap was due to a combination of strategy changes, commission level decreases, and limiting tactics permissions. The team had to find a way to quickly bridge the gap without those top performers.
The Fixes
Within 1 week...bridged the gap in projected sales (over $150,000)!
Because we weren’t able to directly change the performance of the four publishers who were down, we had to identify affiliates that were in Tier 2 of the affiliate program that were ripe for growth. Our team set up meetings with these affiliates immediately and explored different ways we could boost production. We then worked with our client directly to acquire new promotions for the many different regions they operate in. These promotions then were uploaded to the networks as text links, sent out to all affiliates in a newsletter and personally provided to each of the Tier 2 affiliates we had started to work more closely with.
We found 4 affiliates within that tier who would end up helping us bridge that gap with increased marketing activity and customer reach.
We provided those affiliates with custom creative as well and within 1 week bridged the gap in projected sales! Over $150,000 were added through the channel by 4 formerly underperforming affiliates and our client hit their forecasted revenue for that month.
The Bottom Line
You can’t rest on your laurels in affiliate marketing. A well run program that consistently hits your goals needs to be one that has aggressive forecasts to measure against, is monitored daily and weekly against those numbers, and one where action is taken when the projected sales volume is lower than forecast. Building strong relationships with affiliates is a task that is never done and its importance can’t be overstated. When we have one group of affiliates unable to contribute, the relationships that are built over time in all tiers of a program become even more important.
Relationships take time to build and are vital to success. JEBCommerce was able to use data to identify a problem while there was still plenty of time to fix it, and we had the relationships to make positive 6 figure changes in a matter of days. Our client hit their goals and continues to enjoy a thriving affiliate channel.
