How to Keep Your Affiliates Active and Loyal: The 4 Proven Tactics

With so many affiliate programs available these days, people may jump from program to program with little thought. Fortunately, there are things you can do to keep affiliates interested an active in your program. 

Maintaining an active affiliate base is the key to the success of your program. If people are continually jumping ship, you're not going to make any money. If you've got a good product with reasonably high demand and an attractive, easy to navigate website, you should be able to keep a happy and stable group of affiliates, right? So what's the problem?

Well, assuming that your program is potentially successful; that is, your product is in demand and that you have a professional looking, user-friendly website, I can pretty much guarantee that the problem lies in communication. If your affiliates are trickling away, it is most likely because they feel ignored or just uninformed. Here are a few communication basics you can use to keep them feeling involved.

First. Have a good "thank you" page. 
Don't just use a canned prefab form. When your affiliates sign up, give them some pertinent information, like what they can expect from you and a little more about how your specific program works. Maybe even give a few sales statistics from your most successful affiliates. This will make them feel really involved right from the start.

Second. "Send a sincere "thank you" email. 
Don't just send a cursory "thank you" with your new affiliate's linking code. Once again, offer some more information about the program. Tell them a little more about the product, or mention a technique or two for placing classified ads for their site. Always close any communication with your affiliates by letting them know that they can always contact you with questions or concerns.

Third. Keep on top of sales alerts. 
Try to set up a regular schedule for informing affiliates of their sales. Frequent alerts, say once or twice a week, will keep people much more interested than a monthly mass mailing.

Fourth. Keep in touch. 
Start an affiliate newsletter, or send out emails with updates about your program, sales statistics from your top affiliates, and marketing tips. This will keep people excited about the potential of the program.

These tactics may seem a little time consuming, but believe me they're worth it. And besides, just think of the recruiting hours you'll save if everyone sticks with it. Now obviously, there are going to be affiliates who leave your program no matter what you do, that's just the nature of the business, but, provided you have a good product, if you follow these steps and stay in communication with your people, you'll find that your program is a lot more successful.

SFI AFFILIATE IS GOOD FOR YOU 

Top 10 Ways to Lose a Customer

You spend a lot of time and money drawing people to your Web site. Don't drive them away before you make the sale.

No matter how many visitors you are able to attract to your website, there are still ways to lose them before making a sale. Below are the top 10 ways to lose a paying customer.

1. Navigation - One of the easiest ways to turn off a website visitor is create a complicated website. If a customer struggles to find their a product, they will more than likely get frustrated and leave the website before they buy.

When I first designed my website I had no idea about design. Looking back, I'm not sure I accomplished pretty and I did not create an easy website to navigate. Much like the one I mentioned earlier, my website was frustrating to visitors.

2. Busyness - The wrong type of website can turn off visitors and repel sales. Create a website designed for your target audience. For example, if you're selling aromatherapy products, you'll want a relaxing environment. However, if you're a life coach you want to pump people up. Your website should be full of life and activity.

3. Sizing - Many websites make the mistake of sizing their design to fit their screen. Unfortunately, the standard resolution that most monitors are sized to (800 x 600) does not always match. When this happens, visitors must scroll not only up and down the page, but left and right as well. To eliminate this frustration, set you width to no more than 800 pixels.

4. Point of Contact - When visitors to your website have a question they want to be able to easily find your contact information. Many websites display their email address, phone number, or a link to their contact information either in their menu or at the top/bottom of their website, which makes it easy to find.

5. Hidden Pricing - Customers want to have all of the necessary information before they make a purchase. Make sure your prices are available up front. When customers have to dig for pricing information, there's a good chance that they will get frustrated, give up and leave your website.

6. Customer Service - You can set your business apart from all the rest by offering fast, friendly and helpful service to your customers. Try to respond to emails and phone calls within twenty-fours hours. Smile while you type or talk on the phone because your customers will hear the lilt in your voice and respond.

7. Follow-up - If your customer asks a question about a product or service, follow up within 48 hours to see if they have further questions. Many times this follow-up can lead to a sale. Neglecting follow-up can lose you customers.

8. Spam - If you offer a newsletter or other type of mailing list, be careful with what you send to your subscribers. Avoid mailings that look like spam. Choose a template that works for you and that will be recognizable to your readers.

9. Professional Conduct - In the business world it's important that you're professional, especially when dealing with difficult clients. It's imperative to be kind, courteous and take care of business. Refrain from any type of name calling or blame placing. Stand up for your business in a professional manner and treat your customers with respect at all times. Remember the old adage - the customer is always right.

10. Payment Options/Security - Customers want to know that they can trust you with their financial information. Choose a payment provider that offers a secure way to transit orders and credit card information. If possible, offer more than one payment option to give your customers the ability to choose how they will pay.

Creating a website that is customer-friendly isn't as simple as one might think. There are many aspects to consider and the designer must choose carefully or risk losing sales. Avoid these ten no-no's and make your website into a successful business venture.

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