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PPL Affiliate Program Launch Strategies
I recently launched 3 affiliate programs in Commission Junction; following are pre launch and launch considerations for a PPL affiliate program I have noted from my experience; for information on the affiliate programs I speak of in this post you can simply go here if you would like more information: www.EduAffiliateNews.com.
All 3 of these affiliate programs are on a PPL (pay per lead) basis, which means that affiliates are “paid per lead”. Even though these programs and other PPL programs out there are of the same commissionable type, does not mean they should be launched and managed using the same organizational methods or strategies. There are some things to consider…
PPL Ready Set Launch!
The first affiliate program was launched with an open door approach to affiliates, I wanted to see who the players were in the vertical, let them in and watch them go at it. CJ has a large, large, volume of affiliates, more then I am sure most other networks and the sign up rate was incredible. I have always believed in giving an affiliate a chance first rather then giving them no chance at all with your program, this strategy worked as many of the affiliates hit the US market swinging with lead volumes high enough to make some heads turn. The program was so successful we have now taken it international within a month of the US launch.
The second and third affiliate program launches were more constrained as far as the number of affiliates allowed into the programs. These programs were scaled purposefully and both for different reasons. It is important for affiliate managers to grow a lead generation program based on call center abilities to handle leads as well as other factors. The strategies for affiliate program launch and growth must be understood, no two companies are alike; strategies (Should) differ depending on the overall environmental makeup of the company’s infrastructure. Affiliate programs should have different strategies based on multiple factors such as the following.
PPL Affiliate Programs - Things you should consider Pre launch
1. Can you scale leads to grow in tandem with the companies call center and processing infrastructure?
2. Can you scale the program to hit a wider target base, regional, US, International?
3. Do you consider the impact of your lead validation system on affiliate leads?
4. Is your lead filtering over restricting form validations?
5. Have you weighed the pros and cons of CJ batching vs. pixel integration?
6. If your call center is validating leads what is their daily max to process validations?
7. Have you considered a tiered structure for affiliate commissions?
9. What are your recruitment goals? What tools will you use for recruitment?
10. How strict will you enforce vertical driven and channel driven affiliates? How flexible are you willing to be concerning tail end marketing?
Launching a PPL Affiliate Program with a bang
1. Get your affiliate recruitment communications pieces ready pre launch
2. Do you have a list of all media sources, blogs, and forums to announce your launch in?
3. Have you hired a manager with a network of super affiliates he/she can call?
4. Have you considered hiring an affiliate management company to launch and manage
the program for you?
5. Will you allow affiliate ppc bidding? Is your keyword list ready?
6. Test, test, test, test, your form validations using every scenario, test every week!
PPL affiliate programs are very different then your retail or branded affiliate programs, considerations concerning growth and scale strategies need to be intertwined carefully with affiliate recruitment and your companies lead validation and lead process abilities. Make sure your call center is ready when you push them lead volumes through an affiliate channel on a scale that they might not have seen previously. Overwhelming the call center and your processing system with leads that can not be handled is not an impressive feat, scaling your program efficiently is.
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