APH Affiliate Program Hurdles

APH

Affiliate Program

Hurdles

What I learned

launching 3 Affiliate

Programs at Once

By:  Taylor  Barr,  Arbiter  of  Affiliates  

General Background

•  Manage Affiliate Programs For A

Small Orange, HostNine Reseller Hosting, and SEO Web Hosting. •  Handle Partnerships for all three

brands as well as for any acquired brands.

•  Run a website called

StartupAffiliate; Geared at helping early stage Affiliate Managers, OPMs, and Affiliate Marketers.

Yawn, Questions?

Attraction &

Performance

Retention

5

1

Start

Planning and Strategy

Implement

2

Results?/

Problems?

3

Tips &

Lean Framework for

4

What I‘d

Do differently.

6

My  Main  Task:     Launch (or migrate any current programs) _{to a succesfully managed solution so that}

we can:

•  Implement a set of performance metrics to evaluate each program.

•  Make it easier to internally manage the

program.

•  Give affiliates the right tools to refer

good customers.

•  Manage our bottom line; realtively cost effective on a month-to-month basis.

Starting State:

A Small Orange

Change Program

HostNine

Existing Program

SEO Web Hosting

New Program

Had a credit

module, tied to billing system 200 Active

Existing Program, 4K Affiliates on

Old, crusty software _{Small Customer Base,}

The BluePrint

Learning through Trial & Error:

Take the brand (SEO Web Hosting) with no previous affiliate history, and use it as a guinea pig.

Launch    Affiliate   Program     Success  &   Failures   Inform     the  Launch      of:   Results     Learning    

Part 1: Trial and Error with SEO Web Hosting Affiliate Program Pick  SoluCon:   SaaS,  Network,   Self-­‐hosted.     Setup     Commission     Strategy   Implement  

 SaaS  SoluCon   Test  click  &    Sales  tracking     Affiliate  page    Create    

Launch    

Program     Realize  SoluCon  Won’t  work!  

Realize  SoluCon   Won’t  work!   Migrate  &  Launch    

Image Placeholder

FULLSCREEN PHOTO

Part II: Implementation

Solution

Switch:

SaaS to

Self-hosted

Due Diligence before

Reset on solution Migrate:  Twice!  

Migrate  Once   Done?    

Part II: Launched.

Pick  Solu*on  -­‐>  Launch  -­‐>  Promote  -­‐>  Pick  New  Solu*on  -­‐>  Launch  -­‐  >  Promote    

Change  Solu*on  -­‐>  Migrate  -­‐>  Launch  -­‐>  Promote  -­‐>  Pick  New  Solu*on  -­‐>    Migrate  Again  -­‐>  Launch  -­‐  >  Promote    

Results  ||  Wrap  Sheet:  Oh  the  Problems!  

.

Low-­‐Medium  Impact   No  Impact    

.

Medium-­‐  High  Impact    

•  Migrate  once!  

•  Confused  new  affiliates    

           in  the  program.   •  Least  amount  of    

             takeaways  for    

             prevenCng  new  issues.  

•  Migrate  Twice!  

•  Doubled  learning  curve.  

•  Current  customer  impact.  

•  Started  ImplemenCng    

           program  before  finding                mistakes  with  SEOWH.  

•  Delayed  brickwalls  of    

             understanding  with                  migraCon  efforts.  

Questions?

How will I attract

affiliates?

Software: In-house,

SaaS Solution,

Network?

Fear of the Launch

Affiliate

Program

How much will it cost?

Metrics?

Payouts?

Keeping Affiliates

Interested/

Performance retention

Do I even know

what I am doing?

Commission  Structures?  

What  is  a  “Lean  Startup”?    

a  human  insCtuCon  designed  to  create  new  products  and  services  under  condiCons  of   extreme  uncertainty.  That  means  entrepreneurs  are  everywhere  and  the  Lean  Startup   approach  can  work  in  any  size  company,  even  a  very  large  enterprise,  in  any  sector  or   industry.  

•  Create  Value-­‐based  Hypothesises     •  Test  those  approaches  

•  Create  validated  learning  for  you  and  your  organizaCon  

OVERALL:  Build.  Measure.  Learn    

" Value Hypothesis: What am I trying to accomplish?

" Communicate with Affiliates BEFORE you do anything! Gather feedback.

" Test and Track. Does it work? What needs changing?

" Implement and continue the feedback loop.

Lean Affiliate Program Launches!

Create  AssumpCons  

Project Expecations: Right-Sizing for Technical Solutions

Time

Money

Resources

TIME:  

•  How  Fast  do  you  need              To  launch?  

•  Do  you  need  the  Cme                Of  others?   MONEY:   •  Topline,  Bo`omline,                or  both?   •  Ongoing  costs?   •  Profitability  Outlook?   RESOURCES:  

•  How  many  people  involved?   •  ImplementaCon?  

•  Ongoing  management?  

Your  own  Network,   Customized  soluCon.  

Right Sizing Tips for Technical Solutions Part II

$ +

Money  and  Time?  

Network  Solu>on  

+

Time  and  Resources?  

Self-­‐Hosted  or  SaaS  

$

 +  

Money  and  Resources?  

Custom  Network  

•  More  expensive  

Who Should be Involved In Program Creation Feedback?

Affiliate

Program

Customers

Internal

Affiliates

Internal Stakeholders and Mgmt. Might be able to share previous

experiences with affiliate programs and can share Why Customers?

They actually bought your product or services. They can tell you why and why they would or would not reccomend it to others.

AFFILIATES:  If  you  have   current  affiliates,   perhaps  on  an  old  system   or  a  refer  a  friend  model:   ask  them  what  works  and   what  they  would  want  to  

Phase II: Implementation

Build-Measure-Learn: Quicker Launch, Reduces Failures.

Build

Measure

Learn

Next Stage

The BASIS

$$$$$

Affiliate Program Promotion and Acquisition

Engaging  Customer  

     Advocates/  Customer  Base  

MarkeCng  Campaigns:     Signup  bonuses;  inbound     markeCng   PromoCon:  PPC,   Email  campaigns,   Forums  etc..     RecruiCng     Data  CollecCon  

Affiliate  Signups/  Acqusi*on  Examples  

           Targeted  Email                Campaign  for                3rd  _{party  website.}    

         Measure  Signup  rate  at              Cme  of  the  email  sent.    

           Did  it  have  an  influx  of                signups?  Did  the  people                who  signed  up  –    

           are  they  performing?  

è   è  

Contest  +  Press  Release   è   Percentage  change  _{ager  campaign}   è  

Build   Measure   Learn  

Most  Important  thing  here?    

Implement

ASO Drip

Campaign

Correlate

& Learn

Affiliate  Reten*on:  Real  Example  

Ask  Affiliates:  Are  emails  helpful?   RepeCCve  logins  

Correlated  Performance   Frequency?  

What would I do differently

when working with these programs?

A Small Orange

Change Program

HostNine

Existing Program

SEO Web Hosting

Beta a

Talk to the credit-based (200 of them) affiliates to get a picture of what they are looking for in an affiliate program. This could of heavly influenced topics around:

•  Commission Structures •  Coupons

•  Implementation and migration

Talk to ASO affiliates

FIRST!

Offer a limited beta to get good feedback in conjuction with the current ASO program. This could heavly influence:

•  Functionality requirements

•  What would make the transition eaiser.

SEO customer feedback

And best implementation.

Talk to SEO Customers to get a temperature gauge. Also use the knowledge acquire from starting up the two other affiliate programs to mitigate issues in a first launch.

Replicate Feedback

Discovery for HostNine

Talk to the 4K Affiliates and understand what type of solution or requirements they need in a new

QUESTIONS

CONTACT

https://www.facebook.com/asmallorange @TaylorBarr @StartupAff

Address: 131 Orange Street Durham, NC 27701 Skype: ASOTaylor E-Mail: Taylor@asmallorange.com HostNine.com   ASmallOrange.com   SEOWebHosCng.net  

THANK YOU!

Photo  Credits:  Reset  Bu`on-­‐  h`p://runjennrundoit.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/reset-­‐bu`on.jpg                                                        Crowd  Photo  -­‐  h`p://a1.s6img.com/cdn/box_001/post_11/244303_1355288_lz.jpg  

Content  Credits:    Eric  Ries,  ”Lean  Startup  Methods”:  h`p://www.startuplessonslearned.com/