How
loyal are your affiliate partners? Not as loyal as you
think.
"Relationships of trust depend on our willingness to look
not only to our own interests, but also the interests of
others. – Peter Farquharson"
How loyal are your affiliate partners?
Not as loyal as you think.
Partner
loyalty is comparable to consumer loyalty. Two separate
studies on customer loyalty, published in the Journal of
Consumer Research, demonstrate that as many as 50% of
customers can be swayed by a competitor’s sales and
marketing message, word-of-mouth advice and special
incentives. In fact, even if customers are not completely
satisfied with your goods/services, a random desire for
novelty could cause them to leave.
https://www.lynxtrack.com/signup.php
So
how do you prevent existing partners from becoming exiting
partners?
Customize. Spark. Remember. Engage.
1. Customize.
Burger King became a force to be reckoned with when, unlike
McDonald’s, they told customers “have it your way – special
orders don’t upset us.” Is there some way you can develop
custom programs in web, search, and email, for your top
partners? What if you were to ask them what they think can
really maximize their advertising revenue?
2. Spark
their interest year-round. Send newsletters and email blasts
to current partners and past partners. Only send something
when you have newsworthy offers to share. Constantly look
for a variety of offers to promote (finance, cpg,
entertainment). Think of CRM
in Action.
3. Remember
their preferences. Create a file about each of your
partners. Hairdressers have customers fill out cards
highlighting (no pun intended) their preferences. Do
something similar for your partners. For instance, if you
were a department store, wouldn’t it be handy to know who
wears Lacoste so you could let them know when the line goes
on sale? Do the same thing for your partners- does one
partner run more credit card offers than another? Does one
partner tend to run more email offers than others.
4.
Engage
them.
Reward your regular top partners with special gestures just
for them. For example, invite them to dinner at the next
AdTech or Affiliate Summit. Or, take your cue from Universal
Studio’s resorts. As a special gesture, they grant resort
guests entry into the theme parks one hour prior to
admittance of the general public.
Stay tuned for next week’s column which will address how to
decipher which partners are worth the extra effort and which
ones are not.
Elizabeth M.
Lloyd
Director, Partner Marketing
The YFDirect Trust Network
Elizabeth@yfdirect.com
