From the April 2005 issue of Internet Retailer…

Although well established by now, affiliate marketing is new enough that marketers are still looking for best practices. Consultant Shawn Collins annually surveys marketers who use affiliates–sites that drive traffic to e-retailers` or other marketers` sites.

His AffStat 2005 report is just out and the range of answers reveals the wide variety of approaches that marketers take. Among the interesting data is that 75% of marketers manage their affiliate programs in-house, 30% have reduced the size of their affiliate networks in the past year and 28% allow affiliates to bid on the marketer`s own brand name in search engines.

See the stats at http://internetretailer.com/article.asp?id=14573

FOR ALL THE HYPE ABOUT affiliate marketing, is it effective? A new study by Shawn Collins Consulting suggests that affiliate programs can lead to business, with 14 percent of affiliates generating conversion rates of more than 5 percent. For the study, more than 130 affiliate managers–ranging from small mom-and-pops to Fortune 100 companies–were surveyed on their overall strategies, as well as a number of issues about their affiliate marketing channels such as staffing, recruiting, and management.

About one in seven affiliate marketers–14 percent–reported that conversion rates on such programs were greater than 5 percent, according to the study. An additional 10 percent reported rates of between 3.1 and 5 percent, while 13 percent reported conversion rates of 2.1 to 3 percent.

Complete article at http://publications.mediapost.com/…

I was just compiling the data I collected for the AffStat 2005 Report, and I came across a curious comment by one of the affiliate managers that completed the survey:

“I would love to have the answer to why ABW affiliates denounce ‘parasites’, yet continue to partner with companies that are clearly listed in the apps?? I can’t imagine it is pure laziness on their part!”

This statement reminded me of one of the survey results from the AffStat 2004 Report, where I questioned affiliates on a range of topics.

Could it be the real data for these affiliates is indicating that the badware plague is overstated? Even better, the efforts by the affiliate networks to clean house may well have been more effective than critics care to admit.

I gave a presentation on affiliate recruiting techniques at eComXpo today, and during my session, I asked some polling questions to get a feel for the audience.

As has been the trend since the early days of affiliate marketing, the affiliate managers are mostly relying on their networks to recruit for them, as well as making solicitations by email (I wonder how many are CAN-SPAM compliant?).

Virtually nobody is picking up the phone, and even less are using direct mail.

I was a little surprised that search engine affiliates remain as the strongest channel, according to the affiliate managers polled. Either the Google AdWords policy didn’t hit as hard as some speculated it would, or these affiliate managers haven’t checked their stats since then.

The majority of affiliate managers are paying more to super affiliates these days, and I agree entirely with the idea that it makes sense to reward volume.

Of course, there are still 25% that don’t agree, and choose to go the one size fits all route. I suppose they are in the Jeff Molander camp that it’s wasteful to pay on merit, and that it’s possible to make it happen cheaper if only you try harder.

My prediction – in the coming year, direct mail will emerge as the recruiting tool of choice for proactive affiliate manager.

Polls courtesy eComXpo, Polls Copyright 2005 eComXpo, LLC

Dr. Ralph F. Wilson is collecting data for an updated version of his Report on Affiliate Management Software, which was last published four years ago.

The updated report will detail the kind of software used by merchants to keep track of sales resulting from affiliates and the commissions due those affiliates.

If you complete his survey at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=68354842738, he’ll send you a free copy of the resulting e-book.

I am frequently asked how many active affiliates are out there, but I’ve never seen any definitive number.

The LinkShare site says they’ve got “over 10 million partnerships”, but what does that back into in terms of active affiliates?

In the past, Amazon touted having nearly a million or so affiliates, but I’ve got to wonder how many ever put up a single link, and beyond that, how many earned a commission check?

Personally, I’d guess there are 100,000 or so affiliates that are making some money, any money – say a check at least once a year.

Recently, I posed this question on my affiliate manager forum, and nearly 50% of affiliate managers pegged the number of active affiliates at less than 100,000.

I’ve just concluded the data collection for the AffStat 2005 Report, and I was anxious to compare some of the figures from two years ago to here and now.

One of the questions I am asked most often by affiliate managers is the average salary (including bonuses) for an affiliate manager. While pay scales for affiliate managers vary depending on geographic location, these averages can help get an idea about the ranges out there.

Compared against 2002, the earnings in 2004 were a bit more erratic. There were more folks at both the higher and lower ends this year. However, the numbers for 2002 and 2004 pretty much mirrored one another for the percent of affiliate managers that earn between $80k and $110k per year.

For the near 25% of affiliate managers that are making $40k or less, it’s time to ask the boss for a raise. 😉