Reward Your Affiliates With These Great Bonuses
If you run an affiliate program, you want your affiliates to do well. The more links there are going back to your website and the more clicks those links receive, the more sales you get. You rely on your affiliates to generate interest and sales. Unfortunately, not everyone puts forth the same effort. That is why bonuses are a great idea. When properly implemented, bonuses for affiliates can reward your top performers and motivate your underperformers to improve.
As previously stated, bonuses provide a source of motivation for all affiliates. They also reward your top earnings. This is very important. Just because an affiliate applies to your program and you give them access to coded banners and links, it does not mean they will use them. Many affiliate program members are technically active, but actually inactive. You don’t necessarily want to give up hope on these individuals, as they can make both you and them money, but they need motivation. That motivation can come from additional compensation earned as a bonus.
You can add incentives for your existing customers to recruit new customers. As a small Internet business, offering affiliate deals is a great way to increase your traffic and profile. Just make sure you're always on the up-and-up with your affiliates. Do what you promise and treat the people working for you as if they're your real employees.
As for why it is important to reward your top performing affiliates with bonuses, you want them to stay happy. These individuals generate the most sales for you. Overtime, they will expect some type of increase, like permanent commission increases. If you don’t want to take this big step, a year-end bonus may keep your affiliates satisfied. Remember, your top performers are not people you want to lose. If they leave the program, they take the sales they generate right along with them.
Now that you know the importance of rewarding your affiliates with bonuses, what type of bonuses can you offer? This is what is great, anything. You are in control. If you are looking for a few sample ideas, please continue reading on.
Before you can sell anything you MUST have a successful website. It should have tons of useful and entertaining content, an audience already visiting, and marketing channels built-in like an opt-in newsletter and active social media accounts. First, you must build it, and only after than can you start adding affiliate reviews and links.
A year-end bonus. As previously stated, year-end bonuses can keep top performing affiliates held over. They would likely prefer a set commission increase, but at least they get extra money. If you opt for a year-end bonus, base your decision on performance. Do not give everyone a bonus or the same amount. For example, don’t give your inactive members a bonus if they don’t have any links to your website. Do not give an underperforming a $500 year-end bonus if they haven’t generated more than $200 in sales. Ensure your bonuses are enough to keep your affiliates happy, but that you don’t lose money too.
An increase in commissions. Although most individuals would consider an increase in commission a pay raise, it can fall into the category of bonuses. Once again, you want to use affiliate bonuses to motivate your underperformers and keep your top earners happy. For that reason, set a specific level in which commission will be raised. For example, an affiliate’s commission can increase to 4% once they reach $2,000 in sales. Next, that rate can increase to 5% once they reach $4,000 in sales, and so forth.
You not only have to research the demand of a product as an affiliate. You also need to research the supply. If you choose a company whose supplies are limited in the face of high demand, you're ultimately going to lose out on money. You can find another affiliate company with more of that particular product.
A temporary increase in commissions. If your main goal is to motivate your affiliates to try harder, a temporary commission increase is best. This just may get those individuals who have yet to place links to do so. Since these types of bonuses are only temporary, make it worth it. Instead of raising your affiliates’ commission only 1% during the month of December opt for a 2 or 3% increase. Yes, you have to payout more, but it is only temporary and only when sales result.
In short, bonuses serve as motivation for underperforming affiliates and a reward for your top performers. If you operate an affiliate program and have yet to dispense bonuses, try it.
