Mac Software Tools Used for Affiliate Program Management Pt. 3 (Email, Contact Management and Communication)

I’m always looking for a good way for effective contact management with affiliates. Right now, I use a combination of just the regular Mac OS Mail app and Google Mail for Apps. My AMWSO email address is through Google Apps right now. Anytime I have an email account for a client, I either forward it to my main AMWSO account, or simply have Google retrieve mail from the POP of the client mail account. This way I have one place for all of my affiliate contact mails. The Google search in mail is great for tracking down certain affiliate contacts, but I also use IMAP and the Mac Mail app with Quicksilver to do searching. (However, I do find that searching directly in Google is usually more effective and thorough).

I also keep notes on certain affiliate contacts in the Mac address book, and also I use an application called Evernote. The Mac address book has a great freeform field for making any kind of notes (and it’s searchable in Spotlight) I need to make for a particular affiliate contact. I also use another nice note taking app, Evernote, when I want to take a screen clip, or make notes on where my client is getting placement on an affiliate site. Also keep notes on todos for contacting certain affiliates or making offers and proposals.

Number one tools for communicating individually with affiliates is email of course. Occasionally, I’ve tried to call an affiliate (and I use Skype), but with Google Talk and Skype and the ability to just have phone numbers dedicated to voice-mail so easily, it’s rare to find an affiliate that will actually answer the phone. However, leaving a voice message does often get the job done to give an affiliate extra nudge to get in touch. I think everyone working online knows what Skype is all about so no need to get into to much detail on that app.

Lastly, when I’m doing recruiting or a heavy activation campaign, I use the good ’ole spreadsheet to record results that can easily be saved in a format for reporting to the client. My own system is not complicated at all, and doesn’t utilize in whiz bang apps, but it definitely get the job done for me.

One quick note, one might expect us at AMWSO to use a common CRM system, across the company to easily consolidate and share affiliate contact information. A shared CRM should make things easier for us. However, we very much value and respect our clients confidentiality. Even though we run many affiliate programs, we do not share affiliate data or information across those program (without explicit client agreement and approval). This respect also applies to affiliates. An affiliate manager not involved specifically with a program doesn’t need to know the how/what/where in regard to a particular affiliate promoting a program.

Mac Software Tools Used for Affiliate Program Management Pt. 2 (Text and Images)

Continuing the series about tools I use for data analysis in managing merchant affiliate programs I’m going to discuss here some of the tools I use for writing, html/newsletter creation and image manipulation and editing.

When writing newsletters and also drafting individual or sub-group emails to affiliates, I primarily use Espresso from Macrabbit. I started using this editor because I happened to get it in a software bundle a few years ago. I really liked it so have continued using it and upgrading it with new versions. I love the syntax highlighting (for html) and the automatic completion of HTML tags. Also as a preference, I really like clean interfaces. I grew so comfortable with it it became my main text editor.
That was until I learned about Markdown. Now I do know enough basic HTML to be dangerous, but I’m not adept enough that I don’t need a little reference page open to check tag syntax when trying to write HTML. For most of the basic HTML documents I create (blog posts and emails), Markdown is awesome. Markdown let’s me focus on the writing rather than worry about the HTML syntax. I cannot say enough good things about Markdown.

Since I want to try and duplicate as much functionality as I can on the iPad, I’ve recently purchased Byword from the Mac App Store and the iOS App Store. I’m using Byword right now to write this blog post. I’ll use another app however, Marked, to convert the Markdown to HTML. Even though Byword has built in conversion to HTML, I’ve gotten in the habit of using Marked since it’s consistent and can be used with any text editor I happen to be creating a document with. There really are so many great text editors out there for the Mac, that none can really be called the go-to market leader. Meaning, they are all good and it just depends on individual tastes.

A couple of quick side-notes; I also use TextWrangler, the free version of BBEdit, for a lot of miscellaneous text things, like cleaning up text and getting rid of strange characters, and for quick search and replace functions. Very often I have to replace spaces with commas in lists or convert pipes to commas, etc. On the iPad I use Textastic for the same things I use Espresso and TextWrangler for on the Mac, and Byword for most of my general writing. I love the global search and replace in Textastic on the iPad.

Those writing and text tools above are used to create all of my newsletters, draft emails to affiliates, blog posts and to manipulate any text data (csv files) before importing into Numbers or Filemaker for analysis.

I enjoy just about everything having to do with online work and web-working, but probably the one skill that I really need the most help with is working with images. I struggle when it comes to creating nice looking images and editing them. So I leave that mostly to the designers we work with at AMWSO for our affiliate creative development services. If I am forced to do any basic resizing or cropping, I use Acorn as my go to image editor. I definitely don’t get into the feature-swelled mess that is Adobe Photoshop. Acorn is lightweight, and intuitive and allows me to get 90% of the stuff done I ever need to do. Another great alternative to Acorn is Pixelmator. Both are great independent apps for the Mac.

In the next post, I’ll talk about what I use for email, contact management and communications with affiliates.

Mac Software Tools Used for Affiliate Program Management (Data Analysis)

Most of the team here at AMWSO are traditional Windows users (despite my efforts to show them the light) :) I (Dave) am a big-time fan of Apple and a Mac user. I wanted to discuss some of the programs and apps I use on a daily basis in my workflow for affiliate program management.

My most frequently used app would be the browser (as probably is the case with many in the performance marketing industry). I switch most often between Apple’s Safari and Google’s Chrome. No particular reason for switching back and forth, I just can’t settle on which I prefer. So I’ll use Safari for a couple weeks, and then switch over to Chrome for a few weeks. I sync all of my bookmarks using Xmarks, so switching back and forth is relatively painless. For password storage and management I use the 1password app. This is a fantastic app that allows me to generate very secure random passwords and completely different and independent passwords for every login. If some service does get hacked, they won’t be able to use the password they steal for me anywhere else. Also, it’s essential to manage a LOT of passwords for all the various client / AMWSO and personal accounts I have to use on a daily basis. For anyone working and relying for their income online, I would absolutely recommend using a good password management app.

Now, there are so many useful add-ons to the browser that I use for affiliate management, it would dominate a post. Actually, I’ll write a separate post just for browser add-ons and extensions. So let’s get back to some other software tools I use for affiliate management.

A good data management or spreadsheet app is a must. A good deal of my time is spent looking at affiliate performance, and digging into the data to identify affiliate performance trends. This is especially key in identifying affiliates who have improved performance recently or where performance has declined. I prefer using iWork Numbers app although I will admit it is nowhere as robust as Microsoft Excel, even on a Mac. Excel is much better in handing larger files, and with converting files (for example pipe delimited files), Excel can’t be beat. The reason I stick with Numbers however, is for the iOS integration. I’m trying very hard to be able to manage my workflow on an iPad or iPhone easily, so that if anything does come up no matter where I am, I’ll be able to respond quickly from my phone.

Excel and Numbers in conjunction with a good database app are a must. I use Filemaker. Although it still can be done with Excel or Numbers, I prefer using Filemaker to associate 2 different data files. For example with certain affiliate tracking systems, one must download “all affiliate information” separately from performance report information. Downloading separate files forces me to “link” the two files so I can have all my affiliate information joined with the affiliate performance data in 1 file / view. I do this through Filemaker, and then “export” to Excel/Numbers to manipulate the data a bit more easily.

I think this is a good stopping point. I’ve covered in a quick overview the tools I use to capture some data and perform analysis on the data. In a subsequent post, I’ll discuss the tool I use for communication and contact management with affiliates. Also, I’ll get into some of the tools I use to help manage things needed by affiliates, such as banners, keywords lists and article content. Let me know if this useful, and don’t hesitate to comment and tell me what tools you might use!

The Affiliate Program Welcome Letter

A critical component to affiliate program success will be getting your affiliates off the ground and running quickly after joining the program. I don’t have stats to back this up, but intuition tells me that affiliates who join and get links up right away are much more likely to become active earners down the road. Whereas, those affiliates that join, and put the program on the back-burner, well that’s just where the program might stay for the foreseeable future.

The best tool that an affiliate manager has in their arsenal for getting an affiliate up and running is the affiliate program welcome letter. So often a manager wastes this great opportunity with a simple letter providing only basic information and a few pleasantries.

The following components need to be in the welcome letter to truly make it an effective tool in the arsenal:

• Review the value proposition of the merchant.
• Links and banners with the affiliates (if possible) code.
• Full contact information for the affiliate manager.
• Highlighted links to other key tools and information.
• Review of critical information in the affiliate agreement.

First let’s talk about the value proposition for the merchant. I like to devote a few paragraphs in the letter to talk about how to position the merchant’s products. What are people using the products for, who’s needs are they serving. This can be valuable information for an affiliate in deciding if they want to write some extra content around the links and also perhaps position your links near other complimentary products on their affiliate site.

Next, include the actual links / banners that the affiliate will use. Now of course the affiliate (once accepted into the program) can log into the affiliate interface and get banners and text links. However, why not simply make it as easy as possible and hand them the links right there in the letter. No need to log in, no reason to “put it off till later”, the links are right there for them to copy and paste onto their html/page editor or their ad manager.

Some affiliate managers don’t like to give full contact information (like phone number) for fear of being flooded with inquiries. I relish the opportunity to have contact with my affiliates. Affiliates are bombarded with hundreds of program offers weekly, and they have a multitude of choices for programs to promote. They’ve chosen your program, and they are highly motivated in reaching out to the manager. Don’t let that opportunity slide by to build a relationship with the affiliate. Solid business has always been built on relationships.

If your program utilizes any other key tools, such as a downloadable keyword list, article content, data feed or is listed on data feed aggregation sites, make sure to link to each of those tools and to highlight that link.

Last but not least, just to cover all the basics, I find it useful to cover important points in the affiliate agreement. Much of an affiliate agreement is boilerplate and standard, but the critical parts such as:

• PPC Rules
• Trademark Usage
• Email Restrictions

These are the points that probably differ from program to program, and are important for the affiliate to be fully aware of. Don’t assume an affiliate agreement is always read fully. Keep in mind that sticking in the whole affiliate agreement will probably ensure the newsletter does not get read. However perhaps just covering the key points in concise bullets will help.

A thorough and concise affiliate program welcome letter can be one of the strongest “arrows” in your affiliate program management quiver. We make sure to feature this important task in the launch service of our affiliate program management services for merchants.

An Affiliate Program Can Be A Competitive Advantage

A well-crafted and managed affiliate program will spread your brand to people who WILL be shopping for your product (or type of product) and are not familiar with your company. One of the largest categories of affiliate sites include coupon and deal sites. It’s an important strategic decision for an merchant to decide whether or not to offer coupons. Let’s address a couple of pro-coupon site points that can lead to a competitive advantage.

A potential customer surveying a coupon site for a deal on product XYZ could see your offering side by side with a competitor and decide to visit your site and perhaps check out additional products offered. Affiliates often times help close the sale with a dithering or indecisive customers through a coupon or deal.

Search affiliates (relying on paid search ads) also comprise a huge category of successful and popular affiliates. Again, this is a strategic decision a merchant must make, whether or not to allow search affiliates in the program (and if allowed what restrictions should be included in the affiliate program terms).

Allowing search affiliates can create a competitive advantage for your business. Who would refuse to have multiple points of contact with a customer and brand reinforcement for that customer? Searching for a product or information, and seeing your brand on several search listings (paid and natural), or on several different websites visited simply reinforces the “acceptance” and popularity or your offering.

A couple other affiliate categories include cash-back affiliates and review / content sites. Both of these sites can help expose your offerings to customers that are already shopping for your product and specifically looking for deals. Perhaps they’ve already joined a cash-back site from a previous purchase, so now this cash-back site is their first access point when shopping for something new.

Review / content sites are the holy grail of affiliate sites. Probably with the least on any “con” side for these affiliates, they generally don’t contribute the top sales in a program, but they are absolutely stellar for spreading the word about your brand and just promoting general content and “discussion” about your products and brand. Both of which I believe do help improve search results. After all if Google “sees” your business mentioned frequently, that should be adding the the importance of your search page ranking.

It’s important to understand the pros and cons for different affiliates, and fully understand how each can add to your competitive advantage. Working with an experienced affiliate manager that understands and aligns themselves with your strategic objectives is crucial. Consider getting in touch with an outsourced affiliate program management company when considering your options.