Some years ago, Keyen Farrell authored a guide to incentive selling titled Mastering Incentive Websites. In it, Keyen Farrell shared his observations of the industry and detailed the steps he took to form Topaz Financial, a network of Incentive Websites that ultimately drove additional than 100,000 advertiser actions. Topaz Financial was conjointly chronicled in the Spring 2006 Issue of Colby Magazine. As we head into a replacement decade, Keyen Farrell needs to share 2 pieces of advice that he hopes those who currently are in or aspire to be in incentive promoting, could find useful. Free Trials are The New Leads Several years ago there was no shortage of advertisers wanting to partner with incentive marketers on a pay-per-lead basis. It's readily apparent that the pay-per-lead has gone the manner of the dodo. The few pay-per lead programs that remain grant payouts well below what is required to actively promote them. Pay-per-lead offers have invariably been the incentive marketer's Holy Grail since they permit conversion rates that are many times those of pay-per-sale affiliate programs. Furthermore, pay-per-lead programs provide more consistency than pay-per-sale programs since the payouts are mounted instead of a percentage of a final sale. Mounted payouts are always more engaging to users and convert at a considerably higher rate. It ought to come back as no surprise that within the Incentive marketing space, what matters at the tip of the day is conversion rate. Each component of an Incentive Web site, from the visitor funnel to the individual offers should be tuned to drive the highest conversion rate and ultimately the very best revenue per visitor. In 2005 we experienced conversion rates as high as 20% on certain pay-per-lead offers. As true pay-per-lead opportunities (think lead generation) have evaporated, a connected model remains a viable source of conversions: free trials. Most clearly, free trials involve no immediate money outlay from users, lifting conversion rates. Secondly, the purchase funnel is much shorter and additional direct than nearly all pay-per sale funnels. Free trials are an supply type where the merchant's goals are directly aligned with yours. The difficulty with pay-per-sale affiliate programs is that the purchase funnel is long and can be downright confusing to the user. Several pay-per-sale affiliate links will direct users to a landing page that's either irrelevant or too high in the acquisition funnel. This is typically an intentional merchant tactic since not all sales or actions may be required to get affiliate payouts. You ought to continuously scan the fine print within the terms of each pay-per-sale affiliate agreement. Free trials are a key strategy to keep your incentive promoting competitive this decade, and as models of digital media distribution continue to evolve, the opportunities will only grow. Don't Go In-House If the volume of actions you drive becomes vital, it's a lot of than likely that the merchant will seek to bring your relationship in-house. Removing the affiliate network from the equation leads to deep and immediate cost savings for your merchant partner - since affiliate networks charge merchants as much as 30% of every completed action, merchants can happily bump up your payout as an incentive to lure you in-house. My recommendation is simple: Don't do it. Whereas the prospect of upper payouts might seem alluring, in-house relationships will be fraught with trouble even among the foremost reputable merchant sets. Affiliate networks offer a valuable service to you by acting as a powerful intermediary. If you've got gone in-house and a merchant decides to bilk you, there's no recourse. The merchant is solely risking your relationship. In fact, if you have got a blowout month in which you are owed a massive commission check, an unscrupulous merchant might simply decide that the risk of losing your referrals is worth stiffing you on the check. In an affiliate network, this merchant's actions would jeopardize their relationship with that network's entire affiliate base. Sensible networks can de-activate deadbeat merchants and fight for you if you have been wronged. Some merchants can reverse or cancel more transactions than they ought to, and the network is a valuable arbiter of such disputes. You'll probably realize that your network is raring to lend their ear when you have got issues. They recognize that the integrity of the network rests on a high quality publisher and merchant base. You cannot have a high quality network without both. And do not forget, the network gets paid when you are doing! Thus when the phone rings from your prime payer's affiliate manager, say yes to the free schwag, however say no to going in-house! Source From http://www.keyenfarrell.com/articles/useful-tips-for-incentive-marketing/
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