Top 4 Affiliate Program Technologies I Am Recommending to My Retail Merchant Clients

by Sarge on Saturday, June 13th, 2009 | No Comments

When beginning a relationship with a client I am always asked: “What affiliate tracking programs do you recommend?”

It’s a little like asking what car do you like to drive: “Ah the good old days before kids… when I could put the top down on my Porsche and I would go blasting around town…”

But I’m not dreaming and clients need succinct and thoughtful answers that show that I understand the market and I understand their needs and that I can recommend a solution that fits their retail product line and expectations for a return on investment (ROI).

As an affiliate program manger for 7 years, I have a substantial amount of experience with virtually every major affiliate program marketing, management and tracking technology. Basically I have found that I am recommending the same solutions over and over again.

So to streamline the decision making process I created a pricing specification sheet for my client’s use, as follows:

Affiliate Technology Options*

Commission Junction*

• $2,250 setup fee

• $3,000 prepaid commission

• Monthly: 30% of affiliate payout or $500 whichever is greater

• Market to 1.5M affiliates

Share Sale*

• $350 setup fee

• $100 prepaid commission

• Monthly: 20% of the affiliate payout or $25 whichever is greater

• Market to 200,000 affiliates

Direct Track*

• $995 setup fee

• $100 a month for bandwidth

• No commission payout to Direct Track

• No affiliate marketing provided

AvantLink (New)*

• Datafeed conversion to search engine friendly RSS feed which affiliates can customize- very smart technology and great customer and affiliate support

• $500 setup fee

• $500 escrow commission

• Monthly: 3% commission

• Market to 500 high value affiliates

From this point in the discussion I tell the client: “Affiliate programs are marathons not sprints. Plan for the long-term, learn in the short term.” If they are receptive to this approach then I know I can bring them a solution that matches their goals.

* These pricing models are representative of the current prices at the time this article was written and are subject to change at any time by the affiliate tracking companies with no notice.