The Ins and Outs of Lead Caps on Campaigns

Many affiliate marketers have experienced the recent trend of lead caps on campaigns. A hot new offer is launched within a network, with a specific number of leads rationed out to affiliates per day. The capping of a campaign can be frustrating to large volume publishers, who can easily exceed their allotted leads. However, lead caps are beneficial (and argumentatively necessary) for the long term success of all parties involved.

Caps and Opportunity:

Affiliates are facing campaign caps on a more regular basis. For marketers who produce big volume, promoting an offer with a cap means switching links once their portion of daily leads has been satisfied. This fad is seen predominately in the PPC realm and actually creates a huge opportunity for affiliates to test different offers.

Testing alternative campaigns not only alleviates complacency, but it also enables the potential of discovering an equally or better converting deal. For affiliates, this means the ability to run several strong performing campaigns over a longer period of time, which directly relates to increased revenue.

Keep in mind, an affiliate-network relationship is a partnership, where each member depends upon the other for success. Lead caps provide the opportunity for publishers to prove their worth to a network. When presented with a campaign that is capped, a network is clearly including the affiliate on an exclusive and sensitive circumstance. View your appointed space on the offer as a favorable way to affirm your reliability and loyalty to a trusted network!

Networks reward your loyalty:

A network’s duty is to work with the advertiser to ensure they have product, as well as create a streamline process that guarantees the end customers' happiness. Capping leads is the most efficient way to ensure all of the above. Not only will it ensure customer satisfaction, but it is also a strategy used to ensure that affiliates are paid promptly.

It is important to note that networks assume all risk when it comes to speedier payment terms (especially if a partner is new to affiliate marketing and has no established credit line), since the network is paying the affiliate prior to being paid by the advertiser.

Networks should do their due diligence to obtain feedback from the publisher to ultimately maximize their landing page. When the lead cap is lifted, networks should reward those affiliates on the cap by giving them first stab at the unlimited promotion of the offer.

Understanding caps:

Rolling an offer out slowly is essential for the scalability of a campaign and for the success of an advertiser. For instance, an offer is launched with a 1,000 lead cap this week and a 1,500 lead cap next week, etc. This allows the advertiser to ensure accurate inventory, plan for cash flow, as well as handle the amount of volume a network can deliver per week.

The recent trend of lead caps on campaigns is a wise strategy for a long and successful life of an offer. Offer caps yield better customer satisfaction rates, prompt payment, higher earning potential for affiliates over time, as well as scalability and success for the advertiser.

New Year, New Mailers, Same Mistakes

In any business venture, you should begin with the end in mind. For email marketers, the end goal is to execute a successful email campaign. For those new to the email marketing industry it is important to know “what works” in order to achieve such success. The first step for new mailers is to become fully acclimated with the Can-Spam Act (This will save you headaches and possible litigation!) Unfortunately, there is no rule book or law which leads to the ultimate success of an email campaign. Seasoned email marketers achieve a favorable outcome through old fashioned trial and error, marketing research and strategic list segmentation. Below are several bloopers, blunders, and impractical errors that newbie’s of email marketing should be sure to avoid.

No permission to Send Mail- Sending mail to users who have not opted to receive campaigns is a violation of the Can Spam Act. Whether they remember signing up or not, you must first get permission to mail to users. A great way to do this is through a newsletter offered on your site. Allow the user to receive promotions based on their individual interests. For example, “Sign up for our daily health newsletter” is a great way to find users to market diet offer towards. This is also a great way to begin segmenting your list and gain insight into the interests of your users. In the long run, you will see solid customer retention!

No Clear Unsubscribe Link- Unsubscribe links should be clearly defined on each email offering. Just as you need user’s permission to send mail to their inbox, you also need to provide them a way to opt out from receiving any further promotions. The unsubscribe link is a necessity. Be mindful, that once a user requests to opt out from receiving promotions that they are removed from your list or added to a suppression file for that specific advertiser.

Not Testing the Promotion- An offer may have several Creatives and variations of Subject Lines. How do you know which will be the most effective for your list? Sending a test drop to track the best converting creative and subject line is a lesson any new mailer does not want to learn the hard way. Some marketers like to depend on their account representatives for this information, which is fine. Keep in mind that it is important to test in order to learn what the specific individuals on your list respond to.

Not Redirecting links- A common mistake for new mailers is keeping affiliate links. Any successful mailer with tell you that redirecting the affiliate link is a wise way to ensure deliverability and add credibility to a product or campaign.

Not Analyzing Reports- It is crucial to check stats! Most mailers check stats up to the minute and constantly learn from their reports. EPC is an important metric, but you can learn more than simply how much commission you can expect to earn. When you efficiently optimize based on the data you have collected, a successful email campaign will be in your reach.

Diversify Today

The old saying: “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket” may be a cliché but has withstood the test of time for good reason. Risk management techniques of diversification are an important strategy for savvy business people to implement in any industry. When it comes to internet marketing, spreading risk over many programs, campaigns, and investments is a necessity for every entrepreneur in the coop.

People like Options:

My marketing background and persistent curiosity has me constantly polling friends, family members, and anyone whom I come into contact with about a variety of interests. My “research” has proven that, from small to large decisions, people like options! From an affiliate program standpoint, it is advantageous to have multiple recommendations for any given product or service. Options allow business affiliates the opportunity to compare creatives, landingpages, payouts, and any other aspect of a program. Diversifying affiliate programs is a great way to not only spread risk but more notably, increase the opportunity for success.

The Next Big Thing:

When one affiliate program becomes the current success, the idea is to promote this campaign in as many distribution channels as possible for as long as it is advantageous. It is critical for all participants to keep in mind that this sizzling campaign has an expiration date. From the affiliate manager’s point of view, diversifying the reach of other offers is crucial at this time. The trigger for this transition is not always easily determined. Ideally, the push for the next big thing should take place at the height of the current program’s profitability. The key to this push is two-fold. Spreading the reach of new offers allows affiliate managers to find that next hot market trend way ahead of the curve. Plus it provides a smooth transition from the current buzz offer to the next slamming campaign.

Valuation:

Diversification is not only important from an affiliate program or manager aspect, but more importantly from the affiliate’s perspective. Having a multifarious promotion strategy allows an affiliate to create value for a specific campaign by highlighting its value in comparison to other similar type offers. Whether the user selects the highlighted offer or the comparison campaigns, they both equate to dollar signs in the form of conversions for the affiliate.

Whether you are creating, distributing, or promoting affiliate programs, diversification is a technique that all parties will benefit from. A multiple stimulus strategy is the best way to ensure lucrative results. By spreading your eggs to several baskets, you can reach the various consumer communities growing at an exponential pace every day.