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Affiliates: what would you rather have: high price, high commission or low price, easy sell?

by DejanM
19 replies
Hi All,

I'm doing research for our new (subscription) product and since affiliates make or break the product, I'd like to know what do you prefer:
a) high price, high commission products (example: 97$/month and 75% commission)

OR

b) low price, easy(er) sell (example: 27$/month or 197$/year and 50%-60% commission).
Keep in mind the product will be unique in the marketplace so direct price comparisons are not possible (though there are always substitutes). I also understand that with a higher price we have to offer much more than with the lower.

Thanks you for your feedback!
#affiliates #commission #easy #high #low #price #sell
  • Profile picture of the author webstrategistpk
    Lower price will attract more interested buyer and will sell easily. So as an affiliate I will opt for lower price tag.
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    • Profile picture of the author onemind
      I would also pick lower price as an affiliate. Sometimes it's hard enough to push something at a low price even, the higher it goes the harder it is to sell and more people would think twice. But it also depends a lot on the product, what it's used for and what industry it is based in. Some professions are used to spending a lot of money.
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      • Profile picture of the author Wechito
        It depends on the product.
        If what you are selling is truly unique and valuable, go for the high price. However, doing it that way you will need first to have good reviews of your product, because people will not buy it by impulse.
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  • Profile picture of the author DejanM
    Thanks for the feedback.

    I know it mostly depends on the product, but I'm looking for general preference.

    Keep the comments coming.
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    • Profile picture of the author secrets2010
      high comissions and a high conversion....and if it has good conversion then high price product...
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  • Profile picture of the author Brad Spencer
    Not to burst your bubble but who says it can't be a high price, high commission, easy sale?

    I know many people who sell out 20-30 seats in a class for $1,000 on a simple webinar. It's all about credibility. For membership sites, if you deliver you can easily sell $97 a month into perpetuity.

    I have paid and have been paid in both situations so I know this is possible based on experience.

    Cheers,

    Brad
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  • Profile picture of the author Colin Theriot
    Higher commissions - as the affiliate, I can improve conversion through presale. Plus, I have a customer list who is capable of buying yet more expensive stuff.

    Lower commissions - no matter how good the sales copy is, it then becomes just a matter of numbers - and you need a LOT of sales to hit the commission rate of just one sale of a high-ticket item.

    My recommendation is that you always target on promoting the high-ticket stuff, but build a list with high quality free content. Use that list to test offers and parse out your high-ticket buyers and insulate them from the low ticket offers.

    Continually subject the list to this laddering where the free list buys something, it takes them out of that list and they move up to the next highest offer bracket, which includes better bonuses, more personal attention, better freebies, etc.

    Condition them that the more they spend, the more value they get exponentially from YOU because you sweeten the pot at each tier.

    Make sense?
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    Fair warning: It's possible I'm arguing with you because I have nothing better to do.
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    • Profile picture of the author PaulBaranowski
      Totally depends on the market man.

      For instance,for the back pain relief market,selling a $97 product is
      a breeze. Or,everything hypnosis related flies off the shelves quickly
      for $47-97. So,provided you have something unique offer and the market are hot buyers,i'd say the $47-97 is a good price range.

      Cheers
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    • Profile picture of the author Will Edwards
      Originally Posted by Colin Theriot View Post

      Higher commissions - as the affiliate, I can improve conversion through presale. Plus, I have a customer list who is capable of buying yet more expensive stuff.

      Lower commissions - no matter how good the sales copy is, it then becomes just a matter of numbers - and you need a LOT of sales to hit the commission rate of just one sale of a high-ticket item.

      My recommendation is that you always target on promoting the high-ticket stuff, but build a list with high quality free content. Use that list to test offers and parse out your high-ticket buyers and insulate them from the low ticket offers.

      Continually subject the list to this laddering where the free list buys something, it takes them out of that list and they move up to the next highest offer bracket, which includes better bonuses, more personal attention, better freebies, etc.

      Condition them that the more they spend, the more value they get exponentially from YOU because you sweeten the pot at each tier.

      Make sense?
      That's what I'm doing - I wish I had had this advice about 3 years ago.

      Listen-up!

      Will
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  • Profile picture of the author DejanM
    Brad: You're not bursting a bubble, I'm just gathering information. Thanks for your input.

    Colin: Thanks for the thorough comment, although I think you missed the point - I'm talking from the vendors perspective, not affiliates. Still, very useful.
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    • Profile picture of the author Colin Theriot
      Originally Posted by DejanM View Post

      Colin: Thanks for the thorough comment, although I think you missed the point - I'm talking from the vendors perspective, not affiliates. Still, very useful.
      As a vendor then, I'd recommend you create products with several accelerating break points. Because then as your affiliate channel sells people into the lower end, you can have your own back end mechanism to step them up the ladder (or make affiliate offers of your own to the people who don't buy upwards).
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      Fair warning: It's possible I'm arguing with you because I have nothing better to do.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kelly Verge
    I'd rather that the product owner do a little testing to find the optimum price point for the customer, rather than setting price based on affiliates' wants.
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    • Profile picture of the author Colin Theriot
      Originally Posted by Kelly Verge View Post

      I'd rather that the product owner do a little testing to find the optimum price point for the customer, rather than setting price based on affiliates' wants.
      Sure, and I'd like to have a suitcase full of money, too.

      A lot of times the product creator isn't going to have an appropriately large enough base to test this without the help of affiliates. And for companies in that position, the affiliates - the GOOD affiliates in the niche - are going to provide that valuable insight because they KNOW what the price points are.

      Good affiliates want the same thing as the product owner here - balancing maximum price with maximum conversion rate for maximum profit.

      Smart product owners will have affiliate managers who can work with their smart affiliates to discover this kind of info together, FASTER than either could alone.

      Note, this is pretty rare, as greed and fear of competition prevents people from sharing the necessary information. And who knows, they could be right.

      I digress - my original point was, it's nice to prefer the product owner do that, but often they need the support of affiliates before they can even start getting sufficient data to play with those things.
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      Fair warning: It's possible I'm arguing with you because I have nothing better to do.
      Join my free copywriting group on Facebook: http://CultOfCopy.com

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      • Profile picture of the author AdsenseBig
        I go for the high price, high commission if the product is somewhat able to me marketed using my list.
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        • Profile picture of the author Vogin
          Lower price and commissions "improve" your competitiveness - if you are as unique as you say, go for the higher price.
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      • Profile picture of the author Kelly Verge
        I guess I didn't phrase that right.

        I think the focus should be on the customer rather than affiliates. There should be a noticeable difference between a $27/mo and a $97/mo product. If there isn't, there are likely to be some short subscriptions (or extra-happy customers if it's under-priced).

        Now if this were early in the process and he'd create an offer around a price point, that would be a different story...



        Originally Posted by Colin Theriot View Post

        Sure, and I'd like to have a suitcase full of money, too.

        A lot of times the product creator isn't going to have an appropriately large enough base to test this without the help of affiliates. And for companies in that position, the affiliates - the GOOD affiliates in the niche - are going to provide that valuable insight because they KNOW what the price points are.

        Good affiliates want the same thing as the product owner here - balancing maximum price with maximum conversion rate for maximum profit.

        Smart product owners will have affiliate managers who can work with their smart affiliates to discover this kind of info together, FASTER than either could alone.

        Note, this is pretty rare, as greed and fear of competition prevents people from sharing the necessary information. And who knows, they could be right.

        I digress - my original point was, it's nice to prefer the product owner do that, but often they need the support of affiliates before they can even start getting sufficient data to play with those things.
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  • Profile picture of the author WillR
    As an affiliate and product owner, the price point that leads to the highest return per website visitor is what I'm looking for. As with everything else in the process this is something that needs to be tested. Sometimes the return per visitor of a product at a low-end price point can be improved by increasing the price. You need to test and find the sweet spot.
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  • Profile picture of the author WillR
    BTW, as an affiliate the most attractive to me would be a combination of the two. High commission, low price point (eg: 75% on a $37 product).
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  • Profile picture of the author DejanM
    Thank you all for the great input.

    We will also do some price testing, though that brings a lot of other problems.

    We're still early in the process and we're also thinking of a basic-premium subscription. So feedback on this is still very valuable.

    More feedback will be greatly appreciated.
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