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The problem with some affiliate marketers in the IM niche...

by 4DayWeekend
6 replies
I'm currently selling a low ticket item for $9.97 in the IM Niche.

Note: This isn't a WSO or linked in my sig. So this thread isn't promotional.

When the product first came out it was selling for $37. It is probably still worth every penny of that, but I'm no longer offering support so I decided to drop the price to $9.97 primarily as a list builder. After all, that price point still offers great value but still only attracts serious people (and I prefer those on my list).

I kept the affiliate payment at 50% which is the same percentage payment that affiliates received when the product was $37. To be honest I never really thought about changing the affiliate payment % at all...

Now I recently received an e-mail from an affiliate marketer that read something like this...

"I have a list of over 10,000 that would love the product but at 50% it isn't worth me mailing out. I will make more money mailing out for something else. If you can make the payout 100% I will mail for you right now. Lots of people will buy and become lifetime customers"

I did change the affiliate payment - purely because the income wasn't as important from this product as building my buyers list.

But that doesn't change the fact that the mindset of this marketer was all wrong. If I hadn't agreed he would've mailed a product to his list that by his own admission, wouldn't of been as "loved" by his subscribers.

If you are that marketer or operate a similar mindset - my advice is be careful. I've noticed an uptrend in discussions on forums where people are unsubscribing from lists that they've been on for years because the marketers are mailing them promoting junk products.

Mailing for any old junk might give you a better payment today - but promoting quality products that are useful for your list will stop them from hitting that unsubscribe button!
#affiliate #marketers #niche #problem
  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Originally Posted by 4DayWeekend View Post

    the mindset of this marketer was all wrong.
    It doesn't seem that way to me.

    Originally Posted by 4DayWeekend View Post

    If I hadn't agreed he would've mailed a product to his list that by his own admission, wouldn't of been as "loved" by his subscribers.
    I see no such "admission" in what you've said he said. (Maybe he said that separately and you didn't quote it?)

    Originally Posted by 4DayWeekend View Post

    I've noticed an uptrend in discussions on forums where people are unsubscribing from lists that they've been on for years because the marketers are mailing them promoting junk products.
    How did "junk products" get into this conversation? Are you assuming that if he's promoted something other than your own product, it would necessarily have been "junk"? Big assumption there, perhaps?

    If I were selling a $37 product on 50% commission, it's not too likely that I'd be willing to continue promoting it at under $10 if the vendor suddenly dropped the price and left the commission at 50%. It wouldn't be worth my while. I'd probably either drop the product like a stone (and the ability to do that, if/when vendors suddenly pull the rug out from under your high-heeled feet, is of course one of the great advantages of affiliate marketing), or contact you and say roughly what your affiliate said.

    I certainly wouldn't promote "junk" instead, and wouldn't be too happy with a vendor who assumed that that would be my preferred alternative.
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    • Profile picture of the author 4DayWeekend
      Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

      I see no such "admission" in what you've said he said. (Maybe he said that separately and you didn't quote it?)
      I didn't quote his e-mail word for word. In fact, I just typed that up to give a general feel for the e-mail. But in the actual e-mail itself, it was reflected that the alternative product would not of been as useful to his list. Maybe my quote is a poor reflection of that.

      Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

      How did "junk products" get into this conversation? Are you assuming that if he's promoted something other than your own product, it would necessarily have been "junk"? Big assumption there, perhaps?
      I was just generalising here that if people promote products purely on the $'s they will make then it is likely there will be some junk in there. On this occasion I have no idea if the alternative product was junk (I'd never heard of it) - although the impression from the e-mail was that it wasn't as valuable to his list as mine.

      Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

      If I were selling a $37 product on 50% commission, it's not too likely that I'd be willing to continue promoting it at under $10 if the vendor suddenly dropped the price and left the commission at 50%. It wouldn't be worth my while. I'd probably either drop the product like a stone, or contact you and say roughly what your affiliate said. I certainly wouldn't promote "junk" instead, and wouldn't be too happy with a vendor who assumed that that would be my preferred alternative.
      Excellent point. Upon reflection, I would've given affiliates 100% from the offset. I never thought about it because affiliates were never responsible for driving many buyers to the product anyway.

      My point is that this marketers who are mailing recommendations to their list should do so with the value to that list in mind. Rather than only the value to their back pocket.
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      • Profile picture of the author SP ESP
        Originally Posted by 4DayWeekend View Post


        My point is that this marketers who are mailing recommendations to their list should do so with the value to that list in mind. Rather than only the value to their back pocket.
        There are marketers who look after the interests of their subscribers and those who repeatedly send junk just to make a quick buck. There always will be both and you'll never change that.

        All you can do is make sure you look after your people, work on your good reputation and then the folks who are p***ed off at being sent junk will come to you.
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  • Profile picture of the author 4DayWeekend
    Originally Posted by Chris Kent View Post

    Why should he promote your product if he'll make a measly $5 per sale when there are others offering double, triple, quadruple, and are just as good as yours, if not better?

    Higher $ commission doesn't mean lower quality.
    I agree entirely... If the marketer in question can find a product that is a worthy recommendations to his list that pays him a better commission, of course he should mail for said product.

    However providing value to the list should be higher priority than just the $$$'s in my opinion.
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  • Profile picture of the author Will Edwards
    I don't see the guy's mindset as wrong either. After all, he gave you an opportunity to capture a slice of his list - some people would pay for that.

    Boing ... boing!

    Will
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