How to easily set-up an affiliate program
Last week we talked about how you can become more visible by working with promotional partners. This is just a fancy term for people who promote you to
their audience.
We covered…
- How to find people to promote you
- How to approach them
- What to say when you meet
Today, I want to share how you can motivate your promotional partners to promote you by giving them a commission on clients they refer to you.
You can easily track their referrals by setting up an affiliate program.
If you’re a newer coach, you may wonder if having an affiliate program makes
sense for you. While I do consider affiliate programs a more advanced strategy, it’s actually quite easy to set-up and something you should think about even if you only have one promotional partner lined up.
How to set-up an affiliate program
1. Determine the commission rate
The rate you offer your affiliates will vary depending on the price tag of the program you’re selling. You will want to offer a different rate for a program that is $97 than a program that is $997. A good rule of thumb is to set a commission rate that will motivate your affiliates to take action. What is the amount that will motivate them to carve out time to send an email or post on social media?
While you may feel you are losing money, the truth is that people who come to you from affiliates never would have known about you otherwise. Think of the revenue you generate from affiliate sales as icing on the cake.
2. Set-up affiliate tracking technology
In order to pay your promotional partners a commission, you’ll need a way to track where your sales came from.
A low-cost service I recommend is E-junkie. While it’s not as robust as a shopping cart service, such as 1shoppingcart, it’s a great solution for many people and only costs $5/month for 10 products. And, you can use it with PayPal.
Using E-junkie, your promotional partners will sign-up as an affiliate. They will then receive a special URL to use to promote you and your program. When they send emails or post on social media, they’ll use their special link. When people click on their special link, it saves a cookie on their computer and tracks sales.
Important note: E-junkie does not support multi-pay options (2-pay, 3-pay, etc.) If you are offering a higher-priced program and you want your clients to be able to break up their payments, E-junkie is not the right solution for you.
3. Start by having your promotional partners promote a free offer.
You can maximize your relationship with affiliates by focusing on having them promote a free call/teleseminar or a free gift of yours.
How does this work?
Your affiliates will send an email to their list promoting your free offer. In that email, they will link directly to a squeeze page (also called a landing or opt-in page) where people can enter their name and email to register for your free call or opt-in to receive your free gift.
Why do I recommend this approach?
When an affiliate recommends your free stuff, you will find that their audience will be very responsive to the offer because you were recommended by someone they trust. (Of course this assumes that your free stuff speaks to a problem them want solved.)
People who don’t know you are much more likely to opt in to something that is free than to immediately pay for your services.
As you have new people joining your list, you have an opportunity to build trust with them and showcase yourself as an expert in your field.
You will find that some people will want to buy from you right away, and others will hang out on your list for several months or more before they are ready to buy.
Your promotional partners can certainly promote you and your programs directly, but I suggest they first promote something that’s free.
- Make it easy for your affiliates to promote you.
Your affiliates are busy, just like you and me. Make it super easy for affiliates to promote your program. You can make it easy for them by…
- Making all of your communication extremely clear and succinct.
- Providing them with pre-written emails and social media posts they can simply copy and paste.
- Inserting their unique affiliate URL into the pre-written copy you provide.
- Sending them reminders along the way.
Now I’d love to hear from you.
Are you considering setting up an affiliate program? I’d love to hear what you’re having them promote. Do you already have an affiliate program in place? Let us know what’s worked well for you.
