Hello once more Ask Kirsty fans! I had a question that I thought a lot of people might find interesting from Peter earlier this month…
I have a site which has been growing for some time now and I am thinking of negotiating for more commission. I was wondering if you have ever done that and if you have any tips? Like do you negotiate with the affiliate network or the merchant itself? Also, I know this might be quite relative but what is a good indicator that you are driving enough sales to warrant asking for more commission?
I think a lot of people make the mistake of thinking they have to be earning a certain amount to actually ask for more money. The thing is, if you wait until you’re doing really well with a merchant what you might find is that they then want you to do even more before they’re prepared to give you an increase. The approach can be either made via network or direct to merchant.
There are two scenarios in which I ask a merchant for more money.
1. If I think I could drive decent volume to them (it’s a really good motivator too) and 2. If I am already driving volume to a competitor of theirs and already know their conversion rates are similar (and wish to switch allegiance!).
I think the best thing to do is approach a merchant as soon as you believe you will be able to work well and generate some decent volume with them. Simply ask if they might be open to offering enhanced commission rates for agreed performance targets.
If you have some idea of how much in the way of sales you might be able to push to them that might be a good negotiating tool. If not, just ask what it would take for them to give you an enhanced tier structure or some kind of bonus system.
It might surprise you how many merchants are open to this kind of proactive approach from an affiliate.
Apart from anything else, the worst thing that can happen is you’ll get a polite no!
June 26th, 2009 at 2:01 pm
Its always worth an ask.
Im on a cracking deal with Betfair. The way I approached it was… I told them BetDAQ were interested in become my main bookie (on a betting site of mine, that requires a betting exchange as the main bookie) for £XX cpa. Betfair then agreed to up my cpa. A few months later they dropped the standard cpa from £25 to £10. Im lucky enough to still be sitting on the enhanced (better than £25!) cpa today, and it was just because I had the balls to ask.
so just ask!!!
June 27th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
Not 100% sure but think that the question quoted was one that i asked you so thought i would give an update as to how your advice helped.
We contacted an alternative merchant and agreed a higher commission than the current deal with our current merchant and then called our affiliate manager who almost straight away agreed the increase to match the competitor. No changes to our content or site just higher commissions – exactly what we wanted!
Thanks for your advice.
p.s. Congrads on your A4U blogging award – well deserved!
June 28th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
Sorry Kirsty,
Commented yesterday that this was a my question which it appears not to be, however i did ask you something very similar. Joined twitter yesterday, you have one more follower! (don’t really understand it yet though!)
June 29th, 2009 at 7:07 am
Hello Sam, Not a problem. I’m only sorry I didn’t reply to you at the time – sincere apologies. I do try and reply to everyone but at times it gets beyond me.
Thanks for posting your story about the commission negotiations. It does go to show that merchants are approachable in these issues.
June 29th, 2009 at 8:24 am
Thanks for the information. I hadn’t thought of the competitor angle.
June 29th, 2009 at 10:09 am
Hi Kirsty i have just discovered that i actually asked my question as a comment on your blog (not an email) – to which you did reply. (from growing your affiliate income section)
@ Sam – I’d just go to the merchant and say there are others who can provide a slightly higher EPC for your traffic but you’d really like to stay with them because you have a good relationship with them and would they mind considering giving you an enhanced commission level. If you’re one of their top affiliates they’ll seriously consider it and will probably award you more if they are able to!
Thank you for your advice!
June 29th, 2009 at 10:19 am
That’s good then Sam! I remember that now, I thought your name was a little bit familiar (your surname’s quite unusual!). I’m glad that you managed to effectively negotiate an increase… something I should remember to do a little more of myself!
July 9th, 2009 at 4:17 pm
Hi everybody,
Just a quick add-on (from my experience in the software niche) – sometimes the vendor may use some extra benefits of his affiliate program instead of increasing the affiliate commission.
Examples include:
- offering the option of generating discounts for products from the affiliate’s commission in order to grow sales and, thus, earn more from commissions;
- crediting the affiliate for subscription-based products (residual income). This can also “compensate” the growth in commission;
- giving the affiliate a direct bonus in his account, sometimes even on a regular basis. This way, the vendor has more control over the money the affiliates get from him.
Of course, these features may or may not be available in the vendor’s affiliate program, depending on the platform he uses.
Bottom line – like Kirsty said – when asking for a higher commission, a polite “no” is the worst you can get.
July 20th, 2009 at 10:45 am
[...] so before I headed off on my jollies it sort of occurred to me that I don’t often Take My Own Advice and ask merchants for an enhanced commission structure. It further occurred to me that [...]