How long does it take to get it off the ground?

[eCommn]

Just fishing for comments from veteran affiliate managers out there...

How long does it take for an affiliate program to take off the ground in terms of affiliates sign ups and sales increase?

What is the reasonable expectation?

[Linda Buquet]

Hi eCommn,

Even if you were on one the big networks like CJ it takes 6 months to really begin to see some good results. If you are an Indie without a seasoned manager, pro-active recruiting and connections to super affiliates it can take much longer. Many managers think if they just launch a program the sales will come, but it takes a lot of time and the right kinds of effort to build a successful program.

90% of affiliates that join will not sell very much and many of those won't even put up your banners, so it's a matter of finding the 5-10% who will really get behind your program and that can take lots of time to find and cultivate those relationships on your own. There are ways to jumpstart the process of course ;-)

Anyone else have any ideas or feedback on this question?

[anthonyl]

Well I am not a veteran yet, but I suspect I am going through similar pains seasoned AMs would have gone through.
What you also want to ensure is that your creatives and site converts.
If your conversion rate is low then you can't keep affiliates if they provide high referrals for low conversions.

[rybo]

6 months seems like a good period of time to allow before assessing what's going well and what isn't.

I set up our program around 10 months ago and it's now accounting for just over 40% of our business - but I work at it 3-5 hours a day!

As has been reported, you're lucky if 5% of your affiliates get behind your service/product, so I find myself working hard to:

1. Increase the number of affiliates subscribing to our program.
2. Support those that are working hard.
3. Keep in contact with those that aren't backing the service to the extent that they could.

I try and locate companies/people that I think will get behind our service - but there's really no telling who will and who won't.

Keep putting in the effort and the rewards will come...

Anthony

[eCommn]

Thank you for the feedback. 6 months is about right from my experience. Anyone has access to industry statistics?