Defeating Dredded Spammers- Or trying ?

[gocardusa]

Hi! I'm Shannon and I work for Smart Destinations, makers and marketers of the Go Card, a prepaid pass that gets travelers unlimited admission to top attractions for one low price.

Right now we are in the process of trying to strengthen our affiliate program (we're a small company so unfortunately this program has not been fed the much needed attention it deserves until recently). However, since I'm partly in charge of keeping our loyal affiliates happy, and looking to learn more about what other companies and patrons are doing in affiliates programs--here I am!

I would really like to learn more about how other affiliate managers deal with unwanted or undesirable canidates who sign up for their program. Before I took half the reigns (the other half belongs to my boss) the company was miniscule so they didn't have time to pay attention to the calibur of thier affiliates. What I mean to say was there were quite a few spammers on the list. What can I do to prevent this? Should I personally call each affiliate, e-mail, in these precious beginning stages how should we proceeed?

Shannon Bullard
Marketing Intern
Smart Destinations, Inc
sbullard@smartdestinations.com

[Linda Buquet]

Hi Shannon,

Welcome to WPW.

Tricky spot to be in. Can you tell who the spammers are? You know you are responsible and can get fined if an affiliate spams? Even if the program has been running on auto-pilot without any clear cut rules, affiliates should know not to send spam. You can send a newsletter to all re-inforcing your no spam policy and decline the most blatant offenders. If you have some good partners that are spamming, maybe call them personally and let them know you want to keep them, but one more strike and they are out.

Hope this helps and best of luck!