Keeping affiliates up to date

[pariurisportive]

Hi Dean and thanks for the question - it is really great to see that affiliate managers are looking for affiliates opinion.

Let me share a few of my thoughts:
- email is a must, but try to build on top of that with personal emails (at least for your top affiliates) and with special offers. You may also see how many people read the newsletter and what is interesting for them to better adapt the newsletter. (now the email marketing techniques allow all that)
- always ask for feedback, in no matter what format/resource you send the information
- send the message at least 2 days before the offer will go live, as some of us need to translate this in our own language or to present it in a friendly way, not just to copy&paste what you've been sending us. (actually I am not your affiliate, so I am speaking generally)
- always announce in advance on issues you are planning and give the *right* information (I was terrible frustrated with one of my bookies that I've promoted heavily for more than 5 years and I've asked him a number of times to let me know at least one month in advance if they launch a mobile version. Of course, they've let me knew after it was launched).
- ah! and always have a version of your newsletter on your website - don't post a promotion just on Facebook or other networks (I just hate that )

Hope that helps!

[Crazyrewards-Morten]

It is something that we wonder about as well at Crazy rewards - Because what is the optimal way to do it?

As Anthony says it very quickly turns into a focus on competing for the affiliates attention in the inbox, and I personally don't think that is the best way to do it.
Yes, we want you to read our newsletters and emails, but we do also not want to send an email to often, so I think (hope) that the change we have made to the setup now is a "better" way of doing it. We obviously wouldn't write about things, if we didn't consider them relevant - but I am also sure that there's a gap between what we find interesting and what all affiliates find interesting.

Currently we have changed the setup so we onwards will publish news (as they happen) on the Crazy Rewards blog and make sure to share it across our social media channels such as G+, Facebook, Twitter plus GPWA and other forums.
In the newsletter we then include the most relevant/important content by presenting it short and linking to the blog post, where anyone can read more about it - if they are interested.

We hope that this will also help us learn what you guys find interesting by looking at the traffic data for our blog posts.

You can BTW see the latest newsletter here

Definitely email. But only when there's something worth saying - ie: a decent offer (not just 'double comp points' etc..).

Something else to consider (which you guys do well actually) is the timing of the emails. If you have an offer for a game that starts at 8pm, don't send it over at 5pm the same day. Likewise if you have a longer running promo that starts on Monday, don't tell us about it on Monday afternoon.

I think 48+ hours is ideal, but 24 hours notice is fine for most things. Anything less than that and it's a bit of a crap shoot as to whether or not it gets covered.

This is also a very valid point. While Baldidiot is referring to betting promos I also think it is a very relevant thing to look at in terms of casino promotions. Right now we're aiming at being able to inform everybody about and have everything ready for upcoming promotions ~2 weeks in advance - What is your take on that plan?

[ocreditor]

Another great article about communication ways:
http://mashable.com/2013/08/19/user-messaging/

[-Shay-]

This is also a very valid point. While Baldidiot is referring to betting promos I also think it is a very relevant thing to look at in terms of casino promotions. Right now we're aiming at being able to inform everybody about and have everything ready for upcoming promotions ~2 weeks in advance - What is your take on that plan?

Aside from late payments and stats that are delayed without disclosure in advance, the thing that irks me most is when main promotions are changed without notice - or with notice after the fact. If I notice before I'm informed, I am irritated.

I guess all of the above can go back to communication and keeping us up to date. If stats are down, put a message on the stats page. If a promo is changed, notify us via the affiliate backend when it goes live AND by email a week or two in advance.

If payment is going to be late, I expect an email BEFORE the due date.

I typically complain publicly if the above are not honoured. One could argue that I owe it to the programs we work with to handle it privately, but in my mind - they have forfeited that privilege by not reaching out to me in advance (regarding late payment, stats issues, or a change in bonus offer.

Bottom line, -shay- has nothing but nice things to say as long as programs communicate properly.

[Voids]

Bottom line, -shay- has nothing but nice things to say as long as programs communicate properly.

That tickled me! Everyone benefits from better communication.

[ocreditor]

Bottom line, -shay- has nothing but nice things to say as long as programs communicate properly.

I can only add this to all the programz out there (yes, you know whom we are talking about here... )
before you search for a way how to better "communi(que)" check you know first how to communicate !

[tehsik]

skype is the best method ....

[casinobonusguy]

Email is our preferred contact method but I am finding it is impossible to reply to every program email out there so we keep them in a separate mailbox to view when we are looking for new programs to work with.what gets on my nerves are the pushy sales type that do not understand the word no.

[Jokerman99]

I'm old skool and prefer email too. I hate when an affiliate manager adds me out of the blue on Skype. It's the Skype equivalent of a cold call. And nobody enjoys cold calls....

[eaton2003]

The best thing to communicate with affiliates is through email, possibly have a Facebook page as well. When contacting through email only do it on real must announcements rather than every time a new casino game is added or minor change occurs.

[baldidiot]

This is also a very valid point. While Baldidiot is referring to betting promos I also think it is a very relevant thing to look at in terms of casino promotions. Right now we're aiming at being able to inform everybody about and have everything ready for upcoming promotions ~2 weeks in advance - What is your take on that plan?

Yep, same goes for casino. And two weeks notice is great, but I'm fine with it just being a couple of days - besides, it probably wouldn't go onto the list until nearer the time anyway.

[Crazyrewards-Morten]

Yep, same goes for casino. And two weeks notice is great, but I'm fine with it just being a couple of days - besides, it probably wouldn't go onto the list until nearer the time anyway.

Well - I'm sure that all affiliates would technically be able to put promotions on their website with a couple of days notice just as well as I'm able to do most things with a couple of days notice.

But that's only when you look at it as an isolated incident - The reason we're trying to get the message out earlier is so our affiliates - as you touch upon a bit - are able to put it on their list of things to do, when they expect to have the time.
But maybe two weeks is too early and it'll be forgotten

[tryme]

Email is definitely the best method, but I guess what the OP is really asking is 'how do we get our affiliates to actually read what we're sending'.

For me, this works: Use either your company name (Ie: Coral Connect Affiliates) or - if you must - your own real name in the from line.

The subject line 'XYZ Affiliates Newsletter' always works for me in terms of getting me to open the email. It may sound lame as a subject line but it works because I'm intrigued enough to take a look in case there's something in the email that would be useful or relevant to me.

The other thing I like is having the actual newsletter as either a link or attachment. That way I can open it and save or bookmark it and don't have to keep messing around looking in my emails when I'm actually adding to or updating my websites.

The final thing is to send the email at as close to the same time on the same day of every week (or every other week - the key thing is to get a schedule and stick to it).

Oh and as everyone else has already said: please give me enough time to actually add a promotion if you include it!

[-Shay-]

The word "important" is oh so very subjective. If I receive an email that programs have dubbed "important" and I decide it is not - I will never open another "important" email from your program.

If there's a change in bonus offers, or something time sensitive, that = important. If telling me everything is the same, then it is totally not "important"

#justsayin

[baldidiot]

Ideally the subject should be descriptive - so if you are changing your welcome bonus say so in the subject. Likewise if you have an offer you want to push mention it in the subject. Ie: 'New Welcome Bonus As Of xxx' or 'Free In Play Bet On Arsenal v Liverpool' etc..

I very rarely open/read "newsletter" type emails as they are generally just full of bumpf. Shay also makes a good point about only marking important emails as important.

[tryme]

Ideally the subject should be descriptive - so if you are changing your welcome bonus say so in the subject. Likewise if you have an offer you want to push mention it in the subject. Ie: 'New Welcome Bonus As Of xxx' or 'Free In Play Bet On Arsenal v Liverpool' etc..

I very rarely open/read "newsletter" type emails as they are generally just full of bumpf. Shay also makes a good point about only marking important emails as important.

That's interesting. I very rarely open emails with the kind of descriptive subject lines you like. Unless, of course, the subject line is specifically about something I may be directly interested in at the time.

That may sound obvious and a good thing, but it isn't necessarily the case.

Take your 'Free In Play Bet on Arsenal v Liverpool' subject line as an example. I wouldn't open that email unless I was looking to add the 'free bet' promotion. However, it could be that there is other stuff of interest in that particular email that is not mentioned in the subject line. In that case, I'm not going to see it.

That's why I prefer 'newletter' subject lines. Horses for courses, I guess.

[baldidiot]

That's interesting. I very rarely open emails with the kind of descriptive subject lines you like. Unless, of course, the subject line is specifically about something I may be directly interested in at the time.

That may sound obvious and a good thing, but it isn't necessarily the case.

Take your 'Free In Play Bet on Arsenal v Liverpool' subject line as an example. I wouldn't open that email unless I was looking to add the 'free bet' promotion. However, it could be that there is other stuff of interest in that particular email that is not mentioned in the subject line. In that case, I'm not going to see it.

That's why I prefer 'newletter' subject lines. Horses for courses, I guess.

That's why I like it - you don't even need to open the email to know if its of interest. So if it's a free bet and you don't do sports, you can just ignore it.

Of course you mention missing other things in the same email, but I kind of meant that the description should cover everything, or at least the key points.

[universal4]

Well - I'm sure that all affiliates would technically be able to put promotions on their website with a couple of days notice

What if they work Monday through Friday, and can only devote time to their sites on the weekends and you tell them about a promo or special on Sunday night and the special starts on Thursday?

The sooner the better.

Rick
Universal4

[-Shay-]

I logged in today at Joy of Bingo and what I saw immediately caused me to think of this discussion thread.

Recently, Joy of Bingo has been making GREAT use of their messaging system to communicate the latest news regarding their affiliate program.

For example, there was concern that payments were going to be late. Instead of causing us affiliate types to wonder or worry, they announced via their messaging system that payments were expected to be delayed along with an apology. Payments are "due" from them by the 28th. However, they typically pay between the 15th and 20th.

Anyway, they communicated the possibility of a delay via the messaging system, so that when I log in to check my stats, I immediately knew there might be issues with payment BEFORE there were issues. 100% acceptable and spot on!

They have already paid by the way, so well done.

Today, they announced via their messaging system that they are making changes to their affiliate team and provided information on the new affiliate manager(s). Again, well done! I prefer hearing about this BEFORE the new guy contacts us because usually it is "Hi, I'm so and so... let's talk about getting me more exposure" and I'm thinking "who the f are you?" At least now I know that someone new should be contacting me and I am also armed with the information to reach out to them.

Anyway, my point - I check stats daily and I suspect most do as well. Why not use the messaging system that is present in most affiliate software packages to communicate time sensitive and important issues?

[universal4]

Good point shay, but I do not think that the messaging system alone is enough.

What about affiliates that do not check stats daily?
What about affiliates that use stats remote?
What about affiliates that have taken a few days off that may return to find they did not get paid by a program that had been on time previously?

A number of scenarios could take place and an email explaining the situation can go a long way for notification.

Rick
Universal4