Welcome to The Affiliate Manager Weekly Strategist from Affiliate Classroom.

Each week, we discuss an affiliate management strategy and ask you for your input.

This week, our VP of Marketing and 10 year affiliate marketing veteran, Rachel Honoway weighs in on manually approving affiliate applications.

Clearing Application “SPAM”
–Rachel Honoway

I remember the days when affiliate managers and even networks would boast about the number of affiliates they had…

“We have over 2,000 affiliates…”

“Last month 5,000 affiliates joined our network…”

It wasn’t long before we all realized that we weren’t above the old principle of quality over quantity.

In fact, we’ve reached a point now where affiliate applications not only fail to excite us - but actually frustrate us.

If you’re managing an established program, or a program for a well-known brand name, manually approving affiliate applications can easily become a dreaded part of your day.

Much like with clearing out spam from your inbox with one finger on the delete button …

… you spend hours each week scanning through applications with your finger on the “deny” button.

As any efficient marketer would, you’ve probably daydreamed about using all of those hours for tasks that feel more productive and directly impact your program in a positive way.

But, don’t let this temptation fool you - the time you’d save by flipping your program over to auto-approve can quickly be eaten up with time spent getting to the bottom of fraud attacks and analyzing reports that are clouded with useless numbers and empty data.

I’d even go as far as to say that if the time and distraction of approving affiliate applications has overwhelmed you - it’s time to set your program on “auto-deny”.

This probably isn’t an available setting in your merchant interface… but you get the idea!If you’re already doing all it takes to keep your head above water, opening up the floodgates is the last thing you need.

Without going to extremes, you can request that new affiliates complete specific tasks or deliver additional information to help you validate thier existence and intentions. For example, request that they call you to verify their information and to discuss how they’ll be marketing your products and services.

This extra step will deter many fraudsters and affiliates looking for an easy buck from even trying. Since they’re calling you, you won’t waste your time on wrong numbers, voicemail or affiliates who don’t want to be found.

Plus, you’ll get a chance to learn about your new affiliates and build a solid foundation for a long-term relationship.

QUESTIONS FOR THE WEEK

Do you manually approve your affiliate applications?

What criteria must affiliates meet to make it past your screening?

On average, what % of your applications do you approve or deny?

Join the discussion and post your answers!