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[KenCalhoun]

Very thoughtful thread, all - thanks for sharing your insights.

I think a key differentiation should also be made between 'super affs/jvs' and how to manage/work with them, vs 'open affiliates', eg if you open up to a lot of people who don't have as targeted lists and/or skills.

Having different compensation plans for each makes sense, based on sales overrides/volume of business you do together and the rest of it.

-ken

[AndrewCavanagh]

Some fantastic feedback and discussion here.

I think I should point out the main argument I was making is
that for any affiliate program to be successful it has to make
genuine profits for your affiliates.

Some affiliates will look at the amount they get paid per
visitor for example which is a good indicator.

If you have an exceptionally high response rate on your front
end sale and you give away 100% commissions on that sale
(but no back end commissions) your affiliates might make 5-10
times the profits than promoting a product with lousy conversions
on the front end and big commissions on the back end.

Or put another way if your affiliate program is effectively paying
your affiliates $5 a visitor immediately into their paypal accounts
while your competitor's affiliate program is only paying $1 a visitor
paid after affiliates wait a month for commissions you're likely to
attract a whole lot more affiliates.

It SOUNDS wonderful to be paying big commissions on back
end sales but what affiliates get paid in practice is often very different
to the theory of what they'll get paid.

Obviously I'm not suggesting any affiliate model is better
or that you should never pay commissions on back end sales.

Every situation is different, every sales letter and upsell has different
conversion rates.

Just pointing out that some models that might seem counter-intuitive may
actually be superior in some situations.

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh