Customer Affiliate Programs

You've probably come across websites telling you to join their affiliate network and earn a specified sum of money for every customer referral. Well that’s what we call affiliate marketing and it is one of the most rewarding marketing strategies. Affiliate marketing is about building relationships and the key parties involved are: the advertiser, the affiliate and the consumer. The advertiser is the business that seeks to sell its products/services. The affiliate is the marketer and this is the person that promotes the brand. The affiliate is provided with material to rake in the referrals and this could be in form of banner ads, links, web pages and much more. Finally, we have the consumer and this is the person that takes action either by clicking on the advertisement or following the call to action to submit their information, buy goods and much more. As you may have already guessed, this is pretty much a client referral program. The best affiliates to recruit are your loyal clients since they have better insight on your products. With affiliate marketing all three parties get to benefit. The business gains new clients through referrals, the affiliate earns a reward and the consumer gets to find a product or service that will hopefully benefit them.

2 Major Myths Surrounding These Customer Referral Programs

You’ve probably read one of the many negative reports that have been published concerning affiliate marketing. We cannot deny that there have been a few poor affiliate programs, but these shouldn’t tarnish the entire concept.

Myth 1: Consumers hate affiliate marketing

According to statistics published by Nielsen, 77% of consumers will buy a new product referred by family or friends. Market Force also found that while 78% of online consumers in the U.S were influenced to purchase something through social media posts by the company, 81% were influenced by posts from their network. Now, this shows that people have no problem buying items that are referred to them and this is exactly what affiliate marketing does. Affiliate marketing uses your loyal clients to refer products or a service to their friends, family and other members of their network. Why? Referrals are more trustworthy than advertising.

Myth 2: Affiliate marketing is expensive for the business

This is simply not true because with affiliate marketing, you only pay for what you get.With these referral programs for clients, your affiliates do not get paid unless they actually produce results. However, all this requires that you set up a great frame work for the affiliate program to thrive and you will need a good initial investment. That said; return on investment is imminent and this will only depend on how well you implement your customer referral programs. Just like anything else, you have to nurture this program and select the right network of affiliates to push your brand and bring in the referrals. Make it easy for your affiliates to promote your brand, offer good rewards and you will surely succeed. Affiliate marketing has longevity, as long as you have a great product you will always have people willing to promote it.