What Makes an Affiliate Program Really Good? [Anzeige]
Affiliate marketing is part of the marketing strategy of many companies. That’s why many companies ask themselves the question: Which affiliate program is really good? We met David Wulf from home&smart and Alexander Jacob from energy magazine about affiliate marketing and that Green Solar Affiliate Program converse.
BASIC thinking: Hello David, hello Alexander, nice to meet you! You have chosen Green Solar as an affiliate partner. Before the affiliate cooperation, how did you find out about Green Solar and what was the reason that I chose you?
Alexander: There GreenSolar is one of the leading balcony power plant suppliers in Austria and Germany, it was clear to me from the start that cooperation here could make sense. With the energy magazine we focus on German-speaking users, which gives us the opportunity to promote Green Solar’s photovoltaic products in both Germany and Austria.
Especially in Austria there is very little content that deals with the topic of balcony power plants. Here we have created an extensive guide article in which we point out the high-quality solutions from Green Solar.
We contacted Green Solar very early on, before there was an affiliate program. A few months later, a corresponding solution was offered via Goaffpro and we registered directly. Since then the cooperation has been going very well.
David: Since 2020 we have been reporting as homeandsmart.de about the topic of balcony power plants, when it was not that well known in Germany. Ever since the founding of our portal, we see ourselves as our readers’ advocates or advisors. This means that we provide comprehensive information and help our readers with their purchase decision by classifying and recommending product offers. When researching suitable shops for our balcony power plants category, we noticed Green Solar.
To the Green Solar partner program
What is fundamentally important for you in an affiliate partner?
Alexander: In my opinion, the reputation and credibility of the affiliate partner is the most important criterion. One should look at verified reviews, experiences and the general reputation of the company beforehand to make sure it is reputable. Nobody wants to promote bad products – and certainly not buy them.
Fair cooperation, good tracking system and reporting
In addition, I think fair cooperation is very important. By that I mean on the one hand fair remuneration (this should be in a similar range to other merchants) and on the other hand it is also important that all affiliates are treated equally. Everyone should have the same opportunities.
The affiliate program should have a reliable tracking system to accurately track sales and commissions. The payment modalities of the program are also important. A trustworthy affiliate program should offer regular and timely payouts – bank transfer or PayPal should definitely be one of the payout options.
The cookie runtime also plays a role for me. Example: With the affiliate program from Amazon and Ebay, the cookie lifespan is only 24 hours – a lot of sales are lost, which can be very frustrating for the affiliates.
It’s not essential, but I think it’s good to be able to see the stats (i.e. clicks, commissions, conversion rate, etc.) in real time instead of a monthly report via email.
David: When selecting affiliate partners, we pay very close attention to the trustworthiness of the partner and the quality of their products. Is the customer experience (advice, contact options) in the shop positive? How is the quality and price of the products compared to other retailers? What unique selling points does the shop or the products have? We therefore analyze precisely whether the partner is a good match for us – i.e. whether they have interesting and attractive offers for our readers.
What role does merchant support play in a good partnership? Is it enough to be provided with a good platform or do offers that go beyond that make the difference, e.g. Webinar offers?
David: The support of the partner is very important, because we understand the partnership as such: together we want to develop it further. We are in close contact to understand product and market trends and learn from each other in the behavior of readers and customers. After all, the merchant is the product expert and has a much more detailed insight into the buying behavior of his customers and the market.
Affiliate Program Support and Resources
Alexander: The merchant should definitely provide support and resources to the affiliates. This may include, for example, marketing materials, product information or technical support. Good support can help to be successful and generate more revenue. I find it particularly good when affiliates are informed in advance about product launches or innovations from the merchant. This allows content to be better planned and published immediately when the product is launched.
Recently there was at GreenSolar a relaunch of the online shop. After that, the affiliate program didn’t work at first. I then contacted the company and the problem was quickly resolved. That’s the way it has to be!
As far as customer support is concerned, this is of course also a crucial point for good cooperation. As soon as the affiliate sends a customer to the merchant’s website, they can be taken by the hand from there – for example with a webinar or a telephone conversation in which open questions are clarified.
Green Solar is the partner for balcony power plants and photovoltaics. What are your experiences in practice with the experts and what distinguishes the company from other partners you work with?
Alexander: At Green Solar, we think it’s very good that the company has a location in Germany and Austria. Many companies sell primarily in Germany and therefore do not target the Austrian target group. Since 800W feed-in is already permitted in Austria, customers also want an 800W inverter in order to get the maximum yield from their balcony power plant. Green Solar knows this and therefore offers different products in Austria than in Germany.
In addition, direct contact with Green Solar is very beneficial. Many large companies only contact the affiliates indirectly, which I do not think is beneficial for fruitful cooperation.
The ordering process in the online shop at Green Solar is also very user-friendly and targeted. I’ve had bad experiences with other companies here. This is of course a “conversion killer”.
Joint further development and trust are the be-all and end-all
David: GreenSolar attaches great importance to joint further development in the partnership. What we appreciate about the cooperation is the high level of trust that Green Solar has placed in us and the open discussions about the direction in which we would like to develop the partnership.
How does the selection of products work for you: Which factors are decisive in the PV market in addition to the price-performance ratio? And which aspects can be even more important than the price?
David: The topic of balcony power plants is still complex for end customers because the installation conditions at home are so different. Therefore, customers inform themselves very intensively before making a purchase. From our point of view, customer advice through support, but also through content on your own site, is a very important selling point.
Alexander: Most important is the quality of the products. There are currently many cheap offers from discounters and other unknown providers who, for example, use cheap no-name inverters from China that are not even certified. Customers complain that the inverters are already defective after 6 months. That’s a catastrophe.
We see that many customers attach great importance to the company’s reputation – even if the price for this is higher than with other providers. Positive customer reviews are a great way to increase sales.
Service and customer support is also very important to customers. Long delivery times and unanswered e-mails cause great annoyance among customers. This leads to bad ratings, which in turn leads to skepticism among potential new customers.
In addition, it can make sense to offer individual solutions. For example, larger solar systems, fence power stations, solar boilers or special assembly solutions. Especially in the area of balcony power plants, there are many customers with individual requirements. An example: Many balcony power plant providers have systems for the lattice balcony in their range. However, there are many balconies that are unsuitable for this mounting solution. In addition to the usual balcony power plants for the grid balcony, Green Solar also has ultra-light solar modules in its range that can be attached to almost any balcony.
Take us behind the scenes with you: Why did you decide to do affiliate marketing?
Alexander: I have been involved in affiliate marketing since 2017. From my point of view, it is clearly the best and most profitable advertising option for companies. In addition, it is also the fairest cooperation option for publishers, since payment is success-based and the turnover is theoretically open.
Let’s take paid advertising as an alternative: Here you spend money on clicks without even knowing whether a customer ultimately decides to buy. Maybe the advertising strategy doesn’t work at all – the money is gone.
It’s different with affiliate marketing: the merchant only pays if a sale has actually been made. This in turn means that the affiliate has to make an effort to lead the right customers to the right product. A win-win-win situation: for the merchant, for the affiliate, and for the customer!
David: Affiliate marketing is a win-win situation for us as a publisher. Our readers benefit from the product recommendations that we research and classify for them. As the editors, we receive a commission on the sales and can therefore make our research results available to our readers free of charge. In this respect, our readers benefit from good information and we can finance our editorial work with it.
If our readers are about to make the decision themselves to get into affiliate marketing: What tips can you give them right now when they start?
David: First of all, it is important to build up reach and expertise for a topic. It is important that readers receive high-quality content in which they can obtain comprehensive and well-founded information. Content wins – only if the content has been well researched can readers make clear purchasing decisions based on it. As soon as the content has a certain reach, suitable affiliate offers can be recommended in the content. Here, too, the offers are comprehensible and classified editorially so that readers can also make purchasing decisions based on these recommendations.
Alexander: Always try to create great content. The internet is already full of flimsy, low-quality content that doesn’t help anyone. Whether blog articles, YouTube videos or Instagram posts – you have to offer users a certain amount of added value. For example, with extensive test reports, product comparisons, videos, infographics, analyses, surveys, and whatever other options are available.
The information has to be correct and you have to make it easier for the user to make a purchase decision. The aim must always be to build something long-term and to offer a solution to the user’s problem. There are no shortcuts.
One should also try to choose good quality instead of good commission. While it may be tempting to promote high-commission products, at the end of the day it’s important to think about quality and the customer.
Thank you for the interview!
