How NOT to Motivate Affiliates, Pt. 2
Well, I hadn't planned on making my “How NOT to Motivate Affiliates” post into a series, but I just received this email.
Copy/Pasted below. Edited to remove identifying information.
WHAT IS STOPPING YOU FROM JOINING (removed) AFFILIATE (removed) LAUNCH?
DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND THE IMPACT OF (removed) NEW LEADS FOR YOUR BUSINESS?
DID YOU NOT GRASP THE CONCEPT THAT (removed) IS PAYING 50% 1ST TIER AFFILIATE COMMISSION – UP TO $(removed) ALONE ON THIS CAMPAIGN?
DID YOU MISS THE FACT THAT (removed) IS PAYING 10% 2ND TIER AFFILIATE COMMISSION ON EVERY AFFILIATE YOU REFER TO US?
YOU CAN GET ALL OF THIS AND ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS SEND 1 EMAIL TO YOUR DATABASE
WHAT MORE DO YOU NEED?
DO NOT MISS THIS OPPORTUNITY!
EMAIL (removed) TODAY AND RESERVE YOUR SPACE IN THIS CAMPAIGN.
Wow. Wow. Wow. The part you didn't see is that parts of this was written in red.
I actually had planned to look into this campaign and I was very interested in the proposal and had it on my calendar to look into. In fact, they'd done several very appealing things to make me *very* interested in their product. And, I thought it would be a good fit for my readers.
But, being insulted and “screamed” at in an email doesn't exactly make me feel warm and fuzzy, nor does attacking my intelligence. It's also reading to me like an act of desperation and I will obviously not be promoting this company again. If they treat their JV partners like this, I am afraid how they'd treat my readers if I sent them into their care.
Adios to this affiliate program. My readers deserve better than this, and so do I.
Warmly,
Nicole
PS. Successful JV partnerships are created from a relationship, so do NOT add this to your swipe file. 😉
PS again. If you want to know how to have an affiliate program that KICKS butt, excites your affiliates, and generates loyalty – you might want to check out ContentDrafts.com. Just sayin'. 🙂
aileen bennett (thatspeaker)
September 23, 2009 at 3:16 pmI think they are very lucky that you are not naming them. The more we all ‘out’ bad practices, the more the industry will self-regulate (or at least realize that people only respond to certain communication)
Go Nicole!
Nicole
September 23, 2009 at 3:21 pmConsidering it was an employee/consultant (their JV manager) who sent the email, I will be polite as far as outing them.
If it were the owner – I wouldn’t be so kind.
Nicole
September 23, 2009 at 3:18 pmI asked them to remove me from their leads list, their customer list, and their affiliate list, including both my email and phone number.
Good riddance! Now to make sure to remove past references to them that might be on my blog.
aileen bennett (thatspeaker)
September 23, 2009 at 3:24 pmNicole
I made a decision a while ago. I only mention companies by name when I’m complimenting them. If I’m complaining about them I refuse to give them any more publicity!!!
Erica Cosminsky
September 23, 2009 at 3:31 pmNicole,
That just makes you the bigger person. All you need is people tramping on your site looking for their kind of crappy service.
Nicole
September 23, 2009 at 3:34 pmWow. Their response was just as insulting.
———————
A few of you were offended at the capital letters, bold type and directness. I apologize if you are one of these people. In today’s economy and business world, sometimes it takes such directness to create results.
It takes getting rid of all of the flowery writing and glitz and glitter and just getting down to the brass tax. Any of you who have been through one of (removed)’s programs knows that this is how (removed) teaches…. direct and to the point. It is not meant to be offensive. It is meant to attract attention to the bottom line.
———————
Brass tacks “usually means clearing out confusing details and finding out the real facts about something.”
And, there is a huge difference between “directness” and just plain insulting.
If the “results” they wanted were to lose an interested JV partner, then their directness sure worked.
Arika
September 23, 2009 at 5:27 pmWell thank you but no thank you! I know this is an employee/assistant but, if this is how the owner teaches I suspect they don’t have many happy customers either.
Direct and to the point is totally different from whatever you want to call that email they sent. Me, I call it out and out disrespectful and RUDE!
aileen bennett (thatspeaker)
September 23, 2009 at 3:36 pmmaybe there is a “brass tax” that I don’t know about, going to hide my brass now!
Nicole
September 23, 2009 at 3:37 pmlol! Love it!!!
Traci Knoppe
September 23, 2009 at 3:50 pmROFL Too funny!
Marya Miller
September 23, 2009 at 3:39 pmThanks for respecting your readers – even if this company didn’t.
Reminds me of the time I unsubscribed from another marketer’s list because he said “I command you to..” (and he wasn’t joking.)
Susanne Myers
September 23, 2009 at 2:50 pmYou have got to be kidding me!!!
An email like this would make me not ever want to promote any of their stuff ever again.
It baffles me how anyone would even come up with the idea to write an email like this. They either must have had a really bad day or they are desperate for attention. Either way, not a good fit for my readers.
Traci Knoppe
September 23, 2009 at 3:28 pmGood grief! Sounds like ‘bootcamp’ tactics. I’d boot them in their ‘computer butts’. 😛
Angela Wills
September 23, 2009 at 6:17 pmSMARTEN UP NICOLE! 😉 jk, lol
Wow I think everyone has said everything you can about this. I guess that forgot that money isn’t everything to some people? :S
Julie Anna
September 23, 2009 at 8:35 pmI am amazed. Michael was just reading his email and mentioned xxx company is up to their latest promo exactly when I read Nicole’s tweet. I said does it happen to say and read the excerpt from the email at Nicole’s blog to him. Yep, sure enough. When I pressed further he’s like I don’t know – he marked it as spam and moved on. Not a very favorable response and I can’t be positive but probably not one xxx company is looking for. Un-beeliev-able!
Christie
September 23, 2009 at 9:25 pmWow, I can’t believe the company thinks it is ok that their affiliate manager is talking to their affiliates that way. Very strange.
Maybe they haven’t been paying their “brass tax” and have to make lots of money today to repay the Brass Tax Man 😉
Lafa
October 29, 2009 at 4:41 amYeah, you are right, sometimes I get emails in my mailbox, and instead of trying to convince me to click on their Links, they make me delete them forever even I often unsubscribed them, because of how they present themselves so proudly humiliating others.