Don't you just love these emails? I get them all the time!

Hello Nicole Dean,

Thank you for your referral of Jason.

Jason has signed up for a Affiliate package and you have been marked as their referrer.

Your commission rate is 20% and you have received $0.00 for this referral!

The good news is this isn't even a one-time deal! You collect a commission every single time this referral makes a payment on their account…  for as long as they remain our customer!

Thank you for your continued support.

Please note, there is a minimum payout amount of $50. Commission checks are sent out every month to ALL affiliates who have accumulated $50 or more in commissions.

Not only did I earn $0, but I'll earn it month after month! Yay?

Plus, the whole “minimum payment” always bugs me, too. If you're paying by paypal and don't allow people to self-discount, then there should be no minimum amount in order to be paid. Maybe I promoted your product once, only got one sale, realized it wasn't a good fit for my people or didn't convert well, and decided not to mail about it again. I still made that one referral so give me my darn money!

Now, if this was a 2-tier affiliate program, I might think “cool” but, uh… this just annoys me.

Thoughts? Please share them.

Warmly,
Nicole Dean

PS. 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'.