Affiliate Programs?

[jdagna]

I've been thinking recently about starting up an affiliate program for Pax Draconis.  My current thoughts are running along these lines right now: when people sign up, I provide them with HTML code that they can use to create an order form (and thus put the form anywhere they like).  When users fill out the form, it sends the basic order information and affiliate ID to my order processing script, which figures postage and sends them on to the payment gateway.  Thus, I do the order processing - they just generate the sale.  For this, I'll pay them something... I'm currently thinking something like 30% (paid after the thirty-day return period I currently offer), with a $30 minimum to make it worth writing them a check.

Anyone have thoughts, comments, questions about this?  I'd be particularly interested to hear whether anyone has tried this and, if so, whether it worked.  I'm hoping it will not only drive Internet sales, but encourage people to demo the game and sell to their friends.

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Justin,

H'm! I'm liking a lot of this.

It seems to me, speaking very strictly only from Adept-Press-type policy perspective, that many such links could be handled mutually and without any cut to the affiliate. They put it up in exchange for a reference and a link at your site (and a button for them if they sell something of their own), period. No profit-sharing in Adept universe!

But if you are casting your net wider, toward sites that have no major reason that they know of to sell your stuff (but whose visitors you know would be potential customers), then I can see the point of a fee schedule for the affiliates. How much? I'm a stinker, so I'd rack it way down toward the 5%-10% end, but again, that's a matter of anticipated volume and incentive. Definitely a personal call, because we have no actual idea of how internet-marketing of this sort works.

Best,
Ron

[jdagna]

The commission is definitely the issue I'm thinking over the most in regards to affiliates.  Here's why I'm leaning toward 30%... or at least more than 5-10%.

1) I'm already giving 40% to 60% to distributors and retailers and paying the shipping on top.  30% with the customer paying shipping still means $5-$12 more money per core book.  And if I increase the total number of sales, even better.  Affiliates are very good for advertising.

2) Since I'm listed on Amazon, affiliates for their program can already get 6% commissions, in a program that lets them sell other things as well (though with a minimum payout at $100).  I don't see going lower than 10% based on that alone.

3) Affiliate programs with low payouts only work for high-volume sites.  With a program like this, though, a motivated GM could sell $100 in stuff to his group and qualify for $30 back.  Since most groups seem to buy only one copy of the book, I could significantly increase sales if a program motivated these kinds of sales.*  

* As a case study for this, I give a 50% retail discount to one of the guys who volunteered to help me develop the book.  He's sold almost 20 copies in the last year by selling to players.  While obviously not typical, it shows that a GM can sell a lot of stuff by saying "Why don't you get a copy?" instead of "Here, use my book."  He increases his effectiveness by buying two or three copies at a time, so he can make the sale right in his dorm room.

4) I've been trying to come up with a good way to encourage people to demo the game at conventions, stores, clubs, etc. but I don't want to base the demo program on hours or events run (because it sounds like a lot of work to check that people are telling the truth).  If I made the affiliate program open to everyone, there's no need to check for abuses... and demo people who do a good job should be rewarded with higher sales.


Now, I'm not sure if all of these assumptions will pan out the way I hope they will, but that is why I'm leaning toward a higher payout than most affiliate programs offer.