It’s that time of year again, when nearly every affiliate program manger decides that NOW is the time to cull the non-performing affiliates in their program. Why is it that they do this annually instead of focusing on their programs year round? For most program managers the answer is simple, the affiliate programs manager serves multiple functions and wears many different hats. Closing in on the beginning of their most busy season (the fourth quarter) they suddenly allocate the resources to update their affiliate list. What every program should do before rushing to cull an affiliate is to reach out to their list with an offer or incentive to refer sales or leads, unfortunately, many simply choose to blanket delete from their list. Sadly, this causes a number of issues from the mere fact that the affiliates busiest season is also approaching. We encourage affiliate program managers to reach out to their affiliates BEFORE culling. It’s a win-win for both parties!
