Clueless affiliate "managers"...!

[KasinoKing]

What are the qualifications for becoming an affiliate manager these days - knowing how to spell your own name?

Obviously understanding ANYTHING about the online casino business and what makes players "tick" is not a requirement at some places.

E-mail correspondence I had with a new one today (names & other bits removed to protect... well them).



Hi KK

I will be taking over as your affiliate manager.
I am looking forward to working with you.
I want to work in close proximity with you so we can achieve maximum revenue...

Please get back to me so we can discuss further strategies to target and achieve more players together

Affiliate Manager



Hi AM,

If you are SERIOUS about getting more conversions & more profit, please take just FIVE minutes to study this page & tell me what you see:
{A page on my site}

Clue: The casinos with higher ratings nearer the top of the page convert very well & have a good player base, the ones lower down do not.
You tell me; why do you think that is?

Welcome & good luck in your new position!

Best regards,
KK


Hi KK

Thanks for your response

If you put my casino at the top where ABC casino is then I will get you a much better offer.
….
I would like to utilize as much traffic together as possible
Looking forward to hearing from you

AM


Hi AM,

You just don't get it do you.
Pretty sad...

Oh well, nevermind.

Best regards,
KK

You know, sometimes I wonder why I bother...

KK
(Just in one of those moods today...)

 

[Guard Dog]

I dislike (very much) when affiliate managers do not pay attention to site details.

I got a new program just the other day saying this:

Hi,

I would like to advertise our casino (www.********casino.com) on your website.
Our major advantages on other casinos are:

- Excellent processing especially for a new players so we may assure you a very high conversion.
- Very good reputation among the affiliates - our payments always made on time with no delays.

We will be very happy to establish a long time relationship between us.

Best Regards,
*******

Yes, this was sent to my AGD email account.

Idiots.

 

[lots0]

What are the qualifications for becoming an affiliate manager these days - knowing how to spell your own name?

I think being a Hot Young Lady helps... A lot of the new AM's I see are very hot x-model types... Very nice to look at but not much on deep thinking.

 

[HBKKH]

The best aff managers are the ones who own sites themselves.

 

[GFPC]

The best affiliate managers are the ones who take the time to get to know you.

They send emails - which is fine and introduce themselves. Explain something about themselves and keep an open door for a conversation.

Not to aggressive with the "give me top spot" bullshit and promise you the world.

When i see the aggressive crap - i just ignore it usually.

I think its easy to tell which ones will be good to work with and which ones are not so good to work with.

One of the best AMs i have ever had was from Refer - " Donovan ".

he took the time to share about himself and asked questions and was genuinely interested in myself and my partners business.

Most don't give a shit. They only care for themselves as most people do in this industry.

 

[Redbush54]

The best affiliate managers are the ones who take the time to get to know you.

They send emails - which is fine and introduce themselves. Explain something about themselves and keep an open door for a conversation.

Not to aggressive with the "give me top spot" bullshit and promise you the world.

When i see the aggressive crap - i just ignore it usually.

I think its easy to tell which ones will be good to work with and which ones are not so good to work with.

One of the best AMs i have ever had was from Refer - " Donovan ".

he took the time to share about himself and asked questions and was genuinely interested in myself and my partners business.

Most don't give a shit. They only care for themselves as most people do in this industry.

Totally agree. Except for me and Referback its Cobus. I could count on one hand the AMs that give me the time of day. The ones that insist on top spot I never hear from again and they are the ones that could care less about conversion/retention.

 

[bonustreak]

Everyone has to start fresh from some place and your right if they would just take the time out to read forums and get to know affiliates more they would have a much easier time with their jobs. The standard bs in a can emails I get go right to trash.

 

[Vladi]

What are the qualifications for becoming an affiliate manager these days - knowing how to spell your own name?

too true.

Then again, what makes you think there ever were any qualifications? And there ain't exactly any qualifications required to be an affiliate either!

I enjoy working in this industry, but have to say it is the most unprofessional one I have ever worked in ... all the way through from the casinos to affiliate managers to affiliates. Sometimes it feels like the blind leading the blind.

 

[GFPC]

In all fairness i sat back and thought about this a bit more.

Affiliate managers also must put up with allot of BS from both the Operators and affiliates. I guess you can call them the middle guys!

I recall being a manager for a business - telecommunications. I got a nice salary but also commission based on levels of sales.

When sales were down - i was hounded by the owner - who is like the operator in this sense. I had to become a little more aggressive at times I guess.

Yet i was never forceful with the customers or employees under me. I tried to get to know them and use psychology to help them achieve better results.

Same was true for customers - i made them feel its a benefit to buy our product.

I think if many affiliate managers just took a course in Sociology/Psychology maybe it would help them react or behave a little more human in nature.

I am also aware affiliates can be demanding and sometimes outragous in asking for things. Its a balancing act i guess.

All to often when we start to work with an Affiliate Manager they spend a week with us joking around - playing Mr. Nice guy and making promises.

Then after things get applied to sites - they move on to the next targets.

If I was an affiliate manager - no matter what it took - I would much more personable with my affiliates.

Right now maybe 3-4 affiliate managers I have are decent. I know the rest really do not care at all about me or my business.

They only time you hear from them is when they want something - either better position or whatever.

I know they must have a ton of affiliates to deal with and i am sure some affiliates make their jobs hard and complain... yet that's part of life.

I just really feel Ams need to think of us as HUMAN BEINGS - not an avatar or email address like often happens. Likewise we need to do the same.

A little more friendliness and genuine human caring would go along way in this industry rather then the greed and self destructive attitude we see now.

I have made my fair share of negative comments about affiliate programs which i am sure doesn't help - but lets face it were all here to make money yes but were also here to provide a service to humans for entertainment.

Its not all about the money and numbers - not all the time.

Its about building trust and being honest while your offering a service to the public and it would be best for all parties involved to work together in a more humane nature.

OK end rant!! LOL

 

[TheGamblingGuru]

What are the qualifications for becoming an affiliate manager these days - knowing how to spell your own name?

Obviously understanding ANYTHING about the online casino business and what makes players "tick" is not a requirement at some places.

E-mail correspondence I had with a new one today (names & other bits removed to protect... well them).



Hi KK

I will be taking over as your affiliate manager.
I am looking forward to working with you.
I want to work in close proximity with you so we can achieve maximum revenue...

Please get back to me so we can discuss further strategies to target and achieve more players together

Affiliate Manager



Hi AM,

If you are SERIOUS about getting more conversions & more profit, please take just FIVE minutes to study this page & tell me what you see:
{A page on my site}

Clue: The casinos with higher ratings nearer the top of the page convert very well & have a good player base, the ones lower down do not.
You tell me; why do you think that is?

Welcome & good luck in your new position!

Best regards,
KK


Hi KK

Thanks for your response

If you put my casino at the top where ABC casino is then I will get you a much better offer.
….
I would like to utilize as much traffic together as possible
Looking forward to hearing from you

AM


Hi AM,

You just don't get it do you.
Pretty sad...

Oh well, nevermind.

Best regards,
KK

You know, sometimes I wonder why I bother...

KK
(Just in one of those moods today...)

That's too funny bro, I talked to the exact same affiliate manager today as well and was not too damn impressed to say the least, (Yes, I do know exactly who this is here you are referring to)...

Anyway in the several email exchanges that we had back and forth, I finally ended it with this....



"You must be real busy there, xxxxx because you missed my entire point regarding the xxxxxxxx

I was asking about a "xxxxxxxxx" as you can see in my 1st response back to you below.....

Someone there would need to xxxxxxxxxxxxxx, but at this point I'm not too sure it would be worth it's salt. This was a good testing email exchange between us though to show me how well you read and payed attention to what I said and asked! Sorry for being so blunt but I don't have the time to not be."



LOL...another day in affiliate reality world, most of these peeps would never make it in the "real corporate world"...I am clearly convinced of that now!
____
____

 

[Renee]

I'm sure each company has different specs on the skills of the person they are hiring... but I think the most important thing would be that the person has excellent attention to detail.

When I started at RA I didn't even know what an affiliate was. I have a web development background. No marketing background at all.. So it doesn't mean you wont become great at your job if you don't have the skillset because you can learn, but I'm with you guys here.. Sometimes I wonder.. I actually get emails from aff managers sometimes asking me to put their brands on our Rewards Affiliates site ???

 

[KasinoKing]

I actually get emails from aff managers sometimes asking me to put their brands on our Rewards Affiliates site ???

That's EXACTLY what I'm talking about!
They see a gambling site but don't even take TWO MINUTES to look around and see what's it's actually about before shooting of their cut-&-paste marketing drivel...

KK

 

[Simmo!]

I am actually struggling to think of an affiliate manager I work with who isn't good! Sure there are one or two who I don't have much interaction with, but I can't think of a single one I deal with who doesn't fit. And any new program sending me a sales pitch, like Bonusstreak, goes straight in the trash.

Affiliate managers also must put up with allot of BS from both the Operators and affiliates. I guess you can call them the middle guys!

...I am also aware affiliates can be demanding and sometimes outragous in asking for things. Its a balancing act i guess.

So true. I have to say I have seen far more affiliates show themselves up than AM's.

 

[WCD Admin]

I am actually struggling to think of an affiliate manager I work with who isn't good!

wow. i have had issues with payments and affiliate managers who are completely uncooperative myself. even when shown how wrong they are (think MATH) they still hold up their heads and threatening my income (in fact lowering it) - but they are in for an awakening. they act like they dont care they will lose a million in deposits from me each year - because they think im too worried about losing my income. and of course I am. but I also dont stop planning to get them off my sites. and im about there, so i dont even mind loosely talking about it anymore and i only HOPE they know who they are and read this.

BTW, if you are reading this and you DO know I am talking about you - some words of advice are: DON'T MENTION THIS THREAD TO ME - just change your ways before its to late.

and finally to any other AMs out there watching: if you do work with me in the future please don't make me chase my money. you are my affiliate manager and its your job to get me paid. its not my job to point out that I have not been paid.

just my 2c

 

[KasinoKing]

I know this is a bit cruel, so I have tried to hide the identity, but this is genuinely an e-mail I received & replied to today:

Hi KK,

Was reading the post about “clueless affiliate managers” on AffiliateGuardDog. Some true comments and good advice for us Affiliate Managers. Noted!

It’s sometimes just so difficult knowing how to make that first approach…. And unfortunately for us affiliate managers – we have heavy targets every month and must meet xx number of new sign-ups or xx number of players from existing partnerships. Plus you only really get to know your affiliate by chatting, asking questions – and that takes time. But that’s our job isn’t it – relationship building

I looked at your sites kasinoking.co.uk and USAokCasinos and didn’t see any of our brands…. But I also noticed some broken images. Not sure if you’re aware of these?
Screenshot from the “Best Bonus Section” with broken images attached.

If I’ve managed not to cock up my intro email – hopefully I get the opportunity to tell you more about {Affy Company}? We’re one of the oldest and most respected affiliate programmes in the industry. In fact, RedBush45 spoke about my colleague {Name} in his reply – saying how he enjoyed working with us.

We have several casino, poker, bingo, mobile casino and now also USA facing casino – all under 1 roof.

Cheers
{Name}

- - - - Reply - - - -
Hi {Name},

Sorry you failed miserably and HAVE in fact cocked up your intro.
This is EXACTLY what I was posting about.

I have been promoting {Affy Company} casinos for THREE YEARS - how come you don't know that?!?

"I looked at your sites kasinoking.co.uk and USAokCasinos and didn’t see any of our brands…. But I also noticed some broken images. Not sure if you’re aware of these?
Screenshot from the “Best Bonus Section” with broken images attached."

Guess what - ALL 5 of your casinos are on the very page you sent me a screenshot of!
(A bit lower down).

Why aren't your casinos on USAokCasinos.com... well Duh! Microgaming casinos DO NOT TAKE American players!!!!

Jesus Christ!
You are officially a member of the "Clueless Club"

Well done!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry - in the end I did both... :emoticon-0106-cryin

KK... still :emoticon-0179-headb

PS: If you're reading this {Name} I think RedBush is a she!

 

[WCD Admin]

I especially like this:

we have heavy targets every month and must meet xx number of new sign-ups or xx number of players from existing partnerships

What is it... quotas or partners? when you act like cops on the side of the road that have to catch so many speeders or else! - that is exactly what took the fun and integrity out of this business. Don't people realize you can catch more flies with sugar than salt? Here we are telling you what we like and don't like (pressure from every AM on the planet) and the response is 'we have to pressurize you because we are pressurized ourselves.' Please take the message home. Pressure doesn't help catching experienced flies (I mean webmasters.... so easy to get confused ;D ...) nor does spamming lists you purchased or otherwise obtained.

Speeders don't like getting caught - we fight this tooth and nail. If you want to get on our sites, stop spouting off and offer us something real. Stop expecting affiliates to just "put us on your site in top positions" 8) because of the same promises we get from every other program in the business.

Make sure you remind your boss "this guy isn't going to give you anything" - why would s/he? As affiliate managers you have two bosses. The affiliate and the program you work for. It's a fine balance I admit, but when you only work for quotas, we feel it. If I had two bosses, I'd work very hard not to polarize either side - but if I had to pick - I'd go advocate for the affiliate not your regular boss. Your boss can fire you but you can get another job. Upset affiliates and when you switch jobs, your reputation comes with you.

I suggest trying to woo the little affiliates and convince your bosses to loosen up. Whenever there is upset with a particular program, its a great time to layer on the sweetness in yours (soak up affiliates who are sick of being abused) Make some obtainable prizes - first depositing player, help them out with dinner (call in a pizza for the newbie!) .... 10th depositing player, do it again. 50th? give them a laptop... 100th, given them a PC. 1000th? $3000 bonus .... common be creative. No such thing as a free lunch.... either side of the tracks.

I made that stuff up in 30 seconds. If my whole job revolved around it I am sure I could be more creative. Remember, what this does is helps you build a relationship with a webmaster. They remember small things (positive AND negative) ... I know for a fact that although some programs pay me more than others, some of the lesser earners for me still are at the top. I remember how I was treated. I have followed affiliate managers to new brands when they left old brands.... invest in the future! take care of your affiliates


just my 2c

 

[Aussie-Dave]

You know, sometimes I wonder why I bother...

Can I relate to this or what. I think we all hope that aff manager xyz is going to live up to our expectations. Which in my case are pretty simple.

1. Have at least visited my site(s).
2. Have a clear understanding of what my site(s) niche market is.
3. Provide suitable tools to promote their brand(s) effectively on my site(s).
4. Make sure their conversion of my traffic & player retention is optimal.
5. Don't try to feed me "A" typical affiliate/casino hype/dribble.
6. Treat me like a partner, don't assume I'm a mindless moron.
7. Pay me each month as close to the same date as possible.
8. And if I send them an email and they're on leave or sick (whatever) make sure someone else can assist in their absence.

I get bombarded not only by new aff managers which in our industry seems to be a perpetual revolving door with some companies, but hit by casino programs wanting space on my sites.

The later, I can say that 97% of the time the aff manager has not visited the site(s), they seem to use a practice of conducting SE searches, followed by a whois look-up to obtain the email address and then fire off an email.

Edit: In some cases I'm questioning if the casino program has just purchased a database of affiliates and conducted a mass mailer. Some seem too generic and totally clueless to be anything else.

I figure if a program can't be bothered to do some basic site research on my niche`, then it's likely they wont give me the service I expect. Lately I don't even bother responding. I just bin the mailers.


Cheers



Dave

 

[casinobonusguy]

Maybe we should all chip in and buy some of them a clue I also get sob stories in my mail box how they (the affiliate manager) are having hard time getting affiliates to promote them and if i will come on board it will really keep their boss happy.Yes I really got this email .Anyone who knows me can be sure that my heart is bleeding now for this person .I understand hiring somebody a bit 'green' for the job but at least get a person with enough self respect not to share these sorts of things.I also adopted my own policy I will only work with old ,fat or ugly managers ,The eye candy at the trade shows aren't impressing me and I feel like the programs are hiring based on external features not so much what's between the ears.

 

[Vladi]

I also adopted my own policy I will only work with old ,fat or ugly managers

I like it! but I feel sorry for any aff managers you work with who read that ... hahah

 

[casinobonusguy]

It's ok I am not getting in trouble except with Daniel from Betway he is only new manager we have this year