Should Merchants Provide Their Affiliates With Benefits?

Dedicated affiliates work very hard to bring more leads to their merchants. It’s true that they don’t do it because they are in love with the merchant. We are all in this business to make some cash. It’s true that the most successful affiliate marketers act as a marketing arm extension for their merchants, but for all the effort that they put in, they don’t get any guarantees or specific benefits (except the commission checks).

I don’t know about you, but I have worked with many merchants who use their affiliates and discard them when times are tough. That attitude would make me feel undervalued. Being undervalued can lead to affiliates putting less than 100% effort forward or just abandoning merchants.

There are really two ways for us affiliates to deal with this issue. One way is to return the favor to merchants. A lot of successful affiliates use merchants to make money and discard their offers once the EPC goes below a certain level. The better approach in my opinion is working with merchants towards building a mutually successful relationship. I personally believe merchants should offer their best affiliates some unique benefit to keep them from focusing on other offers. I know a few companies offer jobs to their top affiliates, but another way to go is providing them with health benefits.

Now many argue that providing health benefits to folks who are not really employees is complicated. But I am sure there is a way around that (e.g. creating a new class of employees). For many affiliates, benefit costs cut into their profits and having merchants step up to take care of them is a big deal. I know I would give 110% to a merchant that is willing to work with me and not just use me as a tool for its own success. Will we see merchants step up to take care of their top affiliates more than before? We might! But with the economy crumbling, I wouldn’t hold my breath.

You decide: should merchants provide affiliates with some employee-like benefits?