How much do affiliate managers make?

[jewelryguy]

Maybe someone here has the answer i need... or, the answer i want to hear?

I have been wondering how much a professional affiliate manager makes... someone full time who can handle all aspects of a major project with several dozen products in several dozen categories and most with selling prices above $7500.00.

How does a merchant go about recrruiting for this person or organization? Does this person simply get a salary per year or, would i be better off finding someone for 10% of the sales he/she/they/it generate?

I perfer a comissioned manager over an hourly or saleried one simply because i feel the incentive is greater but I don't really know what you folks perfer?

Als, what questions should I be asking should I find people who are willing to take on the project? (besides for obvious ones) is prior experience as important as enthusiasm and motivation?

Anyway, some of you folks must be affiliate managers... care to share some info?

[Larwee]

jewelryguy, we have several affiliate managers among our membership. But when it comes to how much someone is making a lot of people consider that to be very personal information so there are plenty of people who aren't willing to say how much they earn. However some might be willing to say.

Here is some information that should be helpful to you in answering your question.

Based on the information received, you will find that 24 percent of salaried affiliate managers make less than $40,000 a year and 10 percent make more than $120,000 a year with the rest falling in between.

Here is a link to that salary information
Ask Shawn Collins: What are affiliate managers earning? | Affiliate Marketing Blog by Shawn Collins

[Rob_TID]

In the current economic environment, I think you would struggle to get a decent affiliate manager for under 80k salaried.

Prior experience as a AM or (successful) affiliate would be a must too. Enthusiasm doesn't give you an inherent knowledge and most of the people who have been in the game successfully have done their time.

To get an already successful affiliate to take up the job offer, you would REALLY need to sweeten the pot.

[Linda Buquet]

Rob is right. Good managers are in very short supply and you'd have to pay quite a bit to get one with decent experience.

While I can understand you wanting to pay someone straight commission
no one that knows a lick about affiliate management would do it that way.
There is too much upfront work and then a gradual build up of sales so
they would not make anything in the beginning.

Best option is to hire an outsourced affiliate manager. They way you get a true pro that's set up tons of programs, knows all the tricks and can get you into profit more quickly. It's a lot cheaper than paying a full-time salary and benefits yet you get higher caliber talent than you could afford to hire.

I know a company that has successfully managed lots of jewelry programs.
Call me for a free consult if you are interested in outsourced management so I can evaluate your needs and make sure you are a good fit for this company.

[Linda Buquet]

Oh also you said:

"is prior experience as important as enthusiasm and motivation?"

Prior affiliate management experience is VERY important.

However I'm confused. Just read your blog and it says you already have a program set up and a manager picked out. So did that fall through or???

BTW really REALLY bad idea to start working on or even thinking about an affiliate program until your site is ready and you've done conversion testing and made a bunch of sales. Typically its best and fastest to do some PPC.

You don't want to waste money on a manager and effort recruiting affiliates if your site cant convert and no way you know if it will until you test it.

[jewelryguy]

Thanks for all the helpful info!

Yes, Linda I may have mis worded that post, we actually have two affiliates, each handling a different product. These are category specific pieces... neither of these people have any experience in marketing, advertising or affiliating but, they do have an open door and ear to our target customers and lots of em.

I am not ready to introduce a bunch of products to the market and no where near ready for a full scale affiliate/marketing campaign... but Some live testing is in order at this stage of the project..

Thanks again and I will be in touch regarding your invitation for an evaluation.

[John Jupp]

Jewelry is a highly competitive market so as has been previously stated, you need to get an inventory together and have a site that is already active. The affiliate channel should "complement" your other online retail activity.

[cumbrowski]

The AffStat 2007 Report by Shawn Collins reports the following numbers, which include incentives and bonuses (The AffStat 2007 report is based on the answers of almost 200 in-house affiliate managers and OPMs who voluntarily filled out a questionnaire with a long list of questions about their affiliate program. The full report is only $130 BTW and interesting reading material if you are managing an affiliate program)

Figures are annual income and are only for In-House affiliate managers.

24% < $40K
24% $40-$50K
26% $50-$80K
26% $80-$120K and more

The AffStat report breaks the numbers down a bit more. Also interesting; almost 60% of the managers state that their income includes incentives and bonuses. Salaries vary of course per region, but you get the general idea.