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The Affiliate Marketing Sales Cycle

So now that you understand the types of affiliates and the types of links available let's take a look at how affiliates and merchants use these tools to make sales.

Remember that your visitors are somewhere on a Sales Cycle. Let's take a look at the stages of that Cycle...

The Buying Cycle

1. Awareness/Interest

The fact that they found your web site probably indicates interest in your subject. They may just be looking for general information so there's no reason to get too excited yet. However the fact that they found your content indicates that they are "qualified" to begin the journey down the sales cycle for your niche and a possible need for a product has been established.

2. Product Research

Here they begin to learn about a product. This may indicate a need or a potential for a need. A need could also be a problem that needs to be solved. Framing your presentation as a "solution to a problem" is important. What they learn at this stage may help create that need and also may inspire them to jump right to the shopping cart of the merchant. This is where the buyer learns "what's in it for them." They discover the benefits of the product and start to imagine how it will feel to own it.

3. Emotional Credibility

Everyone needs to know if a product or service can actually help them. Can they picture themselves owning the product? Can they visualize the underlying benefits? At this stage you make those benefits clear with testimonials and great imagery that shows people experiencing the benefits of the product or service. They say "people buy on emotion and justify with logic." This is where you connect with those emotions.

4. Product Credibility - Reviews and Brand Comparison

By this stage it's safe to say a need has been established. Why else would they be comparing products and looking for reviews about a product. At this point it's very important to create credibility and trust for the product and merchant. If you don't someone else will and the sale may go to them. This is an important time to add testimonials and third party reviews of a product and a merchant.

5. Involvement - E-books and Price Comparisons

Now they are really warming up. If they want to compare prices they may be ready for the final stage of the process and make a decision. If you have the right price or you create the urgency to get them to decide (coupon) you may have a sale. Many shopping sites do well at this stage because they focus on creating urgency.

6. Decision to Buy

The customer is ready and decides to buy. The exact reason why a customer decides to pull the trigger may never be known but it's safe to assume they decided to buy because they believe the product will satisfy their need or solve a problem.

Where Is Your Prospect In The Sales Cycle?

Where the customer is in the sales cycle is a very important component of how you market to them. It also effects how you set up navigation on your web site.

The beauty of online marketing is that the customer raises their hand and tells you where they are in that sales cycle. They do that by searching on or selecting certain keywords and links. If they use general keywords they may be looking for basic information. If they use review type keywords then they are collecting information to meet their need. If they use or select buying keywords like "coupon" or "deals" or "best price" you know they are very close to buying.

The job of both the affiliate and the merchant is to move their visitor along the sales cycle. They do that by providing appropriate content for the prospect's position in the sales cycle.

They should also provide links to the next stage in the cycle as well as links to the merchant site if they suddenly become ready to buy.

However...

it's very important to move your prospect as far as you can along the sales cycle before you send them to the merchant. Warming them up and creating credibility on your site leads to higher conversions!

Let Your Prospect Have Control

An important point to remember is that in online sales the customer is in control. They never want to feel that they are being forced into any purchase. In fact, the great allure of buying online is that the customer feels engaged in the process and is free to make their own choices... no sales people to coerce them or bait them. They are not "being sold" they are "choosing to buy." This is a great advantage of buying online and why more and more people are choosing it over brick and mortar purchases.

So at what point does the affiliate actually hand the customer to the merchant. The short answer is 'anytime the customer is ready.' Another answer is... "the affiliate should take their visitor as far as they can." Why? Because the affiliate has a better chance of creating the trust and credibility that the prospect requires before they decide to buy.

A third-party site's content is perceived as unbiased and independent so the visitor is much more likely to trust their opinion. This is especially true if the merchant is not well known or new on the scene. An affiliate should always be careful not to jeopardize that trust.

This is why affiliate sites that do no more than provide banner link farms really bring nothing to the party any more. The banner links may be helpful in later stages of the sales cycle but without winning over the visitor by telling the propect "what's in it for them" the visitor really has no reason to buy. That's why conversion on these types of sites with these types of links is very low.

What types of content and which links work best?

Once again, they all can work if they move the visitor closer to a decision. The art of online marketing is providing the content, links and the positioning of those links for each stage to help make that happen.

  1. Good general content that gives solid information about the niche and provides value to the visitor is a great start and a good way to get the visitor on your side (create credibility)
  2. Product opinions and product links help meet the need during the product research phase
  3. Testimonials and detailed product links help during the product/brand comparison phase
  4. Coupons and a price comparison datafeed meets the needs of the final stages of the decision process
  5. And merchant links all along the process give prospects the opportunity to pull the trigger anytime they are ready
  6. Once a visitor arrives on the merchant site the merchant must provide the appropriate landing page for their position in the sales cycle. They also need to provide the right customer experience to get them to buy

This is the essence of affiliate marketing. Provide the information customers need and you can be successful. Of course the first thing an affiliate needs is solid traffic. The more traffic you can attract the more sales you can generate. To learn more about getting traffic visit our Marketing section.