The summary is that you should read here about what you can win and then read here about the tools provided to help you win.

If you’ve somehow missed everything that’s been happening regarding Next then there are a bunch of links at the end of this post for some background reading

If you don’t want to read through all those links then a quick summary of mistakes includes cutting commission rates to 1%, switching networks without respecting the cookies, lack of communication, competitor brand bidding, trying to stifle discussion and an intrusive questionnaire.

However if we now leave Next to lie in the bed they have made what are the key mistakes that Next have made which other merchants could learn from?

Never Reduce Commission Rates – Any reduction in commission rates is going to hurt an affiliate program so always be realistic and take care with your planning to make sure you never end up in this position. If you reach the point of reducing your commission rate from 2% to 1% just close the program instead and affiliates will be less insulted.

Communicate – Throughout the last few months one of the biggest problems with Next has been a lack of communication. No one has raised their head above the parapet to try and engage with affiliates which has made the situation all the worse. When you get this one right make sure you consider the next point…

Respect Your Affiliates – When Next finally decided to try and engage with affiliates it has been in such an insulting & flippant manner that they just seem to be digging a bigger hole for themselves. Making the accusation that affiliates “pollute natural search space with negative comments about the brand” is going to go down in affiliate marketing history alongside Grubbygate. Read this post and maybe even print it out and stick it on the wall.

Accept Constructive Criticism – One of the most worrying aspects of this whole issue is that Chris Frost was rejected from the program due to simply voicing his concerns on his blog. Realise that affiliates are passionate people running serious businesses and although it might not be what you want to hear, try to understand there is a reason for any criticism and look at what you could learn from it and improve.

Good Affiliates Are In Short Supply – There are a finite number of affiliates out there and once you treat many of them badly it’s going to be hard to recover. Take care not to think that your precious brand name is going to have affiliates knocking your door down to promote you. Any good affiliate will have more requests for promotion in a week than they have time to handle so it’s not a case of you ‘allowing’ affiliates to promote your brand it’s more a case of affiliates ‘choosing’ to promote your brand so you better make sure the whole package that you are offering is attractive.

That’s just a few points that I’ve been thinking over but I think Jason at One Little Duck sums up the whole issue in this excellent post

Every affiliate manager action will result in an affiliate reaction!

In simpler terms, if you make a good or bad decision about your affiliate program then your affiliates will react accordingly.
Newton’s Third Law of Motion & Affiliate Marketing

And finally I’ll leave the last word to a merchant that doesn’t have much to learn about affiliate marketing…

Affiliate Marketing is Easy – there’s no excuse to fluff it!

Background Links

Blogs

• Next Affiliate Programme Is A Disgrace To This Industry
• Next – Do They Care About The Affiliate Marketing Industry?
• ‘Next Directory’ – next.co.uk are now saying affiliates are polluting the space?
• Next Directory – Are They Bad To the Bone?
• £313,000 Worth of Next Traffic Up For Grabs
• Cross Brand Bidding – Next.co.uk Tut-Tut !

Forum Threads

• Next Closing – Affiliate Marketing
• Have You Ditched Next Directory And Other Low Paying Programmes – Poll – Affiliate Marketing
• Next are changing! – Affiliate Marketing
• Next Affiliate Program – The Facts – Page 2 – Affiliate Marketing

It’s great to see an affiliate manager being so proactive and it’s great to see a company that believes in their products so much that they are happy to give them away and encouarage affiliates to be their brand ambassadors online. If you want to win yourself some samples then there is a promotion running at the moment.