What are the characteristics of a good affiliate manager?

No affiliate program is ever going to succeed and grow without the help of great affiliate managers. Being an affiliate manager isn’t just about checking in on the affiliates and making sure that they are meeting their targets – there are tons more qualities required.
If you are considering becoming an affiliate manager or hiring one for your program, check out some of the main characteristics that we think you should look out for below.

Socially-Focused

Affiliate managers are responsible for building relationships and connecting with potential affiliates. This can be difficult to achieve if you aren’t a very sociable person and able to start conversations that lead to sales. An affiliate manager must be willing to have those hard conversations and put themselves out there in order to get the best possible results. Even without events, affiliate managers must be able to socialise and network online.

Leadership Skills

For an affiliate to really succeed, they need to be led by a good manager. This is the same across multiple industries and really – there is no such thing as a bad affiliate manager. The best affiliate managers can lead a team and offer motivation when it is needed. You can learn more about the importance of being a motivator in this episode of Affiliate Drive Time. In addition to this, managers need to be able to offer training and ensure everyone is aware of any new compliance issues. While micromanaging should be avoided, good leadership qualities are required.

Understanding and Awareness

Affiliates should be nurtured in order to deliver the best possible results. Coming at affiliates with a stern attitude isn’t going to achieve what you want. For an affiliate to really grow and succeed, they need to know what is expected of them but there needs to also be a level of understanding. You can’t just expect a brand new affiliate to know everything there is to know about the industry – this is where training comes in. A good affiliate manager is aware of potential issues and understanding when things don’t go to plan.

Passionate

Finally, for an affiliate manager to be considered ‘good’, they must be passionate about the industry. Whether you are operating in the iGaming industry, crypto or even retail, that passion needs to be there. As we mentioned before, affiliate managers need to be motivators and how can you motivate a team if you aren’t passionate about the cause? Passion is hard to fake so it can be easy to spot those who aren’t quite as invested as others.

It takes time

You can’t become the best affiliate manager there is overnight, it takes time and practice. Building relationships with affiliates isn’t always easy as everyone responds to conversations in different ways. If you are looking for a new affiliate manager, make sure to find someone with the characteristics that we have mentioned in this article. Don’t rush the process and you’ll be on to a winner.