Choosing The Most Profitable
Product To Promote
As an affiliate, there are two ways of working: 1) You can take everything you can get your hands on and work really hard, or 2) You can choose the best products that bring in the big profits.
Of course it’s always great to be a prolific affiliate with achievements and work rate that trumps others. But, do all products really worth your time and effort?
A novice affiliate would always participate in every affiliate program they can. This is because a novice is always hungry. However, how long can you work that way? One day, you’ll be exhausted and your subscribers, too, will be exhausted.
So, the best way to overcome this exhaustion while still earning high commissions is by choosing the best products. In this context, the best products are the ones that can ensure you, as an affiliate, high earnings.
There are a few aspects to look at before deciding on a product to promote. A product has to fulfill some criteria for it to be considered a good product for you. It’s not going to be difficult, though, to determine how good the product is.
Now, you might think that by doing this, you’ll be limiting your choices therefore limiting your earnings as an affiliate because of cherry picking. In actuality, you don’t really lose much but have a lot more to gain.
This is because every day, there is a new product being launched. You will never run out of products to promote so you don’t have to worry about losing anything if you cherry-pick. If an opportunity (i.e. bestselling product) is missed, you can always move on and find the next one.
However, commissions and earnings shouldn’t be taken lightly. You have to make sure that you get the best product for you to promote. So, what are the criteria for a good product to promote?
Criteria To Choose A Product
Commission Must Be High
When choosing a product, make sure that the commission rate provided is not lower than 50% if it were not a high-ticket sale.
The usual commission rate for a low-ticket product is 50% or above. It can even go up to 100%. Yes, the affiliate can keep all of the money made from the sale of the product.
However, when it comes to high-ticket products, the commission can be less than 50%. For example, the commission for a $997 product would give $197 commission. But since it is high-priced, despite having a lower percentage for commission, it is still high in value.
Selling high-ticket products is a bit more challenging than low-ticket. The conversion rate is much lower. To take on the high-ticket challenges, you must first build your list and credentials.
Here’s a comparison of selling high ticket and low ticket product:
This is the difference between choosing a low tick or high ticket product.
Digital Products
There are many affiliate programs you can choose to do. You can sell and promote appliances, books, clothes, and many other things online. However, the best products, the ones that sell really well, are digital products.
Physical products not only don’t sell as well as digital products, but they also provide low commission rates. To generate enough money from selling physical products commissions would require massive conversion rates.
Digital products include:
New digital products are launched every day so and their sales could go up to thousands after launched. There’s no need to worry about running out of products to promote.
Physical products also would make delivery more difficult. If you were an affiliate who connected a buyer to a vendor and they’re both from different countries, they might encounter problems with the shipment. And if the customer requests for a refund, there goes your commission.
Selling digital products will have instances where the customer requests for a refund, too, but it’s a very rare occurrence.
In addition, digital products require only few simple steps to download the file in PDF file, almost in no time you can start enjoying the product; in contrast, a physical book requires shipment that could take up to months.
Also, with digital products, you will not encounter problems with shipment. One less thing to worry about!
Quality Of The Product
First of all, you would need to know about the quality of the product. You have to make sure that it is a product, to you, worth buying, and then will you be able to know that is a product worth selling.
You do not want to sell shoddy products as it will not only flop, but also affect your credibility as an affiliate. You might lose the confidence of your subscribers. That is not something desirable as your email list and subscribers are a vital part of your business.
Avoid upsetting them at all costs as they can unsubscribe you easier than subscribing you.
Tip: If you are not so keen on buying the product, you need to do some research on the reviews articles from other users on the product you’ve chosen.
Or you can look at the rating and comments from the other users on the product. It is very common for users to provide feedbacks after the application of the product. Look at those with at least 4 or 5 stars rating. If it is within your niche, you are good to go.
Market Demand
Of course, the product should also have demand. A product wouldn’t even exist if without demand but here, you must know how strong is the demand. If it were not really popular then it would be a bit challenging to sell.
To know the market demand, you’d need a bit of research. You can ask fellow affiliates whom you have acquainted with or you can go to group discussions.
This is why as an affiliate, it is important to network. When you know and interact with more people, you’ll have a deeper understanding on the market and how it functions.
What if you are a newbie with fewer networks in this business yet? No worries, you can always check on the bestsellers in the marketplace. Without doubt it would be the product with high demand from users.
Credibility Of Sales Letter
Another aspect that you should evaluate on the product is the credibility of the sales letter. If the sales letter is not appealing to you, then you should not participate in the product’s promotion.
As an affiliate, you know the importance of a well-crafted sales letter. The product vendors should know that this is where they win or lose you. If they did not prepare a good sales letter, it would be hard for their product to make conversions.
You should know the vital elements of a good sales letter, for example, what does a good headline look like? How well does a good copy read? And, most importantly, does it provide sufficient information on the product?
What you should look for here is whether the sales letter can sell or not. An appealing sales letter should not need further analysis. You would know and be confident of the product straight away.
Provision Of Promotional Tools
You must also know whether the product vendor provide promotional tools or not. If they do not, then there’d be extra work for you. What you should look for in promotional tools are banners and swipe emails, usually.
Most product vendors have these prepared for affiliates. These tools will make your work a lot easier. Usually, for swipe emails, the pertinent information has all been written. All you need to do is to fill in your affiliate links (a space is provided) and upload it to your AutoResponder.
The AutoResponder is another tool you must have in the affiliate business, the software that would do wonders. The mainfunction of AutoResponder is to manage all your subscribers and differentiate them according to different niches.
Upsell
To have an extra commission, it’s best to sell a product that has an upsell. When there is an upsell, an affiliate usually gets 100% commission for the frontend product and a certain percentage for the backend product. The backend product, or the upsell, is usually priced high.
Instead of selling high-ticket products straight away, you can commit to selling the frontend product.
In case you are not familiar with the terms ‘frontend’ and ‘backend’, I will explain to you briefly. When a customer lands on a sales page where a product is sold, they are at the frontend product’s page. Once they’ve made purchase, they will be directed to another page where another product is sold that is called the backend product.
The backend product is usually priced higher than the frontend product, which is why it’s also referred to as an upsell. These sales pages that the customers are being directed through are called a sales funnel.
Having a backend product is a great way to maximize profit from a sales funnel. If you sell a product with an upsell, you will garner higher amount of commission as well.
For instance, a frontend or low ticket product with the price of $37, and then they’ll be directed to the backend or upsell page with the price of $77 for example – this is the basic sales funnel for a product launch.
The sales funnel can be continued with another down-sell and then one more upsell. This is a whole other scope. So, I will not continue to explain about this to keep your focus on Affiliate Marketing.
Recurring Element
It’s very rare to receive recurring payment for commission but it’s also a great advantage for the affiliate if they were to find a program that promises recurring commission.
This is usually for membership sites where each member has to pay each month. You, as an affiliate will receive commission for each month they’re still subscribed to the site.
Even though the commission is not as high as any high-ticket sale, it still provides a steady income.
Instant Payment
Instant payment was not a common thing not long ago. Instead, affiliates will be paid 30 days after a purchase is made. This is because within 30 days, the customers might ask for refunds. So, the affiliates will only be paid when the item sold is non-refundable.
Now, there are marketplaces on the Internet that has a system called ‘tentative payment’ where the affiliates will get instant payment. 80% of the commission will be given to the affiliate within 5-7 days. However, if a customer asks for a refund, the system will make the refund from the other 20% of the commission, and the rest will be pay off after 30 days. All is automated.
As an affiliate, you must always stick to the 80/20 rule to avoid any conflict.
EPC
EPC stands for “Earnings Per Click” and it’s very important for all affiliates to pay close attention to this.
EPC is the average earnings for each click that an affiliate send to the vendor website. It is the conversion rate for an affiliate. It calculates for each click. Calculating EPC gives an accurate and precise result for average sales.
EPC Formula
To calculate EPC, one does not have to be a mathematician. It is actually very simple and everyone can do it.
The formula for EPC is as follows:
Sales / No. of clicks = EPC
Example: Let’s say if an affiliate is selling a 100-dollar product. And one product is sold from 100 clicks that they directed to the link. This is how the formula is used:
Sales / No. of clicks = EPC
$100 / 100 clicks = $1.00
The EPC is $1.00
The higher the EPC is, the more likely that an affiliate get a higher commission for the product.
Above is an example of a high-ticket product’s EPC because the product was priced at $100. Usually, these products have high EPC
value. Selling high-ticket products can be a bit challenging, though, and it is recommended that you do it only occasionally.
Also, it is not recommended that you sell high-ticket products because not many are interested in them. When you promote these products in your emails to your subscribers, you are exhausting your list.