Here is my take on Amazon low commission rates.
I’m not sure if you’re aware of this: Once people get to Amazon, they tend to buy other things as well – not merely what you sent them there for. You can be rewarded with more than one sale per clickthrough.
This is an open secret shared by most experienced marketers that they’re sometimes reluctant to tell newbies. You may even get multiple sales through a single visitor whom you persuade (call to action) to your review site. This adds a lot to your commission. So it’s not just 3%. It’s 3% here and 3% there, and 1% somewhere else.
Amazon marketers Wanda and Paula once revealed in their book that they used to have 2,292 sales per month in one of their Amazon accounts. Of those 2,292 sales, 524 were for products that they were promoting. The other 1,768 sales were products they didn’t promote in any manner – not even a single mention. They actually picked up more sales for unrelated products than for those they promoted.
Apart from that, folks buy A LOT on Amazon. I know for fact that a friend of a friend had this experience twice on one of her clients’ site that someone made very big orders and he was paid commission. Once it was someone who was remodeling a house and he bought $10k worth of floor tiles, making him $100 commission just from that order. Another time a guy bought $5k worth of sanitizer gel and he made $50 commission out of it. It's not just about commission rate; you want to look at volume too.
There are folks who spend a lot on Amazon, it’s the price factor in play. They buy more here compared to other sites (Walmart, Target, BestBuy etc.) as Amazon almost or most of the time sells the cheapest.
I know another story about people swithc from Amazon because the cheap paying rate of AFP. A couple months ago my friend had a client who switched one of his Amazon affiliate links to Walmart’s, promoting the same product; as Walmart offered a slightly better rate. You know what? Conversion went down tremendously for him. It wasn't 5% or 20% lower, it was about 80% lower. Why? Simply because Amazon sold it cheaper. Now he can totally understand why Amazon products convert the best for him: lowest price in the market.
Here is something worth paying attention to about Amazon: 82% of US households are Amazon Prime members. Which means almost everyone in the US uses Amazon.
Here is what usually happens in the US when someone wants to buy something: I want to buy a camera > check on Amazon but not sure > Google up a review article > click on an affiliate link > buy.
So remember, in reality, if you are an affiliate you actually not sending anyone new to Amazon. If you now change it to say Walmart then they will still check on Amazon, if the price is the same or cheaper on Amazon they will order from there (especially if they have Amazon Prime which offers fast + free shipping).
People look for information on the internet and then buy on Amazon. This is why the conversion rate is really good on Amazon and impossible to achieve with other affiliate programs. Although their commision is low.
I still only recommend Amazon affiliate sites, there are 3 main reasons why Amazon always makes affiliates the most money vs the other affiliate programs:
#1. You can be rewarded with more than one sale per click through.
#2. Folks buy a lot on Amazon; as they almost always sell at the lowest market price. Amazon also knows how to make people want to stick with them- 82% of US households are Amazon Prime members; which allows them to get their orders quickly and free. Some cities even get free same-day shipping!
#3. Finally, and most importantly; other than looking at rates you want to look at conversions.
This is the part most newbies aren’t aware of and that's why they keep complaining about the commission rates. When we start, we will recommend the best niches with the highest conversions now, so that you will make a ton of money. It's all about conversion rate, not just commission rate. The pros know that.
Comments
Post a Comment