These are tips to attract affiliates to merchants/sponsors.
Merchant/Sponsor Tips.
Be careful where you promote your affiliate program.
Don't do it on landing pages used by your affiliates! If you MUST expose a program, obviously on the web, do NOT expose the payout. What offline sales program tells the customers what the sales commission is?
Don't hide payouts behind a bunch of rules and conditions.
This includes things such as chargebacks, "official" stats vs. real time stats, etc... In other words, be sure it is very clear what the earnings are, in real-time. Deduct a chargeback whenever necessary with a similar real-time notice.
When an affiliate checks their stats, they want to know what has been earned. Of course, let affiliates know there may be adjustments, if there is a good reason.
Be careful about requirements.
If you require use of specific banners or graphics, be sure they are professional, modern, and engaging. No one likes signing-on to a seemingly good program, with big gotchas. For instance, a program offers old-school, ill-conceived promotions which never work on modern web pages.
Be sure check stubs say who you are!
It is amazing how many affiliate programs send checks out from different states or locations. These are different from the home address and the company name is nowhere on the check!
It is possible to run down the check (!), but it is annoying. It reflects poorly on the operations of an affiliate program. For merchants/sponsors, use any name. But, at least, have a consistent name on the stub!
Have the affiliate manager send notices.
These notices are for other products matching the demographic of the traffic being sent.
Consider an affiliate sending good converting traffic to a cowboy boot collection. The merchant/sponsor also sells western shirts. Send a notice including some western shirt promotional materials. Include a suggestion to try cross-selling into that department. The tip is appreciated, and is a chance for more sales.
It is great to see "our best selling promotions".
This appears on the private affiliate page. It alerts the affiliate to changes in the market. Therefore, appropriate adjustments are possible (instead of waiting for sales to fall). Works great when it's maintained.
Send demographic data for customers affiliates send.
Some merchants/sponsors are good at collecting data on converted customers. They know all sorts of things about them. Guess what? Merchants/sponsors also know who sent these customers. The affiliate knows where they came from and what made them click thru.
Merchants/sponsors need to share their demographic info with affiliates so both put it to good use.
Conclusion.
Affiliates want certain things from a program from a merchant/sponsor. Following these tips give the affiliate more reason to stay in a program.