What is a Sub Affiliate Network?
Sub Affiliate Networks provide merchant advertisers the opportunity to partner with a consortium of affiliates via a single affiliate account within AvantLink. Sub Affiliate Networks recruit other individuals or entities to become affiliates under them. These recruited affiliates are referred to as sub-affiliates. The Sub Affiliate Network, who brought in the sub-affiliate, earns a portion of the sub-affiliate's commissions.
Sub Affiliate Networks maintain partnerships with a wide array of affiliates including content, deal, coupon, and loyalty. There are many Sub Affiliate Networks but the top partners in AvantLink include:
- Skimbit, Ltd / skimlinks.com
- Sovrn (formerly known as VigLink) / sovrn.com
- Flexoffers.com, LLC / flexoffers.com
Why do Affiliates Join a Sub Affiliate Network?
Sub-affiliates tend to lean towards a Sub Affiliate Network over a direct partnership via AvantLink, as their editors know the dashboard, can load links and search for merchants that sell brands while comparing commission rates, EPC and other metrics.
Why Should an Advertiser Include Sub Affiliate Networks into an Affiliate Strategy?
Working with a Sub Affiliate Network casts a larger net of potential partnerships to help scale your program quickly and cost effectively. Because Sub Affiliate Networks maintain a large group of partners - including top content and media publications - they can drive a significant amount of traffic and revenue.
Large media outlets may not have the staff to add affiliate links so they use a Sub Affiliate Network.
Affiliate partners that are associated with sub-affiliate partners often include large publications such as Conde Nast, Hearst, Meredith Corp., among others.
How Does a Sub-Affiliate Partnership Work?
Starting a sub-affiliate partnership works just like any other affiliate partnership in the AvantLink network. A merchant advertiser can recruit a Sub Affiliate Network to join their program (note: when recruiting, you can search by Affiliate Classification>Sub Affiliate Network) or you can receive an offer from a Sub Affiliate Network.
When a Sub Affiliate Network drives a sale, the merchant advertiser pays the Sub Affiliate Network via the AvantLink interface and the Sub Affiliate Network gives a percentage to their sub-affiliate. Brands do not pay twice.
Sub-Affiliate Partnership Best Tips & Practices:
- Identify Partnerships: Since Sub Affiliate Networks offer a wide variety of partnership, you can request to be removed from certain types of affiliate relationships through sub-affiliate networks.
- Review Performance: Request reporting of who is driving performance. Top sub-affiliate partners such as Skimlinks, Viglink, and FlexOffers now offer this data in the AvantLink dashboard. Review the support article: Performance Summary by Sub Affiliate Partners. For any other Sub Affiliate Network, you can contact them directly to request partner performance.
- Update Promotions: Ensure that Sub Affiliate Networks are notified of upcoming or current promotions. You may need to check with them individually to figure out the best way for you to send in your offers. SkimLinks, in particular, asks that you complete a form for every sale/discount.
- Strategize Commissions: A high commission rate of 10-20% is recommended to attract the top publishers in a Sub Affiliate Network. Use the Sub Affiliate Commission tool to customize commission rates to specific sub-affiliates
- Optimize Exposure: Inquire about any opportunities to increase exposure among strong partners performing for your program. You can find these opportunities in AvantLink’s Media Kits page.