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- Apr 17, 2018
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One thing that hasn't really been discussed too much here on affLIFT yet is cap management. Before I go into how to best manage the cap you have on offers, let me first explain what cap is.
Most affiliate networks have a specific amount of conversions they can accept on each individual offer on their network. It's also possible they have a set amount that spreads across multiple offers from the same client/advertiser. The amount of conversions that a client is willing to pay for from an affiliate network on an offer is the offer's cap.
Here is an example from my friends at MOBIPIUM:
For newbies, cap isn't a big deal because you're just concerned about getting your first conversion. But, as you grow as an affiliate, cap becomes a very big deal as it's the difference between making $50 a day and $500 a day.
Let's use the example above. With that offer from MOBIPIUM, the payout is $1.40 and there's a daily cap of 50 conversions. So, the most you can possibly make off that offer is $70 (assuming no ad spend and a magic wand generating conversions).
It's more likely you'll see maybe a 50% ROI in which case you only made $35 profit off the cap of 50 conversions. Not bad. But, what if you got those 50 conversions in 1 hour? You are being limited drastically on the amount of revenue you could make because of the 50 conversion cap.
So, what are your options?
There are 2 ways that I know of that you can use to increase the cap you have on an affiliate offer:
1. Get the affiliate network you are working with to increase your cap.
This is not always an option, but it's likely that MOBIPIUM has a cap higher than 50 on this offer. It's also likely that they can increase your cap with a few clicks of their mouse.
Many networks will set an arbitrary cap per offer just so some new affiliate doesn't come in, run 5000 fraud conversions to an offer, and get the offer removed from the network. So, they'll say "hey, you can run 50 conversions to this offer and then we can discuss increasing the cap" or something like that. It's risk management and it's a great form of it in my opinion. We did this quite a bit at PeerFly.
Getting your cap increased from the affiliate network may be as easy as just messaging your Affiliate Manager and telling them you are planning to promote the offer and would like a bigger cap. If you have history with that network already and a good relationship with your AM, that's usually all it will take.
If that's not the case, you may need to hit the cap a few days in a row before the network will agree to increase it. Or, they may require you to hit a few days in a row and then they'll get a quality check done with the client/advertiser to make sure your traffic is performing well.
No matter what the situation, running traffic to the offer is the best way to prove that you deserve more cap and that it's actually necessary.
2. Run the same offer on multiple networks.
This is one that not a lot of people talk about, but it's a pretty good solution if you are running high volume and need extra cap. You can run the same offer across multiple networks.
Some advertisers/networks will frown on this, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with it assuming you are not running fraud traffic or trying to hide from a blacklist. In fact, as an affiliate, this has the nice side effect of helping spread out your risk. If you are running a big campaign with 1 network and that network shuts down without paying you, you are out all of the money you spent on that campaign.
If you run the same offer across multiple networks, you are spreading out your risk among multiple networks so if something bad happens at one of the networks, you could still potentially get paid by the other network.
When I have a nice profitable campaign going where I am potentially going to be generating $xxx-xxxx/day, I always reach out to the affiliate networks and affiliate managers I have a good relationship with to see if they can get me the offer, at what payout, and what payment schedule. It is likely the payout won't be exactly what you are already getting, but I would rather spread my risk and increase my cap and lose out on maybe 10% margin than not do those things.
Now, the one big pitfall with running across multiple networks is that you are waiting on payment from multiple networks. You can run into cash flow issues, but I only recommend getting the offers from networks you already have good relationships with so that you can work on getting a good schedule/payout too.
Lastly, if you are running an offer with an affiliate network, try to get it direct as well. Going direct could open up the most cap and will get you the best payout and most direct feedback
Let me know if you have any questions
Most affiliate networks have a specific amount of conversions they can accept on each individual offer on their network. It's also possible they have a set amount that spreads across multiple offers from the same client/advertiser. The amount of conversions that a client is willing to pay for from an affiliate network on an offer is the offer's cap.
Here is an example from my friends at MOBIPIUM:
For newbies, cap isn't a big deal because you're just concerned about getting your first conversion. But, as you grow as an affiliate, cap becomes a very big deal as it's the difference between making $50 a day and $500 a day.
Let's use the example above. With that offer from MOBIPIUM, the payout is $1.40 and there's a daily cap of 50 conversions. So, the most you can possibly make off that offer is $70 (assuming no ad spend and a magic wand generating conversions).
It's more likely you'll see maybe a 50% ROI in which case you only made $35 profit off the cap of 50 conversions. Not bad. But, what if you got those 50 conversions in 1 hour? You are being limited drastically on the amount of revenue you could make because of the 50 conversion cap.
So, what are your options?
Options for Increasing Cap with Affiliate Marketing
There are 2 ways that I know of that you can use to increase the cap you have on an affiliate offer:
- Get the affiliate network you are working with to increase your cap.
- Run the same offer on multiple networks.
1. Get the affiliate network you are working with to increase your cap.
This is not always an option, but it's likely that MOBIPIUM has a cap higher than 50 on this offer. It's also likely that they can increase your cap with a few clicks of their mouse.
Many networks will set an arbitrary cap per offer just so some new affiliate doesn't come in, run 5000 fraud conversions to an offer, and get the offer removed from the network. So, they'll say "hey, you can run 50 conversions to this offer and then we can discuss increasing the cap" or something like that. It's risk management and it's a great form of it in my opinion. We did this quite a bit at PeerFly.
Getting your cap increased from the affiliate network may be as easy as just messaging your Affiliate Manager and telling them you are planning to promote the offer and would like a bigger cap. If you have history with that network already and a good relationship with your AM, that's usually all it will take.
If that's not the case, you may need to hit the cap a few days in a row before the network will agree to increase it. Or, they may require you to hit a few days in a row and then they'll get a quality check done with the client/advertiser to make sure your traffic is performing well.
No matter what the situation, running traffic to the offer is the best way to prove that you deserve more cap and that it's actually necessary.
2. Run the same offer on multiple networks.
This is one that not a lot of people talk about, but it's a pretty good solution if you are running high volume and need extra cap. You can run the same offer across multiple networks.
Some advertisers/networks will frown on this, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with it assuming you are not running fraud traffic or trying to hide from a blacklist. In fact, as an affiliate, this has the nice side effect of helping spread out your risk. If you are running a big campaign with 1 network and that network shuts down without paying you, you are out all of the money you spent on that campaign.
If you run the same offer across multiple networks, you are spreading out your risk among multiple networks so if something bad happens at one of the networks, you could still potentially get paid by the other network.
When I have a nice profitable campaign going where I am potentially going to be generating $xxx-xxxx/day, I always reach out to the affiliate networks and affiliate managers I have a good relationship with to see if they can get me the offer, at what payout, and what payment schedule. It is likely the payout won't be exactly what you are already getting, but I would rather spread my risk and increase my cap and lose out on maybe 10% margin than not do those things.
Now, the one big pitfall with running across multiple networks is that you are waiting on payment from multiple networks. You can run into cash flow issues, but I only recommend getting the offers from networks you already have good relationships with so that you can work on getting a good schedule/payout too.
Lastly, if you are running an offer with an affiliate network, try to get it direct as well. Going direct could open up the most cap and will get you the best payout and most direct feedback
Let me know if you have any questions
