Preface to the Report on Affiliate Management Software 2005

Since the first edition of the Report on Affiliate Management Software in 2001, we've seen a lot of changes.

First, many companies have entered the market; nearly all the major shopping carts provide an affiliate module. In this book I've summarized the website descriptions of 48 affiliate program systems, not including another 50 (mainly minor) programs listed in the CGI Resource Index and another 44 (mainly minor) PHP programs listed in the PHP Resource Index. The programs I've investigated include the major players in this arena. But with the plethora of programs out there, I can see why merchants and lead generation businesses can throw up their hands in confusion.

Second, while most companies have maintained the status quo, a few have kept pushing forward with improvements. What was excellent software in 2001 is now only a bit above the average. I see three generations of affiliate software:

The first generation covers the basics only, and is adequate enough for the small merchant without many demands. Most of what is on the market today is in this first generation.

The second generation has added much greater flexibility to the commission structure, the ability of the merchant to offer incentives to new or high-performing affiliates, and top notch customer service for its merchant clients. Some in the ASP hosted software group are in this generation.

The third generation is found only in the network model, designed to server the larger, more active retailers only . They have focused on flexibility, security, and providing excellent, comprehensive service for their retailer clients. Since these larger merchants are most prone to fraud, third generation software includes a number of security features to keep fraudsters out of the affiliate pool, if possible, and detect them if they slip in.

My goal in this book is to help you understand how affiliate management software works, which features are important, let you know as much as possible about the programs themselves, and then make recommendations to guide you in the selection process. At the end I award four software programs the Web Marketing Today Award of Excellence in Affiliate Management Software.

I trust that you'll find this book the tool you need to decide which affiliate management software to use for your online organization.

God bless you,
Dr. Ralph F. Wilson
April 11, 2005, Loomis, California