Affiliate Application Declined – Why? What Now?

Did you receive an “affiliate application declined” email?

Thank you for applying to the XBrand affiliate program but we have chosen to decline your application at this time. This program is professionally managed by Apogee and we are looking for the right set of affiliate partners to promote our products.

If you did, let’s talk about why you were denied. One of our roles here at Apogee is to manually approve or decline every affiliate application submitted to each and every client on our roster. It’s a time consuming but worthwhile process and one we strongly believe in. You’ll read a little later what you can do to appeal our decline decision, because this might not be the end of the road for us.

Affiliate Application Declined: Why We Did It

We base our decisions on saving time and headaches from both sides. Your application doesn’t have to be perfect, but we have to understand how you will promote Apogee clients. We need to see the site and quickly determine your model of affiliate marketing. If we can’t visualize those promotions and you haven’t explained them, we’ll hit decline and wait for more information. Here are some of the things we look for on your site and in your application that can or will lead to a decline.

1. Coupons/loyalty — We have a hand-selected group of coupon and loyalty sites approved in our programs. We are not adding new ones at this time.
2. Site issues — Your website does not work or is still under construction. We need to see content, not parked domains.
3. Relevancy — Your website has nothing to do with our client and you did not explain your strategy in the application notes.
4. Feedback — Managers in the ShareASale network have shared negative feedback regarding your promotions.
5. Paid traffic — No PPC, PPV or media buying is allowed without permission and full coordination with the management team.
6. Templates — If you purchased a template from a make money online automation system or even Amazon. Others have never made money with this strategy in our programs.

But I Was Already in the Program…

For those of you that were declined but had been part of our programs, we offer different reasons for your removal.

1. Violation — You violated our affiliate agreement. Most likely by purchasing trademark keywords in paid search, but there may have been other reasons.
2. Previous violations — You may not have violated the current terms but you most likely did in one of our other programs. If you violate in one program, we will likely remove you from other programs.
3. Re-launch — Apogee has just taken over management and is relaunching the affiliate program. Our standards above apply for all programs.

Appeals and How to Win Them

If you feel we missed something, any important detail about you or your site, we are more than happy to listen to an appeal then go back and hit the approve button. The fastest way to appeal is to hit reply on the “affiliate application declined” email. Those come directly to the affiliate managers. We read them all, and often reply within 24 hours. Tell us what we overlooked. Give us your strategy. Show your other domains. Begin the discussion about how you will promote this merchant. Affiliate marketing is about relationship building. Now is your chance to reach out and get best practices from our team and work on a long-term strategy of growth.

Our job as affiliate manages is to recruit the best possible partners to this program. Apogee clients rely on our judgment for a fair playing field amongst affiliates. They are looking for a positive extension of their brand to help influence customers and close the deal. We look forward to hearing from you.