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Managing your Program - A Timeline for Affiliates/Publishers

  • Updated

Whether you are a merchant advertiser or publisher, all successful affiliate marketing programs require a healthy amount of time. With a number of activities to continually monitor, it can get overwhelming. Don’t worry - AvantLink has surveyed the top publisher account managers in the business to construct a timeline of management activities along with support articles to help make your program a success. The timeline covers activities to review:

DAILY

  • Sales Performance Report Check-in. This is essential to get a daily pulse of your program’s performance and identify top performers and top declining partners. See the suggested report set-up below:
    • From the AvantLink interface, select Reports
    • Select Performance BETA
    • Select Performance Summary by Merchant>All Merchant
    • Select yesterday as the date range and compare Year Over Year

  • Review Promotional Opportunities. Merchants continually update text and banner ads in the Avantlink network when sales are launched. Ensure that you stay on top of any promotional updates from your partners. See the following support article for additional assistance:

WEEKLY

  • Review Inactive Merchant Partnerships: When a merchant partner closes their account or disables their relationship with your site, AvantLink offers a way to move forward to keep driving your audience to similar partners. See the following support article for additional assistance:
  • Organize Newly Accepted Merchants into Tag Groups. The AvantLink interface allows you to organize your merchant partners in any categories and groupings of your choosing. See the following support article for additional assistance:

MONTHLY

  • Follow Up with Submitted Transaction Inquiries. Reach out to merchants who have yet to approve or deny any affiliate transactions you have submitted. See the following support article for additional assistance: 
  • Review your Program’s Monthly Performance by Merchant. Identify reasons for noticeable increases or decreases in performance. Reach out to any inactive merchants (no click or sale performance) and offer a plan to start performance. See the suggested report set-up below:
    • From the AvantLink interface, select Reports
    • Select Performance BETA
    • Select Performance Summary by Affiliate>All Merchants
    • Select Month to Date and Compare Year Over Year in the date selection
    • Sort by Sales

QUARTERLY

  • Review Active Merchant Commission Rates. Ensure that all commission rates are appropriately set. From the AvantLink interface, select 'Active Merchants' from the dashboard and sort by 'Commission'.
  • Review Sales Are Tracking Properly. For your affiliate sales to be recorded, there are a number of steps in the consumer’s journey that must happen - most importantly properly performing links. Review all sales performance and if you are ever unsure that your links are set up properly, see the following support article for additional assistance:

YEARLY

  • Review Your Program's Account Profile. Ensure that your program's contact information and general company information is correct. See the following support article for additional assistance:
  • Review Program User Log-ins. Deactivate any users who no longer need access to the program interface. See the following support article for additional assistance:
  • Review Affiliate Program Details. Ensure that the description of your main website is up-to-date and accurate. Also ensure that all websites and social media sites associated with your affiliate strategy are added. See the following support article for additional assistance:
  • Review Your Partners Commission Rate. Ensure that all commission rates are appropriately set. From the AvantLink interface, select 'Active Merchants' from the dashboard and sort by 'Commission'.

  • Perform Merchant Audit. Review all merchant advertisers to ensure you are doing everything to promote their brand to the best of your ability.

ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS

If you have any additional questions about the timeline or the tactics discussed, please email am@avantlink.com.

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