As you build your merchant advertiser partnerships, a crucial step is to ensure your active partnerships are performing at their highest level. These simple steps can significantly increase your program's effectiveness and revenue. Here are some steps to help you:
OPTIMIZE ACCOUNT
- Review your company name, this is what merchants see in a preview in the network. Make sure you feature your website or social page name rather than a business name, you can always add a dba.
- Make sure your site/social page description is current and describes your true value proposition to merchants/brands. Since you can not add hyperlinks to your website description for security reasons, you can add a URL for more information, media kit and about us page on your site. Include monthly views, social followers.
- List all additional websites/social pages to give your complete viewership and follower counts. If your Instagram page has more views than your website, you should add it and set it as your default.
OPTIMIZE MERCHANT RELATIONSHIPS
- Identify Top Performers: Focus on your high-performing merchant advertisers and analyze what makes them successful. Reach out and pitch all the site visitors and social followers you have from all your sites and social pages. Set up a call to develop a relationship.
From the Dashboard, select Reports>Performance Beta>Select Performance Summary by Merchant>Adjust the Date Range to Last Year>Adjust Compare To Year Over Year. This will provide a year over year comparison of your merchant advertisers.
- Monitor Declines: From the report generated above, review merchants with declining sales and reach out to explore potential solutions or if they need additional efforts.
- Review Denied Applications: If your audience has grown since you were declined by a merchant advertiser, now it's time to revisit denied applications. Offer your media campaign.
- Segment Partnerships: Group merchants based on performance, niche, or audience type, and tailor your efforts and promotions accordingly.
DEVELOP A GAME PLAN For Each MERCHANT
- Offer a Personalized Plan
- Review underperforming merchants to ensure their brand is being promoted appropriately.
- Ensure links to their products are functional and look for ways you can feature them.
- Offer a tailored media campaign to include content articles, videos, social posts, podcasts and newsletter insertions.
- Ask for Additional Incentives
- Is there a program for complimentary products to review and to do giveaways with. Ask for a higher commission in return for more promotion/exposure.
- Does your partner offer Exclusive Coupon Codes?
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Encourage Collaboration
- Partner Promotions: Collaborate with merchants on campaigns to increase the exposure of their brand.
- Content Sharing: Share your user-generated content or success stories for merchants to repost on their platforms with a link back to your site.
- Regular Updates: Sign-up for merchant newsletters and follow their social pages to keep informed about new products, promotions, and updates in their program. Ask for a marketing calendar and creative assets.
REVIEW YOUR OPTIMIZATION SUCCESS
- Feedback Loop: Encourage merchants to share feedback on your program and to listen to their needs.
- Review Segment Performance: Review your segments by running a ‘performance summary’ by tag group report.
CONCLUSION
Optimizing your affiliate program is paramount in keeping your partners engaged. Continually reaching out fosters loyalty by treating merchants as valued partners, and not just another sales channel. Please reach out to our team (am@avantlink.com) if you want to brainstorm optimization ideas.