Top affiliate program managers will tell you that a successful program requires a lot of time and effort. With a number of activities to continually monitor, it can get overwhelming. Don’t worry - AvantLink has surveyed the top 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 ensure sales are properly tracking and to monitor any larger sales, which could be fraudulent. See the suggested report set-up below:
- From the AvantLink interface, select Reports
- Select Performance BETA
- Select Performance Summary by Affiliate>All Affiliates
- Select yesterday as the date range
- Sales Adjustment Check-in. If your account is set up to automatically process sale adjustments on a daily basis, it is recommended to review your return files to ensure that they are successfully importing.
- From the AvantLink interface, select
- Select Transaction Manager
- Select Batch Returns & Sales
- From the AvantLink interface, select
This page will allow you to review the status of your return files. If your account is not set up to automatically process sale adjustments, see our Support Article: Automate Batch Returns/Sales using SFTP
WEEKLY
- Review Pending Affiliate Applications. Applications will approve automatically if they are left pending. The auto-approval time varies among merchant programs. See the following support articles for additional assistance:
- Organize Newly Accepted Affiliates into Tag Groups. The AvantLink interface allows you to organize your affiliates in any categories and groupings of your choosing. See the following support article for additional assistance:
BI-WEEKLY
- Recruit New Affiliates. The key to any successful program is to continue searching for new partners. If you are a new program, consider increasing your recruitment activities. See the following support articles for additional assistance:
- Ensure your Datafeed is Updating Properly. A high-quality datafeed is a great way to ensure that your product information is accurately available to your affiliates. See the following support article for additional assistance:
- Review AvantMetrics Performance. If your program has AvantMetrics reporting enabled, it is important to review how your affiliates are impacting your sales and your consumers path to purchase. See the suggested report set-up below:
- From the AvantLink interface, select Reports
- Select AvantMetrics
- Review the Order Summary report
- Review the Referral Group Summary report
- Review Referral Group Summary by Affiliate report
To review this enhanced data, your program must be integrated with the AvantMetrics pixel. If you would like more information, contact support@avantlink.com.
MONTHLY
- Communicate with your Affiliates via Newsletters. It is essential to continue a recurring line of communication with your partners. See the following support article for additional assistance:
- Review Transaction Inquiries. Merchants are encouraged to review inquiries on a regular basis as these are sales not properly credited. See the following support article for additional assistance:
- Review Coupon/Loyalty/Deal Site Store Pages. If your affiliate strategy involves partnerships with coupon, loyalty, and deal site, it is recommended to visit each partner's page and review all promotions they have listed for your brand. Contact them immediately if the store page contains inaccurate promotions. See the following support article for additional assistance:
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- Review your Program’s Monthly Performance by Affiliate. Identify reasons for noticeable increases or decreases in performance. Reach out to any inactive affiliates (no click or sale performance). For affiliates with decreased or no performance, suggest incentives to generate performance, such as bonus or commission increase opportunities. See the suggested report set-up below:
- From the AvantLink interface, select Reports
- Select Performance BETA
- Select Performance Summary by Affiliate>All Affiliates
- Select Month to Date and Compare Year Over Year in the date selection
- Sort by Sales
- Enter Media Placement Costs. All media placement costs should be entered via the AvantLink bonus tool before the end of the month to ensure that they appear on the next month's invoice. See the following support article for additional assistance:
- Review Current Ad Campaigns/Create New Ad Campaigns (if applicable). Remove any text and banner ads that are no longer relevant. Take this time to explore opportunities for new text and banner ads. See the following support article for additional assistance:
QUARTERLY
- Review Text and Banner Ad Traffic/Sales Performance. Consider expiring any text and banner ads that are not performing. See the suggested report set-up below:
- From the AvantLink interface, select Reports
- Select Classic
- Select Performance Summary by Ad Campaign
- Review Active Affiliate Commission Rates. Ensure that all commission rates are appropriately set. From the AvantLink interface, select 'Active Affiliates' from the dashboard and sort by 'Commission'.
- Review Sales Are Tracking Properly. Ensure that your program's sales are tracking 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 all information in your Account Settings are accurate including Account Profile, Program Terms and Program Description. See the following support article for additional assistance:
- Review Your Program’s Commission Rate. Ensure that your overall program rate is competitive to other merchant programs in the AvantLink network. You can review the program details for all merchants here: http://avantlink.com/programs
- Review All Email Templates. Ensure that the program's Acceptance, Denial, and Recruitment email templates are up-to-date. See the following support article for additional assistance:
- Review Tag Groups and Tag Group Rules. Ensure that your tag groups and/or categories are created for all your affiliate types. Ensure that any tag group rules in place are still needed and up-to-date. See the following support article for additional assistance:
- Perform Affiliate Audit. Review all active affiliates to ensure they are continuing to promote your brand appropriately.
- Review Datafeed Content. Ensure that all products are sufficiently listed in your datafeed. Check your program's datafeed ranking and review strategies offered to increase its ratings. To download your datafeed from the AvantLink interface, select 'Ad Tools' and 'Datafeed Administration'.
- Review Additional Tracking and Return Parameters. Ensure that your program is taking advantage of all AvantLink has to offer:
- Is AvantMetrics data tracked in your program?
- Are all marketing channels/networks tracked in your program? If not, does it make sense to adjust tracking reach?
- Should any additional tracking parameters be added that would help with your affiliate strategy in the coming year?
- Does your program have the ability to generate coupon codes?
- Is your program taking advantage of Exclusive Coupon Code capabilities?
- Is your program taking advantage of Restricted Coupon Code capabilities?
- Is your program taking advantage of Qualified Coupon Code capabilities?
- Is your program tracking New Customer sales?
- Does your program have automatic batch returns set up properly for your program?
- Is AvantMetrics data tracked in your program?
ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS
If you have any additional questions about the timeline or the tactics discussed, please email am@avantlink.com.