7 Ways To Build Strong Affiliate Relationships
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Affiliates are an effortless choice to enhance your eCommerce marketing efforts.
Yet it is important that you don’t just onboard affiliate partners and leave them to it. Once you’ve put the hard work in to find the perfect partner you don’t want to lose them, and instead want to make the most of your partnership.
A good relationship between the two of you is both time and cost-effective for your business and can also increase your credibility. The better your affiliate relationship, the more likely they are to promote your business.
Here we have put together some top tips on how to build a strong relationship with your affiliates.
1. Get to know them
There are so many benefits to getting to know your affiliates and it’s important you put in the time to do so. This will ensure you find affiliates of the highest quality who align with your brand and what you wish to promote.
Take note of the names of your affiliates, their background, interests and any small snippets of information they might tell you when answering questions on your affiliate registration form.
Check out their social media profiles including who they follow and what they are interested in, tying in these interests with conversations you might have. This will help to build a rapport that can last.
2. Keep in touch regularly
Once you have got to know your affiliate partner, it’s important to keep in touch. By doing so, you can continue to nurture your relationship and also check in with how things are going. You can see if they have any feedback for you, if they have any suggestions and if you have anything you need to let them know.
It also ensures you are kept on their radar and can tell them about any upcoming offers or special deals they should be aware of. By having them feel they are in the loop and that you genuinely care about how they are getting on, your relationship will be much stronger.
3. Offer a personalised experience
When using affiliates, chances are that you have many different types from micro-influencers, to digital magazines.
Due to this, they can all require different types of interaction through the program.
By offering a personalised experience you can help them to feel valued and more likely to want to continue working with you. Put your affiliates in different segments and only send them the communication that is relevant to them.
This will ensure they aren’t bombarded with information that is of no use to them, making them more likely to want to work with you.
You could also create personalised landing pages or content that has been written tailored specifically for a certain niche.
4. Reward them generously
A great way to build a relationship with your affiliates is through rewards and performance bonuses.
It could be that you give them a cash boost when they reach a certain benchmark, or perhaps you send them a gift once they have been working successfully with you for a certain amount of time.
Give them acknowledgements or shout out to them on your social media platforms and ensure they know they are valued. It could be around a certain holiday such as Christmas for example, if they make a certain amount of sales you add on an extra percentage to what they have earned.
5. Foster a Community Among Affiliates
Encouraging a sense of community among your affiliates can greatly enhance their engagement and loyalty. Create platforms where affiliates can interact, share experiences, and learn from each other.
This could be through social media groups (like Facebook), forums, or regular meetups.
Such environments not only foster a collaborative spirit but also allow affiliates to feel part of a larger mission. It helps in networking, sharing best practices, and creates a support system where affiliates can motivate and inspire each other, further strengthening their relationship with your brand.
6. Give them the tools and resources they need
There are plenty of tools that an affiliate could need in order to give their followers the best experience and offers the best chance of success.
This includes things like:
- A coupon code unique to the affiliate, which they can use to encourage new customers to make a purchase on your site with a special discount.
- A way for them to generate and easily share their referral URLs which automatically links the customer to the affiliate, and even applies the coupon automatically.
- Affiliate marketing materials (creatives) such as graphics, banners, or brand guidelines if they wish to make their own.
- A place for them to view detailed statistics and track commission.
- Somewhere they can easily request and view their upcoming payouts.
Be sure to equip them with these tools via a user-friendly affiliate dashboard, so they don’t have to put in too many hours of work, which can feel like a slog. By doing so, they will appreciate your thought and it will also empower them to be as successful as possible.
Give them all the relevant information and contact details should they ever need to get in touch with you for support or to ask questions.
7. Use an affiliate plugin
Using a plugin could help take your affiliate program to the next level, offering all the tools needed for you to successfully run an affiliate marketing campaign.
If you are running a WooCommerce store, our plugin Coupon Affiliates is a great option to go with. It will give your affiliate partners access to a user-friendly dashboard to view coupon usage statistics, track their commission, request payouts, generate referral URLs, and lots more.
You can also easily payout your affiliates in one click via Stripe or PayPal, keep track of payouts, and manage registrations, along with a collection of other awesome features.
Learn more about Coupon Affiliates at https://couponaffiliates.com
Conclusion
Building a strong relationship with your affiliates is a marathon, not a sprint.
It will take time, but the results will be worth it!
Follow the tips above, and you’ll be well on your way to running a successful affiliate program.
Elliot Sowersby is a WordPress developer from Yorkshire, United Kingdom. He is the founder and lead developer of Coupon Affiliates and RelyWP.
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