Boosting Motivation: How To Keep Your Partners Engaged

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Have you noticed that your affiliates’ attention is lacking slightly??

They might be losing motivation to perform.?

What can you do to boost their motivation and get them to perform to the highest standard??

That’s what I’m here to tell you…

The First Thing

The best way to stop your affiliate partners from losing motivation is to prevent it from the very beginning.?

When an affiliate signs up for your program, you should focus on building an engagement funnel of communications that go out to them. You can do this as an automated response or diarize them to be sent at regular intervals.?

A great way to do this is for at least the first four weeks of joining your program, to make sure that the affiliates have everything that they need.

For example, ensure that they have access to the right creative assets for them to promote on their website.

Offering your affiliates easy access to this information from the get-go helps them learn that they can come to you whenever they need to solidify your relationship with them.?

Creating a regular checkpoint with your partners will ensure that they’re connected with you and that they remember key parts of your program offering and keep them engaged.?

Feedback Is Key

People often forget the importance of getting feedback from their partners and they really shouldn’t.?

I recommend that at least once every six months, send out a survey or a poll to their partners, whether they’re active or inactive, asking what you could be doing better.?

Engaging and asking your partners for feedback and listening to what they have to say will help you to better implement changes and keep them happy too.?

People want to feel like they’re being listened to and that their issues matter and it’s up to you to ensure you can live up to that expectation.?

Rewards And Incentives?

I strongly believe in the power of offering an incentive to boost motivation in affiliate programs.?

However, I have experienced affiliate managers in the past going overboard with this which has resulted in disaster.?

It’s necessary to have one key component that affiliates are promoting and give them a bit of time to promote it rather than overdoing it.?

Instead, try looking at something like quarterly promotions or leaderboards – things that really drive affiliates to promote or push certain offers.?

In the eCommerce space, it’s vital that you use seasonality for promotions and events, so don’t forget about your content calendar!?

You can use these periods to push promotions and therefore further incentivise your affiliates to deliver more.?

Dive Into The Dashboard

A real affiliate-pleaser I’ve found is creating an easy-to-use dashboard.?

You may already be aware of this, but most affiliates are signed up to more than one affiliate program and because of this, it can be difficult for them to keep track of everything.?

If you can provide simple month-end reports or even a clickable link that they can download to view key metrics from their affiliate account, you’ll find they’ll be more motivated to perform.?

This isn’t the only benefit, either.?

A simple dashboard will remind them to get in touch with you if they have any questions which are great for your relationship.?

Recurring Revenue > One-Time Payout

Consider taking a look at how your commercial functionality works in your program and how you’re incentivising affiliates to do repeat sales or create campaigns that can work alongside the initial acquisition costs.?

Once you’ve done this, consider switching from one-time payouts to recurring payouts to keep them incentivised to keep on delivering.?

Keep It Simple

Affiliates don’t want to be fighting with your platform to get content for promotions.?

They’ll quickly lose interest if you haven’t made the process simple for them to carry out.?

If you can, get in touch with your affiliates once a month to tell them about the promotions in your program.?

You could even consider introducing a one-time touchpoint every month that provides additional learning for them to enhance some of the promotions that they’re doing for you.?

Give them templates, cheat sheets and guides – every little helps.?

Connect In-Person

One of the best ways to engage your partners is to connect with them in person (if possible).?

A lot of affiliate managers frequent various events during the year – this is the perfect opportunity to reach out to your partners and ask them if they’ll be there too.?

In-person relationships always perform better than those that are strictly online, so invest your time into them wherever you can.?

Get to as many events as you’re able and connect with your partners. Invite them to come along with you. Why not??

You could even use this as a prize-driving tool.?

A lot of affiliates can be somewhat introverted and therefore may not feel comfortable attending all of these events alone, so by inviting them to come along with you, you can build a closer bond that gets them out of their comfort zone.?

Newsletters

The most obvious way to keep your affiliates connected, engaged and motivated in terms of promoting your program is to send out regular newsletters.?

Not all affiliate managers are aware of how frequently newsletters should be distributed, but I’d say that at a bare minimum, one per month.?

These newsletters should have 3-4 key stories of things that you want to highlight, educate on or promote.?

But remember, not sending emails is just as bad as sending too many.?

Think about how much and what kind of communication your affiliate partners need and when you should be sending it.

Finding the right balance is vital.?

Pay On Time

This should go without saying, but if you want to keep your partners motivated and engaged in your program, you need to pay them on time.?

Affiliates are more likely to want to promote your program and go above and beyond for someone that can pay consistently on time compared to somebody whose payment times are out of sync.?

Consistency builds trust. Without it, affiliates may begin losing interest.?

To Summarise?

So that’s it!?

Keeping your affiliates engaged and motivated doesn’t have to be a challenge. You just need to be consistent.?

Here’s a round-up of what you should be doing as an affiliate manager to keep your partners engaged:?

• Create an engagement funnel.
• Listen and take onboard their feedback.?
• Offer great rewards and incentives.?
• Simplify your dashboard.?
• Consider a recurring payout.?
• Make promotional content easy to access.?
• Distribute newsletters frequently.?
• PAY ON TIME.?

It really can be that easy.?

If you’re noticing that your affiliates are showing less interest or want to give these tips a try, let me know how it goes!?

P.S. Are you looking to recession-proof your affiliate program for the year ahead? Join my upcoming free webinar for tips and tricks on how to ensure your affiliate program makes it through! Sign up here .?

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