tl;dr Successfully foster your merchant relationships from the ground up using strategies proven to help achieve your partnership objectives.
· Issue 32 · October 2015
Proven Strategies for
John Nardolilli
A
Gaining Merchant Affinity
by John Nardolilli s an affiliate, it is your responsibility to educate merchant partners on your marketing methods. Al-
simplify your explanation to anyone who is new or unfamiliar
lowing merchants to understand how you will be
to your active relationship as an affiliate partner.
promoting them is the first step to a successful, long-term relationship.
Maintain Consistent Communication
One consequence of not doing so is getting all set up,
Next, you should maintain regular communication with
finding some success, and then having the merchant termi-
the merchant to find out about special promotions, opportu-
nate the relationship with no warning or explanation. More of-
nities, etc. This will not only provide information to help you
ten than not, this negative experience forces a permanent end
successfully promote, but it will also keep you top of mind for
to your relationship with the merchant.
the merchant when new opportunities arise.
One consistent pattern I have found in these sudden shut-
I have seen this lead to increased commission tests, new
downs is the merchant’s reasoning: they don’t understand the
traffic sources, exclusive offers, and countless additional op-
affiliate’s promotional methods, and instead of reaching out to
portunities that otherwise may not have been offered.
the affiliate for clarification, they simply pull the plug. If you introduce your affiliate brand upfront, the merchant
Provide Useful Data
is less likely to shut down when they have questions about
Most importantly, merchants may look at data for their
your promotional methods. In fact, the increased transparen-
overall program, but not for specific affiliates. Try providing
cy will give the merchant representative a better understand-
as much data as possible to your merchant partners, report-
ing and will allow them to provide their superiors (the decision
ing both the successes and the failures in your promotional
makers) with information on how successful you have been
efforts.
in promoting. This new understanding could lead to more opportunities down the road.
A good tip is to talk with your network partners to see if they can provide merchant-specific traffic data. Networks can sometimes retrieve additional data from their reports that you may not have known to ask for.
Document Your Relationship
The merchant will appreciate the information and will also
Once you’ve contacted a merchant and explained your
help them provide more informed updates to their superiors.
preferred marketing methods, you should document the re-
The more your contact thinks about you and the more infor-
lationship. Keeping track of your communication with a mer-
mation they can provide up the chain of command, the better.
chant can aid you in various ways, including acting as a quick
Transparency within your affiliate program is essential to
form of education should someone within the merchant’s or-
your success. Documenting your relationships, maintaining
ganization question your course of action.
consistent communication, and providing actionable data will
When you get these inquiries, you should always include your main point of contact. Keeping them in the loop will help
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lead to successful relationships and will help grow your affiliate business long-term. John is the Director of Affiliate Relations at LinkConnector Corporation.