Companies within every industry are constantly balancing their clients’ needs, and this is especially true within the affiliate marketing industry. CPA networks are faced with a special type of balancing act when working to satisfy both the needs of their marketers and affiliate partners. While the needs of marketers and affiliate partners are different, their end goals are the same – to convert as many genuine customers as possible.
Their journey to achieving this goal is interdependent on one another. Marketers want to achieve their KPIs by driving qualified leads, traffic, or conversions to their offers. In order for affiliates to be able to drive that traffic, they need the technology that allows them to properly track and scale their business, insight into which offers may best suit their traffic, and strong account managers who are able to collaborate with them to optimize offers. These traits and the others we’ll discuss in this article are what set great CPA networks apart from the rest.
Account Management & Transparency
A great affiliate or account manager can be hard to come by. Not only does this manager need to understand the industry at large, but they must also have a breadth of knowledge in terms of which current and up-and-coming offers will perform well. Vast knowledge is most times earned with experience. A tenured account manager can prove invaluable to any affiliate partner looking to launch or scale their business at large. These strong account managers are typically in constant communication with their affiliates to ensure they are informed of the latest campaign updates, such as changes to budgets or dayparting schedules. This steady stream of communication also allows account managers to quickly resolve any issues that may arise for the affiliate so they’re able to continue monetizing their traffic as much as possible.
Affiliates benefit most from those networks and account managers who offer full transparency into the day-to-day operations of their business. Full transparency to an affiliate means they understand how their traffic is performing and how their performance is impacting the marketer and network at large. These insights can prove invaluable to an affiliate as they scale their business and build relationships with networks. Without complete transparency, affiliates’ growth can oftentimes be hindered and their success may not reach its full potential.
Campaign Automation & Offer Selection
Automation is a buzzword we hear continually ringing throughout the digital marketing industry as a whole, but why is it important for affiliate networks specifically? CPA networks that are able to offer their affiliate partners automation features enable a level of campaign efficiency that others cannot. Features that can automatically redirect an affiliate’s traffic should an offer pause due to dayparting or a budget parameter maximize that partner’s ability to monetize their traffic and ultimately scale their business.
In addition to technological features that enable affiliate partners to reach their fullest potential, automation that notifies affiliates of new opportunities is beneficial for both the network and partner. For example, Perform[cb] provides affiliates with automated emails that notify partners of new offer launches immediately once the offer is live on the network. PerformLEAP®’s Offer Discovery Interface equips affiliate partners with a customized daily newsfeed that’s tailored to their traffic and historical successes. Networks can take it a step further by automatically approving affiliates who have known to be successful within certain verticals or running specific traffic types. In doing so, there’s a minimal lag time between the offer launch and affiliates beginning to capitalize on new opportunities.
Onboarding new partners and retaining existing quality partnerships go hand in hand. In order to continually do both, networks should consistently provide partners with a broad range of accessible offers that affiliates around the world are able to run regardless of timezone. This wide range of offers should also include offers from well-known brands across a variety of verticals and traffic types to ensure ad inventory is fulfilled for affiliates of all types. Should these boxes be checked, both the network and affiliate will be satisfied and in the best position for success.
Monetization & Payment Terms
The Covid-19 pandemic yielded difficulties for affiliate partners in a number of ways, but the most striking challenge faced by many affiliates was payment. A dependable CPA network should offer partners various payout structures so that each affiliate can be paid based on what works best for them. Not only are payout structures important, but the importance of paying affiliate partners on time cannot be emphasized enough. Many partners, especially media buyers, often purchase their placements upfront and rely on payouts or commissions to cover those fronted costs.
When it comes to payouts, affiliates can run into trouble if a marketer is suspicious of fraudulent traffic being driven to their campaigns. As crucial as fraud protection is for marketers, it’s equally as essential to do right by affiliate partners if a marketer refuses to pay because they’re suspicious of the traffic they received. If an affiliate’s traffic has been closely monitored and cleared as authentic and compliant, CPA networks must stand by that partner and make sure they are paid for their work.
To excel within the affiliate marketing industry, it’s vital for CPA networks to cater to the needs of both their affiliates and marketers. Excellent account management, innovative campaign automation, strong offer varieties, and flexible commission structures can help CPA networks stand out from the crowd and attract extraordinary partnerships.
Interested in working with the #1 CPA Network Worldwide? Perform[cb] is proud to have been working with the best talent in the affiliate industry for more than 20 years, and is always on the lookout for new partnerships. Ready to get started? Apply to join us today!