When you first create an affiliate marketing program, you may not immediately think about managing it with affiliate marketing software. However, affiliate marketing software is a hugely beneficial way to handle everything from the big picture of your affiliate marketing to the more granular components of affiliate marketing. Here’s what you should know about choosing one for the first time.
The Benefits of Using an Affiliate Marketing Software Solution
First of all, why should you consider using affiliate marketing software at all?
The biggest reason for this is that it helps you automate much of the work. If you were doing all this work yourself, you would have to manually go through your orders or page hits and track where those hits or coupon codes are coming from, then manually assign those orders to an individual affiliate. Affiliate marketing software takes care of this manual work, automating it all and freeing up a lot of time.
Additionally, affiliates simply prefer working with businesses that use affiliate marketing software. As you streamline the process on your end, it also streamlines the process on their end, so they don’t have to worry about not getting paid or getting paid late for a sale.
What to Look for in an Affiliate Marketing Software Solution
So, what should you be looking for? Here are four things to pay attention to in your affiliate marketing software solution.
● Integration With Your Ecommerce Software
Of course, you need the solution to integrate with your ecommerce software. If you’re using Shopify Plus or BigCommerce, you need to know that your affiliate marketing software can source your purchase and page visit information to understand how much money is due to each of your affiliates.
● Plenty of Affiliate Tracking
When it comes to affiliates, you want lots of tracking for those affiliates. You must be able to see who’s doing the most for your company this month, your average conversion rate, how many affiliates are active right now, and anything else you could want. Plenty of tracking will lead to plenty more sales.
● Fraud Prevention
However, while you should be tracking everything happening with your affiliates, you unfortunately also need to make sure none of that is fraudulent. A high-quality affiliate marketing software solution should have built-in fraud prevention services to help you target and avoid fraud.
● Connection With Your Affiliates
Finally, just being able to understand your affiliates on your end isn’t enough. You also want to connect with those affiliates and show them that they’re important to you. An affiliate marketing software program that helps you connect directly with affiliates is the best way to build a connection between you and your affiliates.
Things to Keep in Mind When Choosing an Affiliate Marketing Software Solution
Once it comes time to choose software, you might worry about making the wrong choice. Here are three things to keep in mind during your selection process.
- You Can Switch Software If Necessary
Just because you’ve selected specific software, that doesn’t mean you’re married to it forever. If you find another software program you like more, you can always switch. There’s no need to worry about getting stuck with software that doesn’t work for you.
- You’ll Still Likely Need an Affiliate Marketing Expert on Board
Don’t assume that an affiliate marketing software solution will mean that one of the members of your general sales team can handle affiliate marketing all of a sudden alongside their other job duties. Most of the time, if you’re trying to get a significant amount of revenue from affiliate marketing, you’ll want an affiliate marketing expert as part of your team.
- You Can Often Connect Other Third-Party Programs to Affiliate Marketing Software
Affiliate marketing software is itself its own web of products. In the same way that you can connect your affiliate marketing software to your ecommerce software and reap the benefits of both, it’s common for you to be able to connect other programs to your affiliate marketing software and get even more benefits.
How to Choose the Right Affiliate Marketing Software Solution for Your Business
So, with all this information, how can you choose the right affiliate marketing software solution?
First of all, you need something that suits your needs. Make a list of the specific pain points you want your software to target.
Second, allow your affiliate marketing expert to be a big part of this conversation. If they really love a specific software, consider looking into that software as your primary option.
Third, check to make sure it’s compatible with everything you’re using, from your ecommerce platform to any third-party products you want to incorporate.
Finally, sign up and make sure you love it. Take it for a trial run to ensure your company is functioning smoothly with it.
The Bottom Line
Here at Refersion, we want to make sure that you’re getting the most out of your affiliate marketing software. With strong affiliate tracking, effective fraud prevention services, and a platform that’s as good to affiliates as to publishers, we believe we’re the right choice for your next affiliate marketing venture. Get in contact today to learn more about Refersion.
