Merchants, we’re very excited to announce a major update to the affiliate recruitment and application management tools in the AvantLink interface! As of this week, you can now search for affiliates based on what country the majority of traffic an affiliate is sending to merchant programs is coming from.

Let’s explain with an example and some handy screenshots. If you log into your merchant account and head over to either the affiliate recruitment tool or the affiliate application management tool, you’ll see an extra column titled Traffic on the far right. In this column you’ll start to see small favicon images of country flags associated with some affiliates.

These small icons denote the country where the majority of the affiliate’s referral traffic is originating from, giving insight into what country or market the affiliate has the most focus on. Additionally, each flag can be clicked on to bring up a further breakdown of the affiliate’s top 3 countries for referral traffic. This breakdown can also be accessed by clicking the Details option on the far left then selecting the Statistics tab.

As you can see from the screenshot above, not all affiliates have a flag tied to their account. In these cases, the affiliate didn’t hit the minimum threshold for valid referrals in order for our system to properly evaluate the top 3 referring country locations.

Also, it should be noted that these Traffic By Country reports are “actual data” so to speak. Instead of simply asking affiliates what countries they anticipate their marketing efforts focusing on most, we’ve opted to analyze actual referral IP addresses from those affiliates in order to give you real, exact geolocation information.

We’re very excited to have this functionality up and live in the network. If you have any comments or suggestions regarding the new geolocation tool, please let us know in the comments below.

Photo- edited- courtesy of “BrianBurk9″ (Flickr, Creative Commons License)

Some folks may remember the classic brand failure in 1985 when one of the world’s most recognized brands, Coke, introduced “New Coke” in an effort to compete with Pepsi’s sweeter taste.  This strategy failed miserably; while the New Coke was definitely sweeter, Coca-Cola had underestimated the power of its brand and customer loyalty.  Simply put you can’t tell the world you have the “real thing” and then introduce a “new real thing.”  This marketing blunder not only lost the trust of many loyal Coke drinkers but delivered an inconsistent message.

Merchants spend a great deal of money building their brand but don’t always realize a robust AvantLink affiliate program can support and enhance their brand.  Some marketing professionals may fear that an affiliate program means giving up brand control but at AvantLink it means taking control!

Building a strong brand takes time and there are many different theories and strategies regarding the steps on how best to build it but most experts would agree on three basic rules:

1. Establish Trust with your customer, provide a valuable product or service and prove yourself to be the expert in your field, and more importantly, deliver what you say you will.
2. Have a Consistent Message –Logos, tag line, font, color.  All big brands have a style guide and a creative department that strictly adheres to the company brand standards.
3. Increase Your Visibility – Traditional media, conferences, social media, blogging, online advertising can increase brand awareness but few merchants totally appreciate the power of affiliate marketing and how much it can expand your reach.

AvantLink is a “brand guardian” for merchants and provides them with a solution to controlling their brand with banners and javascript-based text ads that dynamically update.  Imagine having the power to change a logo or a promotion on hundreds of affiliate websites by quickly uploading a new image to an existing banner ad. Dynamically updating banner ads is a simple yet effective strategy, and merchants can rest assured that the creative on affiliate sites is compliant with their brand specs.

Merchants can Trust that whatever their message, or how often it needs to be changed, AvantLink’s dynamic banners can update in an instant assuring campaigns will begin and end on time.

Merchants can control their creative so they are assured their brand and messages are Consistent across all the affiliate websites and that affiliates are using the correct, most up-to-date creative.

Most importantly, merchants can Increase Their Visibility through affiliates who supply millions of impressions for their brand at literally no cost due to affiliate marketing’s pay only for performance model. Many merchants recognize the value of increasing the visibility of their brand by using an affiliate program.

AvantLink is the perfect tool for maintaining, protecting and building a brand and merchants who understand the power of affiliate marketing move their affiliate program to the top of their marketing plan.

About a month ago we announced the launch of new functionality that allows merchants to manage their own deal sheets containing seasonal or holiday promos. Since then we have upgraded the functionality, and Chad produced and posted two screencasts/tutorials to our YouTube channel on how automated deal sheets work. This post is a summary and “how to” for these deal sheets from both the publisher and merchant side of the network.

As a quick reminder, the idea here is to allow merchants to tag certain campaigns in a promotional sub-category (eg, Promotional -> Back-to-School). Once tagged, the campaign(s) will populate automatically to a deal sheet Affiliates can access from their internal account.

Merchant Deal Sheet “How-To”

Everything from the first deal sheet post last month still applies, but the upgrades mentioned above (two upgrades, specifically) are on the merchant side:

1. Using the email tool (Login -> Tools-> Email Affiliates), merchants can now embed the actual deal sheet(s) link(s) in email messages. This works the same way ad units/campaigns are embedded in publisher/Affiliate emails. Notice the new icon for this. See black arrow on the “Embed Deal Sheet” screen capture below.
   

   Embed Deal Sheet Screen Capture

2. Merchants can now also get access to their deal sheet URLs as well. It might come in handy to add these deal sheet links in one-to-one publisher communications. Access deal sheet URLs via the the ad list page (Login -> Tools -> Add/Edit Ad Campaigns). See black arrow on the “Access Deal Sheet URLs” screen capture below.
   

   Access Deal Sheet URLs Screen Capture

Affiliate/Publisher Deal Sheet “How-To”

From the other side of the equation, Affiliates can get internal access to deal sheets filtered for specific stores or even a deal sheet that aggregates promotional offers from all their merchant partners. Once logged in, deal sheets may be accessed from the “Get Ads” page (Login -> Ad Tools -> Merchant Ads -> Get Ads). See black arrow on the “Access Affiliate Deal Sheets” screen capture below.

Access Affiliate Deal Sheets Screen Capture

Chad will be covering deal sheet functionality in his monthly merchant training webinars through the remainder of the year (first Wednesday of each month), but in the meantime email support@avantlink.com if you have any questions. Happy converting!

For some time now we have manually created deal sheets posted to our blog to spotlight promotions for high-profile shopping events throughout the year. Click here for an example of how the deal sheets used to look.

Affiliate feedback told us these were very helpful, but there were limitations and concerns.

The big issue was that although we were featuring powerful promos, Affiliates could not get the actual link code they needed from the deal sheets (unless of course they were using the ALE, in which case they would not need link code at all). Once Affiliates observed the promos available via the public deal sheet(s), they would then need to login to the network, go to a merchant’s profile, then find the promotion for access to the link code.

We take pride in our automation, so the development team put their heads together and came up with a great solution that allows merchants to now manage their own deal sheets. With this upgrade Affiliates can also now get the link code they need from deal sheets within their account profile. This allows the deal sheets to remain behind the login, which merchants appreciate because 1) their competitors will not be able to see what their Affiliates will be promoting, and 2) Affiliate discount codes will be hidden from public view.

Overview of this new functionality for MERCHANTS:

Within the ad configuration form we have updated the “Ad Categories:” field to allow sub-selections within the “Promotional” category. Not unlike how the “Brand” or “Category” tags have always functioned, when program managers select “Promotional” a sub-menu appears now displays which allows the selection of the following shopping events and/or promo categories (options include major shopping events as well as “Shipping” and “Seasonal” sub-categories, which were previously in their own category, but have since moved under “Promotional” as sub-cats):

• Back-to-School
• Black Friday
• Christmas
• Cyber Monday
• Father’s Day
• Mother’s Day
• Seasonal
• Shipping
• Summer Clearance
• Valentine’s Day

We have the ability to add other promotional sub-categories, so if there are suggestions for more of those please let us know. Additionally, on the ad list overview page, the sub-categories under “Promotional” have been added to the drop down “Ad Category:” sorting menu.

Overview of this new functionality for AFFILIATES:

Just a couple things to note from the other side of the network. Affiliates can now sort by promotional sub-category via the “Category:” drop down menu on the “Merchant Ads” page of the tool center. To see what I mean check out the screengrab below or navigate to the “Get Ads” page: Login -> Ad Tools -> “Get Ads” Button (under Merchant Ads section).

Affiliates will also start to notice special announcements that will appear on the tool configuration pages (or even every page if it’s warranted) of their account management interface. Announcements will highlight active deal sheets or any other important news we need to share.

Bottom line is that Affiliates now have access to merchant deal feeds for specific shopping events (or general shipping, seasonal, etc. promotions) via their account management interface. When viewing deal sheets they will also be able to get the link codes the need quickly and easily.

Merchants, if you would like more info and/or a demonstration of how to effectively manage your own deal feeds be sure to sign-up for the August 1st training webinar that’s coming up. Chad will be covering this new functionality then.

Please post comments or suggestions, and Happy Converting!

Our iPhone App has been updated to be compatible with iOS 5.1. We’ve also checked to ensure that when iOS 6 is available this fall, the AvantLink Mobile App will be compatible with that version as well. If you have an Apple device and aren’t currently using the app, go to the App Store and search for “AvantLink Mobile” to get real-time statistics directly on your iPhone, iPod, or iPad.

Introducing AvantMetrics from AvantLink.com!

AvantMetrics is an online marketing analytics tool (and pixel container) that provides data on the entire customer click stream leading up to a sale, rather than details on the last click only. This is where Affiliate tracking is headed, and you saw it here first.

Having the AvantMetrics pixel container in place allows you to add or remove other tracking pixels without interacting with the shopping cart code. This alone saves time and money for obvious reasons.

AvantMetrics is also our network default first-party tracking. The default tracking is free, but additional service levels can be activated for a small fee (based on traffic volume). With version one release additional service levels include:

• Pixel Container Functionality
• Custom Commission Attribution Rules
• De-duplication of Multi-Network Sales
• De-duplication of Internal Marketing Channels
• Detailed Affiliate Referral Data

The idea is to provide more detailed insight into customer click stream data. For example you might assume that coupon sites are setting cookies while the customer is in the check out process. With AvantMetrics referral reporting you can make better informed decisions based on actual data, rather than on assumptions.

If you have your Affiliate program in more than one network, AvantMetrics can also de-duplicate multi-network sales with logic that only fires the appropriate tracking pixel, for the appropriate network.

There are several reasons for developing this tracking platform, but primarily it’s an issue of transparency and providing detailed click stream data that goes well beyond traditional last click reporting other networks offer. Having this information is becoming more and more crucial to maintaining a sustainable and profitable Affiliate program.

Visit AvantMetrics.com for more info including problem/solution scenarios. If you have questions, or to convert your current AvantLink tracking to AvantMetrics drop us a line. Remember, there is a three month free trial with no obligation.

Recently I was reading work by Geno Prussakov where he mentions his affinity towards the phrase “Affiliate Program Manager”, as opposed to the phrase “Affiliate Manager”. In a nutshell, he explains that by the nature of the Affiliate/merchant relationship, it’s impossible to manage Affiliates. They have their own business priorities influenced by many factors (not shared with anyone, nor should they be). Geno is absolutely correct, manage your program not your Affiliates.

If you want to compete for the best Affiliates and become the authority program for your category, you need to manage your program effectively. In this article I would like to highlight our Principles of Affiliate Program Management, which are universal mechanics for any program manager, on any Affiliate network. You might be surprised to know there are essentially three main functions of program management, yet many program managers fail to manage their campaign/ad list, communicate regularly about compelling promotions, and respond in a timely manner to Affiliate emails.

Ad Campaign Management

Actively manage a concise ad list of compelling campaigns for best results. This is a crucial component of any program’s success. In AvantLink, your ad list consists of  Affiliate campaigns utilizing banner, text, html, flash or video ad types. You control the ad creative/collateral to share, landing page destination URL, start-end dates; as well as categorization and tagging mechanisms through the ad configuration. Promotional campaigns can even be “staged” to go live on a certain date in the future, as well as automatically expire when they end.

Ad campaign lists that are dynamic and update regularly with new promotions, special seasonal offers or the latest store codes are effective. Ad campaign lists that never update are not. The number of ads you maintain in your ad list is not important. What is important is having someone make sure every approved promotion your store offers is available via your ad list, at least as a text ad (which can then be flagged for inclusion in your deal feed).

Having a static, never changing ad list of 100 records is doing your program, and Affiliates, a disservice. Whereas maintaining a dynamic campaign list of say 25 records will help your program, and Affiliates, excel. The latter approach not only conditions Affiliates to expect compelling offers regularly and respond to them, but it effectively brands your program as one worth their while. Not many Affiliate pros are interested in investing time and resources in programs on auto-pilot. And a static, never changing ad list is a strong indicator of an un-managed program.

Regular Communication

Once you are actively engaged in managing your ad list, the next logical component of effective program management is to notify Affiliates of all promotions or special offers. Be sure to embed the tracking code for campaigns you are emphasizing directly in your emails via the email tool in the AvantLink management interface. This only takes a few seconds, and often times Affiliates will disregard a promo email notification if the code they need is not available in the email. From an Affiliate’s perspective, if you consider the usefulness of the campaign code embedded directly in their email, it’s a no brainer.

Just about any reason to email your Affiliates is a good reason. If nothing else it shows that someone is paying attention to the program. In additional to promo notifications, you should not hesitate to notify Affiliates of top selling products for each season, new product arrivals, new brands, etc. If you have enough to communicate, consider sending out monthly or quarterly newsletters. Remember by corresponding regularly with Affiliates, you will be doing more than the majority of your competitors are doing to build their Affiliate program brand.

If you are not doing so already, by setting a routine of notifying your Affiliates of all promotions, you’ll see marked improvement in traffic volume and sales. This is because Affiliates need to know what promotions to feature and draw special attention to. Let them know start and end dates, the promo duration as well as special terms or exclusions. Don’t get hung up on superficial things like an ultra fancy template for your emails. A simple, branded template with your logo as the header will work just fine. The important thing is to communicate the offers in a timely, consistent manner.

Responsiveness

How would you feel if you spent a morning analyzing and importing store data, only to have a simple email question go unanswered? Responding to Affiliates is just as important as managing your ad list, and communicating the promos. If an Affiliate emails you with a question, respond to them quickly. Even if you do not know the answer, let them know that you will work to get the answer for them. This goes a long way in retaining the loyalty of Affiliates who have many choices on where to send their buying customers. They are not in any way obligated to send them your way, and with the click of a mouse some have the power to redirect thousands of potential customers to your competitors.

If you manually review new Affiliate applicants, responsiveness also means addressing applications in a timely manner. Do not leave them pending for more than 24 hours. For one thing, your program is on their mind when they apply or that application would not be there. Channel that interest by getting them activated quickly, otherwise they might just move on. It is unprofessional to neglect new applications for days or weeks, and it sends the wrong message to potentially high-volume Affiliates.

Generally speaking the word “responsiveness” encompasses all essential management components for any Affiliate program manager. In order to compete for the best Affiliates out there, there has to be someone responsive, someone engaged, and someone willing to communicate. If you manage your program correctly, Affiliates will talk at conferences, the word will spread, and they will come. Brand your program as the authority in your category, and this will naturally attract new Affiliates and retain the loyalty of existing Affiliates. If you invest the time, money and resources to launch your Affiliate program correctly, do not sabotage the effort by disregarding program management.

Gary M

Attention AvantLink merchants! On February 3rd we announced that Chad had updated three of our existing merchant tutorials available in the merchant management interface (we currently cover the main management components via screencasts in the merchant “Support” area). Well here are three more… nice work Chad!

AvantLink Merchants: Editing Standard Email Templates

AvantLink Merchants: Edit Program Terms

AvantLink Merchants: Notification Center

One of our newer employees, Chad Waite, has come up to speed very quickly on both Affiliate and merchant functionality on our network. He’s a real life Affiliate network rock star, so he’s already produced three updated screencasts for our merchant knowledge base. Keep an eye out because soon Chad will be conducting regular training webinars open to anyone interested in learning more about our technology.

BTW you can browse all our tutorials and screencasts currently at our YouTube channel, but we’re in the process of refining things over there so it will be changing a lot in the coming months..

AvantLink Merchants: Affiliate Applications & Management

AvantLink Merchants: Affiliate Email Tool

AvantLink Merchants: Affiliate Ad List & Campaign Management

Once in a while there comes along a feature request that’s so sensible and useful that you wonder how it stayed off the development list for so long.  In my case, this happened most recently when one of our merchant program managers asked how to send an email to all of their affiliates that weren’t actively promoting the program.  In other words, how to easily contact their inactive affiliates.  It took me a while to formulate a response as I was so surprised that we didn’t have this functionality built in, particularly since we had done a large round of updates to the email tool back in January 2010.

Well, flash forward a few days from that request and the functionality is – at long last – in place.  Merchants going to the “Tools” -> “Email Affiliates” page of their AvantLink account will find two new options in the “Send To:” list:

[Edit: A third option was added after this post, to clarify the distinction between affiliates who have never been active with the merchant program and those who were once active, but are not currently.]

• All Affiliates with recent traffic (i.e. “actives”)
• All Affiliates that haven’t sent any traffic recently (i.e. “inactives”)
• All Affiliates that have never sent any traffic (i.e. “never actives”)

So now it’s possible for a merchant program manager to quickly send an email to all of their inactive affiliates and, for instance, encourage them to use a new ad campaign or datafeed tool.  Or send a message to all of the active affiliates and thank them for their efforts.

Incidentally, our “recent traffic” metric is how we determine whether an affiliate is actively promoting a program.  If the affiliate has sent at least one click-through, or recorded a single ad impression, for a merchant program in the past 30 days then they are considered to be “active”; if not, then they are “inactive”.

I hope this feature will come in handy for many of our users out there!

-David Clark
AvantLink.com