Partner programs and affiliate marketing networks: making the right choice

The orientation of the affiliate program and the choice of the affiliate marketing network can significantly increase the success of an online business. Managing and establishing the business relationship between affiliate marketing networks and the integrated technical foundations is necessary. They are therefore the basic requirement for bringing together advertisers and publishers and thus also the foundation for successful collaboration.

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Partner programs, also known as affiliate programs, are sales cooperations offered by advertisers to promote products or services. The publisher promotes the products or services of the advertiser on their website or their publisher channel. For the predefined service that the publisher provides – for example, traffic or conversions – they receive a previously agreed upon commission. The advertiser benefits from increased reach, additional sales, or the acquisition of new customers.

Behind every placed advertisement is an affiliate link, which tracks the referral of the customer. This ensures the publisher’s later compensation and allows the advertiser to identify the partner who referred the customer to them.

Affiliate marketing networks provide the necessary infrastructure and thus serve as intermediaries between publishers and the partner programs of advertisers. They offer all the important services for affiliate marketing, ranging from technology to billing (tracking, compensation, etc.). The focus of their work is on building, continuously managing, and optimizing partnerships between affiliates and merchants.

By selecting various affiliate programs, publishers can easily find, participate in, and earn revenue from programs through the network. Advertisers benefit from the mediation, as they can reach more potential customers thanks to the partnership.

In summary: In the affiliate network, the affiliate programs are presented to potential business partners (publishers). For this purpose, advertiser profiles are created with a program description, terms and conditions, and program requirements that are intended to encourage the publisher to apply. Publishers also create a profile in which they list all their available advertising spaces. Thanks to the networks, advertisers and publishers thus have the opportunity to find the right partner for each other.

For the cooperation between advertisers and publishers, a suitable platform is usually required, namely the affiliate marketing network, through which the advertiser provides the publisher an affiliate link and the necessary promotional materials. These can be banners, logos, or discount codes. Additionally, the publisher is informed via newsletters about program updates, new products, or campaigns from the advertiser. Publishers place the advertisement for the product or service with the affiliate link on their site, thus directing potential customers to the advertiser’s website.

To monitor all activities, a functioning tracking system is necessary, through which all activities of the affiliate program can be measured and performance displayed. Through extensions in tracking, additional metrics such as new customer rate, redemption of discount codes, or the number of products can be passed on. Ultimately, the publisher is paid for these results with the agreed compensation from the advertiser. Here too, the entire payment processing is handled automatically through the chosen network.

However, there are also special forms of an affiliate program, which will be discussed further below.

There are different types of networks that target different audiences and markets. To ensure the choice of the right and profitable partner program, the following things should be considered:

The affiliate marketing network should, on one hand, match thematically and geographically with the distribution markets of the advertiser. Because there are, on one hand, cross-industry and, on the other hand, industry-specific networks. While a cross-industry network would be suitable for any advertiser, a network specialized in the financial sector is only relevant for financial service providers and unsuitable for advertisers in the fashion sector, for example. Additionally, there are also networks that are locally or internationally oriented.

What should also be considered when choosing the network is the distribution of other competitors. If these are already well distributed in the affiliate market, they provide a guideline for one’s own affiliate opportunities. Because the own program offering should be able to compete with those of the competitors. Here, metrics such as average shopping carts, amount of compensation, and the provision of tracking and advertising materials are particularly relevant for the publishers. The advertiser should be able to offer similar or better content. Otherwise, the own partner program will appear less attractive alongside that of the competition, making positive performance development more difficult. However, if the market is hardly served, it should be examined to what extent an affiliate program makes sense at all. However, an affiliate program can certainly be worthwhile for securing the affiliate market position if it is a potential growth market.

In the already described standard form of an affiliate program in public networks, an advertiser can also run a private program. In such “Private Affiliate Networks”, the advertiser personally and exclusively manages their publishers personal and exclusive. These are often the highest-earning and most important publishers. It is important that the program is not publicly visible here and only exists as a kind of supplement to the public program.

In addition to the generally accessible networks, an affiliate program can also be run without such a network. In these “, affiliate partnerships are still established – just without the infrastructure of a network. The provision of functional tracking, the processing of payments, and the necessary advertising materials with appropriate links are present in the structures but must be managed independently. Likewise, potential publishers cannot – as in open affiliate marketing networks – apply directly to the affiliate program. The advertiser themselves must take care of the publisher acquisition.