When you play your cards right, affiliate or influencer marketing is an opportunity with enormous potential to grow and to earn for both you and your merchant partner. The key to success is to make smart choices about who to partner with, and then, understand how the signup process works.
Scouting Out Programs
Opportunities to join affiliate marketing programs can pop up in multiple places:
An ad or a post about an ambassador program on social media.
An email or display after you’ve purchased a merchant’s product.
A forum or marketplace, like the Refersion Marketplace 😉.
Regardless of where or how you learn about them, it’s important to evaluate these merchants and programs carefully before signing up. The best merchant-influencer relationships are formed on the basis of clear expectations and ongoing communication.
Take a close look at the ambassador application, and ask yourself:
Am I passionate about this brand and their products? Are we a good match?
Am I prepared to faithfully follow their terms and conditions — promoting their products how and where they need me to?
Am I good with their commission offer and payment terms (how they’ll pay me for any sales I generate, and in what timeframe)?
Once you’ve answered yes to all the questions, and taken the time to fill out and submit an application, you may be wondering what comes next.
How the Merchant Signup Process Works
1. In Review
If you’ve submitted an application to a merchant outside of Refersion Marketplace, you should receive an email that your application is pending. This means the merchant is looking it over and will send you an email if and when you are accepted.
It’s important to note that not all merchants communicate the exact same way, so some will tell you how long their review process takes, others won’t.
If you’ve applied to a program from Refersion Marketplace, the process is a little different.
2. Welcome Email
Once you are accepted to a program, you’ll receive a welcome email from the merchant. Click the URL inside to establish a login, and access your Affiliate Portal.
You’ll have a different portal for each of the merchants you work with in Refersion. But if you use the same email for all of your accounts, you’ll see them all listed when logging in from the Refersion homepage.
3. Affiliate Portal
Your portal is where you’ll:
Manage your account settings.
Grab, customize, and share your referral link.
Submit customer emails to your merchant for tracking
Test and download marketing creative.
Scan your Dashboard to track progress and payments.
You may also communicate with your merchant here.