Parts 7 and 8: Customized Campaigns and Activation - Merchant Setup Wizard Walkthrough

Customize Your Campaign

Now that you’ve almost completed the setup process, step 7 is where all the fun happens! If you thought that you were making your program stand out in the previous steps, this is where you will REALLY be able to distinguish yourself from other programs!

You’re currently on the Pending Interface page which means that our Launch Review Team is working hard to review your application in a timely manner for approval to the ShareASale network. This generally takes about 1 business day. While you wait, let’s dive into how you can bid adieu to a cookie-cutter program because you have so many great features for Affiliates to take advantage of!

Upload Creatives

Banner ads are one of the main ways that Affiliates will be promoting your program. While it may be easy to create simple ads that only include your company name or logo, it is in your best interest to really put some time and effort into your creatives. The ads that are unique, attractive and engaging are the ones that really make an impact with consumers.

I’m sure you are wondering, “How many banner ads should I upload?” The answer is: AS MANY AS POSSIBLE! Affiliates will have many different templates, layouts and themes for their own sites and the more options you’re able to provide them, the easier it’s going to be to choose a banner that is consistent with their site! A lot of Merchants will focus on targeting holidays and popular times of the seasons, which means you should at least be changing out your creatives and/or adding a new batch 3-4 times a year.

See the drop down box in the image above? You can click this to upload a text link or HTML Creative. The HTML Creative is a powerful option for Affiliates as it allows the Merchant to provide something more than a basic banner or text link. A common HTML creative you’ve probably used on another site is an embedded search box. For example, if an Affiliate is promoting a Merchant who sells books, they can include the search feature on their website to populate a customer’s search results on Merchant’s site.

Additionally, the Mass Upload tool is a great way to expedite the process and get your creatives in front of Affiliates as soon as possible. If you’re thinking ahead and uploading banners for future products, deals, sales and more, you can choose the “Schedule for Later” option. They’ll be there once you’re ready to let them be promoted!

Best practices for coming up with showstopping creatives can be found here:  http://blog.shareasale.com/2014/05/22/banner-ads-your-affiliates-actually-want-to-see/

Datafeeds

A fun fact about Product Datafeeds is that they account for about 5-10% of all conversions tracked on ShareASale!

What does this mean for you though?

It means that it is in your best interest to create and upload a datafeed if you wish to make the most of your Affiliate referred sales! Click on “View Datafeed Requirements” and “Download An Example” to get an idea of what you’ll need to add this amazing selling point to your program. You can read more on how to create your product datafeed, as well as best practices on the ShareASale blog.

Commission Rules

STOP RIGHT THERE! I can’t allow you to continue on without first bringing up Commission Rules. Commission Rules are going to make a huge impact on your program. I’m not just being dramatic, they are a great way to create flexible, custom, and creative payouts to your Affiliates based on conditions that you have full control over.

Merchants use them in numerous ways, whether it’s getting Affiliates to promote their products/services as soon as they join their program, or providing performance-based commissions, it’s a great way to keep Affiliates excited and engaged within your program. 

You can think of your own rewards and conditions, but we’ve also done a lot of the work for you by providing you with Predefined Rules. This means that you can add a commission rule to your program with the click of a button!

• Looking to get Affiliates promoting you as soon as possible? Try adding “Double Commissions for the first 30 days”

• Want to really reward Affiliates on their first sale? Click “$50 First Sale Bonus”

• How about incentivizing Affiliates to get started right away with a performance based reward? “$100 bonus for 10 transactions in 30 days” is surely a way to get their attention.

There are endless amounts of rules and rewards you can put into place to keep Affiliates active in your program and working hard to get your brand in front of their audience. You can also create your own rules below the Predefined Rules. These rules don’t have to apply to all Affiliates within your program, either! Once live, you’ll be able to Tag your Affiliates to set up rules that only apply to an individual or group of Affiliates.

ACCOUNT ACTIVATION!

You’ve been approved! Go activate your account!

However, you do have 30 days so that you can determine the specific day and the time that you want to go LIVE on our network. Once the account is activated, we’ll feature you in our New Program category for the first 20 days and also announce you via our New Program RSS feed. You can expect to start receiving Affiliate applications within a short amount of time!