Effective Onboarding and Training for New Affiliates: A Step-by-Step Guide

As an affiliate manager, it is your job to find and recruit affiliates as well as provide them with the helpful tools they need to succeed in your affiliate program.

As an affiliate manager, it is your job to find and recruit affiliates as well as provide them with the helpful tools they need to succeed in your affiliate program. Publisher Finders, the expert software for all things affiliate marketing, is here to provide you with a step-by-step guide that will help you feel confident during the onboarding and training process for new affiliates. These steps are nothing new, but sometimes it is nice to have a reminder of what needs to be done.

There are three easy steps you can take when onboarding and training new affiliates:

Step 1. Provide detailed information on your products and services

The first step in this three-step process is to provide detailed information on your products and services. Affiliates are going to need to be knowledgeable about what it is that your brand is providing to its customers. It is your job to provide them with this awareness. Don’t just offer them the bare minimum, make sure that all of the nitty-gritty details are there for them. They are going to be the ones marketing your products and services for you, and you are going to want them to become experts at knowing all the benefits of what your brand has to offer. 

Step 2. Offer training and support materials

The second step is to offer affiliate training and support materials. This part may seem like common sense, but sometimes the small things can go unnoticed. Good training may contain detailed information about your product line and services and tips for promoting them online. It can also include general procedures like how to link text and banner ads to their websites and where to access them, and how to track and receive their commissions. It is impossible for a job to not require any training. Don’t just limit yourself to handbooks and tutorials; if there is something that you need your affiliates to know, provide them with the information upfront to mitigate any confusion during the initiation process.

Step 3. Establish clear expectations and guidelines

The third step to ensure success in onboarding and training affiliates is to establish clear expectations and guidelines. Nothing is going to benefit your affiliates more after receiving all they need to know in the first two steps than clear expectations and guidelines on how to proceed. This is how you are going to keep affiliates happy and lower stress levels because they will know exactly what it is they need to be accomplishing to succeed in your program. This process will also help you define your own marketing goals so that everyone is prepared to work towards the same mission. Keep these goals written in the support materials so they can be referred back to whenever a refresher may be needed.

This three-step guide to effective affiliate onboarding will help get your affiliates off to a great start after being recruited to your program. However, when it comes to affiliate marketing, having a great tool in your marketing toolbox is a must!  Publisher Finders is that tool! Try a FREE two-week trial of this exclusive software to find and recruit the best affiliates for your program! Get started today!