Follow the best practices outlined below when creating or modifying template terms.
Once your program includes different types of partners, you'll likely want to create custom terms for specific partners or partner types. On the impact.com platform, you can adjust partner payouts by over 100 factors at 3 different data levels:
The customer level includes customer statuses, geolocation, lifetime value, and other parameters.
The order level includes cart size, applied discounts, promo codes used, etc.
The item level includes profit margins, item SKUs, item categories, etc.
Use performance bonuses to incentivize your partners to drive more revenue or actions for your program. Providing bonus opportunities often inspires partners in the middle of the pack to step up their efforts.
As the number of partners in your program grows, segment them by creating partner groups. Setting up groups allows you to create unique template terms and to segment communications by group. As your program matures, these groups will help you to more efficiently manage your partners.
Keep your action-locking windows and payment scheduling periods unified across all template terms. Confirm that your action locking dates align with your return policy and give yourself enough time to modify or reverse actions. Remember, once an action locks, it can't be reversed and must be paid out.
Regarding make-goods: If you paid out a partner for actions that should have been modified or reversed, request that they send you a make-good.
Create a test partner account to gain insight into how your partners see contracts, then make any necessary changes to your approach.
Go into negotiations knowing what you're firm on and where you're flexible.
Manage the back-and-forth directly through the impact.com platform, where both parties can easily see the contract history.
Stay on top of negotiations to keep your partners interested in working with you. While not every relationship requires an immediate agreement, partners may walk away from the table if you take too long to respond.
Keep your impact.com account pre-funded and make use of the automatic payments system to ensure your partners get paid promptly.
Keep your action locking and payment scheduling periods unified across all template terms.