The key task of the company at any stage of development is to build a database of customers who are maximally loyal to the brand. You can achieve this goal on your own, but your like-minded partners, whom you can find through a partnership program, can help you develop the company faster.

A partnership (referral, bonus) program is a special form of cooperation. By recommending the brand to a friend, the partner receives a bonus from the company in the form of a certain amount of money, a free product/service, or loyalty points.

How Partnership Programs Work

First of all, the client must register and gain access to the partner account, where referral links and advertising material templates are stored.

The partner only needs to place a banner and link on their resource (e.g. website, forum, blog, or social media profile). In the personal account, a participant of the referral program can see how many potential clients came through their link and what action they took. Rewards can be given for displaying ads, clicking on a link, making a purchase, or a specific action (e.g. registration, downloading a file, watching a video, etc.). The company handles the technical support and all subsequent work with the acquired clients.

The success of such programs is based on the well-known fact that when it comes to purchases, people are more inclined to trust recommendations from friends and acquaintances.

Today, both startups and large corporations are embracing affiliate programs. To see affiliate marketing in action, one only needs to look at the experience of global leaders.

For example, AirBnb lists $25 for both the partner and the person they referred (after the deal is completed). This cumulative bonus can be used to partially pay for future trips. According to the company's estimates, the integration of the affiliate program into business processes increased the percentage of completed bookings by more than a quarter.

Wargaming pays for bringing new users to the World of Tanks or World of Warships projects. Owners of websites with an audience of at least 30,000 unique visitors per month can become participants in their affiliate program. The amount of reward depends on the number of new players brought in.

Today, banks (Alfa Bank, Tinkoff Bank, Monobank), trading platforms (Aliexpress, Rozetka), betting clubs (Leon, 1xbet), sellers of travel services (booking.com, AirBnb), and even search engines (Yandex.Taxi, Yandex.Money, Yandex.Food) actively incorporate bonus programs into their business processes.

Advantages of affiliate programs

When used correctly, affiliate marketing benefits both customers who use referral programs to earn bonuses and extra income, as well as companies on the other side:

- The costs of attracting and retaining end consumers are reduced. According to the consulting company McKinsey, in small and medium businesses, referral programs generate twice as many sales as traditional advertising.

- Consumer loyalty and overall company reputation are enhanced. Through constant interaction and positive cooperation experience with the company, trust levels increase, and attachment to the brand emerges.

If your product is in demand and meets the relevant quality standards, building a network of partners will not be difficult. Loyalty program terms are tailored to the target customer of a specific company. Subsequently, a person can become a "brand advocate," defending your position and interests on their own initiative.

It is worth highlighting a single-level referral program with bonuses for personally invited individuals. This is a type of partnership that operates on the principle of "refer a friend." This style of cooperation is very popular among retailers and is used in promotions and during sales.

For example, following this principle, the online hypermarket Kasta organized a global Halloween sale.

Other types of loyalty programs can also help stand out among competitors, and based on the experience of the team at FlawlessMLM, there is a growing demand for their implementation.

Cashback

Many companies offer cashback services, but consumers themselves do not fundamentally understand how it works and what the benefit is for the store, platform, or bank.

Cashback is a certain amount of money or a percentage of the amount spent that is returned to the account after a person makes a purchase. The term Cash Back literally means "money back".

Cashback is used in various fields, but for most users, it comes into play when they make purchases using payment cards or when paying for goods in online stores.

Everyone is familiar with discount systems, but cashback still remains unclear. It is worth mentioning that such money return is beneficial for both banks and stores. The seller offers users and potential buyers a service or product. In order to sell a larger volume of products, the seller needs to invest in advertising. Announcing that the company has implemented cashback serves as a kind of advertisement that sets the business apart from competitors, attracts and retains customers. Thus, the money saved on promotion is paid to customers as a reward, in the form of cashback.

Types of Cashback Services

There are several types of services that customers use to get back their spent funds. Information on how to get a refund can be found on the services' websites or at the bank before applying for a card.

Bank refund

The client applies for a bank card at a specific bank that offers a cashback service. Most often, banking programs allow you to choose a general area from which money will be refunded. For example, the food sector. All grocery stores, restaurants, delivery services that have a contract with this bank will provide the user with cashback, provided that the purchase was made with a card.

For example, in Monobank, the cashback amount varies from 1% to 3%. Two categories of purchases are selected monthly for cashback. The maximum cashback amount per month cannot exceed 500 UAH. The bank deducts 19.5% tax from the accrued amount.

Refund from intermediary service

There are a huge number of websites and platforms on the internet that offer users a cashback service. There, you can see a list of companies and stores they collaborate with, and it is advantageous for the user to make purchases through this service to receive a percentage back.

One of the prominent examples in Russia is Letyshops. The platform redirects users to specific stores. Both the buyer and the intermediary (Letyshops founders) receive a percentage of the funds spent by the user.

In some cases, it is possible to connect multiple services at once to apply different types of percentages. Additionally, many companies use cashback to make wholesale purchases. The refund percentage is much lower, but it helps save money. As a result, they also offer this service to make their company more popular.

Promo Codes

Unique promo codes can monetize traffic in a way that classic marketing tools cannot.

A promo code is a unique combination of characters that entitles the buyer to a discount, gift, or free delivery. The buyer can obtain it from a third-party promo code service, directly from the online store, or see a code word in an advertising publication.

Coupon Code Operation Principle is similar to a classic affiliate program with a link transition, but without a link. It happens as follows:

1). The partner receives a personal coupon code from the company and places the information on their resource;

2). The user interested in the offer independently visits the company's website and makes a purchase using the coupon code;

3). The order is automatically assigned to the partner-owner of the promo code, who receives a reward.

Using promo codes, a company can not only attract and retain customers but also stimulate sales of a specific brand, products from a new or old collection.

For example, one of Ukraine's largest online retailers, Rozetka, regularly sends out newsletters with promo codes to its subscribers, indicating specific products eligible for a discount.

Since people independently search for a company's website and boost the company's search reputation, orders made using promo codes are considered a priority over all other traffic sources.

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Many companies where referrals are not yet working believe that preparing and launching an affiliate program is the most challenging part of the job. In reality, you will find that you need to constantly work with partners, namely: gradually educate, support, and motivate them.

It is necessary to ensure that the partner has comprehensive and up-to-date information about the company's products, and cooperation with you is comfortable because a well-designed user interface of the affiliate dashboard is the key to the success of the referral program. The dashboard should contain all the information: statistics on registrations and deals, a template of the affiliate agreement, marketing materials, answers to frequently asked questions, etc.

Do you have questions about organizing an affiliate program? Want to assess the prospects of implementing loyalty programs into your company's business processes? The specialists of the team FlawlessMLM are always ready to help and provide you with a free consultation. Contact our manager in the website chat (flawlessmlm.com) and learn more about solutions for your business.

How to increase sales. Affiliate programs, cashback, and promo codes as methods of promoting business