When launching a partner marketing program it’s tempting to focus solely on the revenue you're generating. If you’re making a profit, what else is there to worry about? Without taking a more holistic approach though, you could be leaving potential revenue on the table. In this post we’ll share the most important partner marketing metrics and KPIs to monitor.
Partner Engagement
There’s much more to the story than just the dollars your partner is or isn’t bringing in. An excellent predictor of future success is current engagement and utilization of the resources and training materials you provide to your partners. Are they downloading your assets? Do they respond to your updates? Have they provided you with any of the feedback they’ve received from their network on your product?
This is where partner marketing automation and technology can give you a real-time view of engagement levels across your partners. Learn to see low engagement as a growth opportunity; the more educated and informed your partners are about your product and organization, the stronger their advocacy will become. Focus on increasing your partner engagement through proactive communication and take the time to learn what resources or training they would find valuable and ultimately leverage.
If a partner isn’t engaged, it’s unlikely they’re reaching their full revenue potential. Help them help you. If you're new to partner marketing check out this post on 5 Steps to Preparing for Your First Partner Marketing Program.
Marketing Effectiveness
Marketing enables the sales process through demand generation and your partners are an excellent channel for you to amplify the reach of your marketing materials. They’re also a perfect resource for tracking the success of various marketing messages and materials in creating customer awareness and generating new leads.
“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half” was coined by John Wanamaker, a very successful US merchant. Without having clear insights into which messages and materials are best at driving leads and ultimately revenue, you’re wasting your own resources and preventing your partners from reaching their sales potential.
The first step is to collect insights and analytics to understand the effectiveness of your marketing, and the next step would be leveraging those insights to shape your marketing strategy going forward. Increasing your marketing dollars towards your partner program makes the most sense when you have a clear and measurable ROI to go along with it.
Partner Profitability
Knowing how profitable your partners are from selling your solution helps you gauge their future commitment to your partner program and determine whether or not you can expect your partners to invest in more training, marketing or desired sales activities. The profitability of your partners is a core part of the partner experience and is directly correlated with retention levels. By understanding how well they are doing, you can better anticipate and plan for the growth of your partner program.
Now there are many other metrics you are likely already measuring (or should be); however, these three have the most impact on the future success of your program as you get started.
As you continue to collect feedback and insights and allow them to shape how you plan and execute your partner programs, you will notice your results getting even stronger.
