Partner engagement is one of the most important metrics to monitor in order to make sure that your partners are fully engaged with the products on offer. Having a high level of partner engagement can signal that your channel strategy is successful and the channel partners are taking advantage of the products on offer.
In case, however, there is poor channel partner engagement it can signal that the company focus is not on the right track and actions need to be taken in order to improve the value of the business partnership.
Hence it is crucial to measure channel partner engagement due to its role as one of the key performance indicators to help understand the success of marketing campaigns. Fortunately, this article will cover some of the best ways to ascertain partner engagement and better optimize your partner program.
Common methods of measuring Channel Partner Engagement
Most businesses utilize two main ways to measure the success of their programs. The first is to look at the number of times the partner portal is accessed. This metric helps illustrate the frequency of engagement on the behalf of channel partners.
The second commonly used method is to count the number of times that the content on the partner portal is downloaded by channel partners. This metric is slightly more insightful than simply looking at the number of logins as, in addition to engagement frequency, it also illustrates the quality of engagement taking place.
However, despite the prevalence of these methods, they still leave a lot to be desired due to the limited extent of information they provide. This is where alternative methods to measure partner engagement become relevant.
The Extent of Marketing Campaigns
One of the primary ways in which channel partners can be of use when a new product or service comes out is by helping you market it so that there is more customer reach and potentially revenue growth. In this regard, one of the most important things to measure is how much the partners are marketing the product for you.
A few ways to gain insights into this are whether the partners are carrying out an email campaign to market a new product that comes out. Moreover, social media is also an important platform for most companies to find new customers, build a relationship, and follow through with the sales process. Thus seeing whether or not your channel partner is promoting products and services on social media can be another good way to measure channel partner engagement.
Finally, you can also consider whether your channel partner is keeping in touch with customers through an online or physical newsletter. This can be a crucial way to improve customer satisfaction as it provides them with additional information that can be useful when it comes time to make an actual sale.
The Frequency of Lead Generation
One of the most crucial functions of a channel partner relationship is to help create leads that can lead to future sales. In this regard, a channel partner must help generate leads that you can then work on in order to make a sale. Thus, a crucial measure of channel partner engagement is to see how many leads they are bringing in for you.
In case your partner program is bringing in the required number of leads then that is an indicator of the fact that you have a great relationship with your channel partners as they are conducting the desired behaviors. However, even if that is the case, it is still worth checking each individual partner and making sure that the required target is being met.
In case some partners are not meeting the required target, there could be two potential reasons for this. Firstly, it might be as simple as the fact that you and your channel partner have a different definition regarding what is classified as a lead and they may be thinking that they are providing you with enough leads. In this case, the problem is simple to resolve as all that needs to be done is that you and your partner need to mutually agree upon a definition of leads that both improves your business and is attainable by your channel partners.
Sometimes, however, the issue may be more complicated as the partner experience may be that your organization does not treat customers well or that the sales cycle is not conducive to their clients. Issues like these tend to be a bit more complicated to resolve and will require your channel managers or you to go through a bit more depth and find the root cause of these concerns before resolving them.
Finally, in case your channel programs as a whole are not developing the number of leads you expect or desire, then there may be a more fundamental issue at play about how your partner organization is structured. Perhaps partner profitability is too low or the rate of partner churn is too high.
In these situations, asking partners for feedback, conducting your own research, or even consulting specialists can prove helpful. This is so that the investment you do put into this program can manage to bring the returns and sales that you are looking for.
Using Social Sales as a Metrics
Another way to look at partner engagement is by measuring the number of sales the channel account manager is making through social means. These include methods like cold calls which can help reach out to new clients that would not otherwise engage with the program elements.
Moreover, there are other things that can count towards social sales as well, these include making sales at industry events or offering deals to the people at these events. These sorts of additional activities can be a useful form of marketing for companies as they improve the customer experience and keep clients engaged.
Additionally, greater diversity in customer acquisition methods is a sign of a healthy channel program as you are not overly reliant on one stream or form of selling foods and services.
Finally, customer meetings are another form of social sales that partners can use as part of their program to bring in and retain clients. This can be especially useful for new partners who are still developing a strong relationship with their customers.
Holding Partner Meetings
Lastly, you have the option of holding partner meetings to keep tabs on the partner journey that is being undertaken. This can be a useful time to have accountability for the channels and make sure that the marketing which is being done is up to standard and poises you for success.
Moreover, it can also help keep track of the focus of your channel partners and ensure that the money that you are investing is leading to a genuine increase in revenue. Moreover, partner meetings can also be a good way to signal to your partners that the business cares about employee engagement and is closely monitoring for results to be achieved.
The Bottom Line
In conclusion, it can be noted that the success of any partner program depends heavily on ensuring that there is a good follow through with your partners and that they are following the required steps and methods in order to bring you business.
During this process, it is critical to have a strong relationship with your channel partners and to manage them effectively so that what you invest into the program in terms of your own time and money ends up bearing fruit for the company. In this regard, implementing some of these solutions to measure how engaged partners are will be critical.