Ongoing channel partner engagement throughout the partner journey is essential to successful performance, and onboarding is a crucial time to build that engagement.
Our partner engagement approach intentionally addresses three distinct phases of the partner journey to drive results. Think “purposeful design,” or what we lovingly refer to as the three A’s: attract, activate and accelerate.
Let’s dive deeper and learn how to maximize engagement by adding personalization at each phase of the partner journey.
Partner engagement journey
6 steps to maximize channel partner engagement
1. ATTRACT the right people
You’ve successfully recruited partners into your program (which is a topic all on its own!). Now what?
Attract their attention—then earn their time. This holds true whether it’s an existing program or a new incentive, promotion, product or campaign.
Pique their interest through cross-media communications, creative branding and theming. Use a message tailored just for their role. Explain the core fundamentals of the program so they know what’s in it for them. In return, you’ll drive the right action or behavior.
Keep in mind, you don't want to overwhelm them with information. Avoid giving them all the things they need to get started. Instead, trickle information out in smaller chunks. Onboard them deliberately and care for their role, customer interactions and solutions.
To sustain attraction to your program (the first few steps in the right direction), you need repeat yourself several times, driving the message home.
Related: Learn how to effectively communicate during the 3 stages of to-partner channel marketing.
2. Make onboarding a self-paced journey to ACTIVATE partners
Each partner is on their own distinct journey and reaches milestones at different times. Some onboard early and move quickly through activation. Others join the party later. But all need to be nurtured at each step.
Make sure onboarding doesn’t have a physical date tied to it. Strive for an automated effort that flows with partners whether they join at program launch or six months later. You may also need to use your onboarding for partners who are dormant or signed on years ago.
Onboarding is about getting partners attracted with the right message, then giving them enough information and help to take that first action you’re looking for (register a deal, make a sale, build a proposal, execute a marketing campaign, use the email tool, onboard a client, etc.).
When you start planning which partners you’re trying to draw the attention of, keep asking: What will help them simultaneously act quickly AND continue to engage throughout the program?
3. Continually get to know your partners
The more you know about your partners, the better you can personalize program elements to them. More personalization means partners will invest more time and revenue.
One way to learn about partners is through pulse surveys. If one participant is hitting all their goals and milestones, that’s a good time to send a survey to get feedback or find out more about who they are.
Related: Discover how to use channel partner feedback to improve your incentive program.
Another way to get to know your partners is to meet them where they are. For example, if the partner already worked through the self-paced onboarding but hasn’t taken the ideal action, give them a different offer to attract their attention.
Focus on speed of action, generating attention, providing feedback or reinforcement, and continually understanding your partners.
Real life example: Instead of having partners fill out a lengthy profile all at once, we sent smaller prompts over a short period. This resulted in higher profile-completion rates (and a data lake for us and the client to individualize the program).
4. Anticipate disengagement and waning interest
There are going to be natural high points and low points of engagement.
To maintain engagement after onboarding, be intentional about predicting and addressing the low points. We incorporate acceleration tactics, such as fast-start or sprint initiatives, into our program design. You can also employ incentive initiatives over a limited period (quarterly or over a few weeks) to focus on different sales efforts, training offers or engagement components.
The goal is to reach both highly engaged and disengaged partners with something that motivates them to go back to the portal, take action to support their goals and connect with your brand. You must design the experience and communicate it differently for each group.
It’s not about more or less communications for those who are engaged and those who aren’t, but different communications—the right communications going to the right people at the right time in the various phases.
5. Recognize behaviors to ACCELERATE engagement
Use program elements that accelerate desired behaviors to keep partner engagement consistent.
Think about the individual partner and what measures you can put in place (particularly during onboarding and disengagement phases) to make sure you’re attentive to their needs.
It can be early milestones that trigger a tangible award that acts as a reminder of the program. Or a simple recognition from a channel account manager (CAM) thanking them for their actions.
Display ongoing milestones with a personalized email showing the participant’s progress, where they could be for that period or how they’re doing compared to their peers.
For disengaged partners or roles that are often away from their desk, we can use text messaging to nudge them toward a behavior if they haven't reached a milestone in a while. Use the mapped partner journey to measure when to encourage the next behavior.
There are many different triggers, so you need to plan when to act on each at purposeful points within the partner journey. Don’t just send the same message to everyone at the same time—personalize the message and align it with individuals’ milestones.
Finally, care for those who enrolled late and any past participants who want to break out of dormancy. Consider designing catch-up mechanics, similar to fast-start promotions, to help them gain program earnings quickly (and help you increase sales in the process).
6. Don’t over-engineer partner journeys
It’s tempting to worry too much about how much data you have or how to build the perfect program. But you need to start somewhere, and something will always be better than nothing.
Focus on getting a plan in place that engages participants across the three A’s (attract, activate, accelerate), and meets participants where they are, in their own time, within the journey.
Consider different roles inside a partner organization as you design your program. Map the phases on a self-paced timeline for each role to prompt different roles with personalized behaviors.
This plan in its simplest form is a 100% improvement over not doing anything—and it's more personal. It doesn't take a lot of data, just strong personas and journey mapping.