What is SuiteCommerce Advanced?
SuiteCommerce Advanced is a native NetSuite eCommerce module available for B2C or B2B customers of NetSuite across the globe. SuiteCommerce has two different variants available – SuiteCommerce Advanced and SuiteCommerce Standard. Depending on the specific business requirements, a business can decide which option would suit best.
We recommend implementing SuiteCommerce Advanced to B2C and B2B customers, if they need flexible and scalable eCommerce web store that allows business to customize different solutions. Conversely, SuiteCommerce Standard is recommended for customers wanting to take advantage of out of the box available features.
Affiliate Marketing in SuiteCommerce Advanced
Affiliate marketing can fuel the organic growth for the business with different types of affiliate strategies. With an exclusive contract with business, affiliates can promote specific products on their website, third party website and social media channels. There are various options available to promote product pages through affiliate channels.
For Instances, an affiliate product page URL attached to the description of YouTube video. When online shopper makes any purchase through this URL, affiliates can earn commission, and a customer could be rewarded with gift certificate, free item or coupon for the next purchase.
Implementing Affiliate Marketing for SuiteCommerce Advanced Web Site
GIR recommends using Avantlink, which is recognized by industry experts and currently being used by many retailers across the globe.
AvantLink is a cost-per-sale, affiliate marketing network. It connects your eCommerce website with high-quality publishers (“Affiliates”) and tracks which affiliates are driving traffic to your site, and which of those leads convert to sales.
It offers a dashboard to manage on-boarding of Affiliate and to generate exact commission invoice for each affiliate, based on sales revenue attributed by them.
How hybrid customized solution works for SCA and Affiliated marketing platform – Avantlink?
Custom fields created in NetSuite for Affiliate Program
Avantlink will make your engagement manageable with Affiliates, but as an eCommerce owner of the business your priority should be converting “Affiliate leads” into “recurring customers”.
To address this priority GIR has worked with our customer’s team to develop custom promotional strategies that work with SuiteCommerce advanced and NetSuite ERP.
1) Associate relevant free item with Affiliated Item.
Whenever a customer visits a specific Product Detail Page (e.g., Formal Shirt) through affiliate URL, then we are displaying free of cost related relevant Item (e.g., Cufflinks) on the product display page. Now, customers can add both items into cart and pay only for affiliated item (e.g., Formal Shirt).
Association between Affiliated Item and Free Item is established by creating a custom Item field called “Item Options” on an Item Record in which marketing team can save additional product content.
2) Issue a Gift Certificate to the Customer purchased affiliate product(s) from SuiteCommerce website:
To execute affiliate promotion strategy, we need following custom fields in NetSuite,
- 1. Custom Item field “Gift Amount” on an Item record: This field allows marketing team to enter a fixed gift dollar amount.
- 2. Transaction line level fields “Affiliate Line Item (type: checkbox)” and “Affiliate Gift Certificate (type: checkbox)”: These fields help to track affiliate items purchased and added on a sales order.
- 3. Transaction body level field “Affiliate Order (type: checkbox)”: This field helps to track which order is/isn’t an affiliate order.
For Instance, when a customer navigates to affiliated Item (which has $5 value set in “Gift Amount” field) page through affiliate URL, customer can add this product into a cart, and once order is placed, our customization updates required fields in NetSuite.
Simultaneously, the backend script executes business logic to create a gift certificate automatically and can send a digital copy of the certificate to a customer.
How GIR Team enable the Affiliate program for SuiteCommerce Advanced website?
Integration of AvantLink with SuiteCommerce Advanced website
GIR Team has completed integration in three parts:
- 1. With a scriptable solution, a product catalog (SKU #, Description, Details, Price and other additional required data) has been bundled as a data feed, and script sends data from NetSuite ERP to AvantLink once in a day. An accurate product data can help, Affiliates to effectively promote your products to their subscribers.
- 2. Added “Site-Wide Tracking Script” on every page of the website: this script differentiates the online shopper navigates to product page URL by accessing affiliate link versus a page URL accessed through non-affiliate sources such as Google search or Marketing Emails.
- 3. Added “Order Confirmation Script” on the NetSuite SuiteCommerce website: This script can send order details to AvantLink, and it helps to calculate commission for all different affiliated orders.
Tips for Successful Affiliate Marketing
• Choose the right platform to manage affiliates and integrate with web store.
• Ensure the product data feed is accurate, and it updates essential data every day.
• Launch the beta version of affiliate program to ensure it works for one or two affiliates initially and then scale the program.
• Choose the right promotional campaign associated with affiliate program and work on A/B Testing to compare which campaign positively impacts the business.
We Value your Collaboration with Us
Want GIR team to help you implement Affiliate Marketing Options for your SuiteCommerce Advanced Website? Schedule an appointment today and let’s discuss your goals, challenges, and how we can help.
At GIR Software Services, our NetSuite experts focus on creating an effective plan to successfully customize your eCommerce business website. We stay up to date with the latest NetSuite features and functionality to help our customers improve their business and stay ahead of the competition. To find out more, feel free to Contact us.
