We’ve seen that there are 3 potential ways to manage your partners within HubSpot: custom properties, company association & custom object association. Before implementing a partner portal like Introw we advise to map your partners in your HubSpot.
In this blogpost we’re going to focus on revenue attribution so we’re looking at the object “Deal” in HubSpot. If you also want to attribute contacts, leads, companies,… to partners, you can use the same approach.
Custom properties
How does it work?
Create a custom deal property
Step 1: Go to settings —> data management —> properties
Step 2: Create property:
Object type: Deal
Group: Deal information
Label: This is up to you to decide, we've gone for "Partner". Click "Next"
Field type: If you’re sometimes working with multiple partners on a deal, we advise going for “Multiple checkboxes.” If there is always a maximum of one partner per deal, go for “Dropdown select.”
Add your custom property to your view or your teams view (this will allow you to easily select the right partners from the left side panel)
Attribute the right partner(s) to the right deals
What are the pros?
✅ Easy and fast set-up
✅ Possible with all HubSpot plans
✅ Easy to create revenue reports
What are the cons?
❌ Every sales person should have this custom property in their view
❌ Not possible to navigate directly to the partner company
Company association (with association label)
How does it work?
Create a custom association label between deal and company
Step 1: Go to settings —> data management —> objects —> deals —> associations
Step 2: Create association label:
Objects you’re associating: Deals-to-companies
How many labels do you need? A single label
Create one called: partner sourced (for deals that partners have sourced)
💡 Optional: You can create another label called: partner influenced (for deals that partners have influenced)
Associate the partner company to a deal and select the label “partner sourced” (or partner influenced)
You can do this by associating an (additional) company to the deal; add company
What are the pros?
✅ Easy and fast set-up
✅ Scalable
What are the cons?
❌ Not possible with all HubSpot plans
❌ Not easy to report on in HubSpot
Custom object association
How does it work?
Create a custom object
Step 1: Go to settings —> data management —> objects —> custom objects
Step 2: Create custom object:
Object name - singular: “Partner”
Object name - plural: “Partner”
Primary display property: “Partner Name”
Property type: Single-line text
Associate the right company object to the partner object in order to have all the right data connected
Associate the partner object to a deal
💡 Optional: Create association labels on this custom object to differentiate between for example partner influenced and partner sourced
What are the pros?
✅ Good for organisations with larger amounts of partners
✅ Scalable
What are the cons?
❌ Not possible with all HubSpot plans
❌ Not so easy
Conclusion
To wrap up, there are 3 ways to manage your partners in HubSpot: via custom properties, via company association and via a custom object.
Introw supports all methods :).
What is Introw?
Working with resellers, referral partners, distributors,...? Keep on reading! Introw is a partner relationship management (PRM) platform allowing you to collaborate with your B2B partners in shared spaces integrated with HubSpot.
One space to be aligned on pipeline, enable partners with content and track engagement.
Partnership data lives in the CRM, so we’re leveraging that to the fullest with our native and 1-click HubSpot and Salesforce integration.
With that, we’re not only elevating your B2B partnership experience, we’re elevating the experience of your entire partnership team.
It’s time to transform your partner program into a thriving, modern ecosystem. Our top strategies for building a successful partner ecosystem include mapping your ideal ecosystem, prioritising ecosystem fit over volume, building trust with transparent onboarding and enablement, centralizing communication and engagement, and enabling self-service resources.
In 2025, traditional, linear partner programs simply aren’t cutting it.
Instead, SaaS teams need to build modern, collaborative partner ecosystems with multi-directional partnerships.
From co-creation and shared growth opportunities to innovations and integrations, successful partner ecosystems have the potential to become a significant revenue stream for any SaaS brand.
Read on for our 12 impactful strategies for building an effective partner ecosystem fit for 2025.
What is a Partner Ecosystem? (2025 Definition + Key Terms)
A partner ecosystem is an interconnected network of companies that collaborate to deliver better value to customers.
So what’s the biggest difference between more traditional, linear programs like channel programs and alliances, and modern partner ecosystems?
Channel programs work inside a structured, transactional framework.
Within a channel program, partners (such as reseller partners, VARs, and distributors) sell or resell your product, incentivised by discounts and margins.
An alliance, on the other hand, refers to a strategic partnership between two or more companies (often at enterprise-level) to jointly pursue opportunities.
This could mean co-developing solutions or launching into new verticals together.
So, what is a partner ecosystem?
Broader and more modern, ecosystems are collaborative and, vitally, multi-directional, putting a sharp focus on co-creation, integrations, and shared growth opportunities.
These ecosystems encompass channels, alliances, integrations, resellers, service partners, technology vendors, consultants, and influencers, with collaborations occurring across multiple partner types.
So, what is an ecosystem partner?
An ecosystem partner is defined as any external company that actively contributes to your ecosystem.
Their role goes far beyond transactions; for instance, they might contribute by integrating, co-marketing, implementing, or influencing customers, as well as selling.
They provide added value to both your SaaS business and your customers through their expertise, services, or integrations, helping to expand your solution’s reach.
These modern partner ecosystems typically outperform traditional SaaS partner programs because they’re designed for flexibility, collaboration, and delivering value to customers, rather than just transactional sales.
The Business Case: Benefits of a Partner Ecosystem
Why should you build a partner ecosystem?
Here are four of the biggest benefits of taking this approach.
Pipeline and Reach
A robust partner ecosystem significantly enhances the number of trusted voices and channels that bring your solution to market.
This helps to expand your brand’s reach and keep your pipeline looking very healthy.
Indeed, getting this right should lead to more deal sources, shorter sales cycles, and improved pipeline diversity.
Meanwhile, partners help you to launch in new geographical markets faster and specialise in more verticals.
Faster Innovation
Your partner ecosystem will also open up more avenues for co-creation, experimentation, and feedback than more traditional programs.
It empowers you to tap into external creativity, quickly enter new verticals, experiment at scale, launch plug-and-play solutions, and develop faster feedback loops —all of which increase the speed at which innovation occurs.
And faster innovation keeps you at the forefront of the market, which is crucial in a fast-moving industry like SaaS.
Elevated Customer Experience
Building a partner ecosystem enhances the customer experience by granting customers access to more value, choice, and support than the SaaS company could deliver alone.
Furthermore, by their very nature, ecosystems deliver integrated offerings, allowing you to provide a seamless workflow rather than a fragmented stack.
This significantly reduces friction throughout the customer experience.
Lower CAC and Shared Risk
When you’re supported by a robust partner ecosystem, your customer acquisition cost (CAC) should drop significantly.
With a wide variety of partners generating warm leads from their own customer bases, you reduce the amount your business needs to spend on tactics like cold outreach and ads.
Furthermore, co-marketing means you share costs with your partners, while customers are more likely to buy when a trusted partner recommends your SaaS, shortening sales cycles.
Of course, you’re also spreading out the financial and operational risks by operating from within an ecosystem, from go-to-market investments to innovation risks.
Types of Partners in a Modern Ecosystem
In channel partner mapping, partners are typically classified primarily by their role in reselling or distributing your SaaS product, but in a modern ecosystem, we take a network-based view of all partner types that contribute to customer success and growth.
So let’s take a closer look at the types of partners that make up a modern ecosystem.
Technology partners/integrations connect your SaaS to complementary platforms and tools, creating seamless workflows that make your product more valuable and harder to replace.
Resellers purchase your SaaS at a discount and then sell it to end customers.
Value-added resellers (VARs) bundle your SaaS solution with services, customization, or other complementary products, tailoring the solution to meet specific customer needs.
Managed service providers (MSPs) deliver your SaaS as part of a managed service package. For example, they might take over IT, security, or operations for customers who prefer outsourced solutions.
Training and certification providers offer guidance to help business leaders and employees build skills and knowledge around your product.
Referral partners introduce you to potential customers, helping you generate warm leads rather than selling directly.
Solution/service partners are consulting firms or service providers that implement, customize, or optimize your SaaS, ensuring customers see value faster and more effectively.
Independent software vendors (ISV partners) build complementary apps or features to extend your SaaS.
Alliances comprise two or more companies in a strategic partnership aimed at expanding their market opportunities.
Co-innovation partners actively collaborate with you to create new solutions, products, or features.
Top Ecosystem examples
Salesforce built the AppExchange marketplace, where ISVs and partners create apps that integrate directly with Salesforce.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) has cultivated a partner network that supports tens of thousands of consulting and tech partners who help customers adopt AWS at scale. Meanwhile, AWS Marketplace enables SaaS vendors to sell cloud-native solutions directly to enterprises.
HubSpot is known for its partner ecosystem of agencies, consultants, and ISVs. Agencies provide inbound marketing support powered by HubSpot, while the HubSpot App Marketplace hosts integrations with hundreds of SaaS tools.
12 Strategies for Building an Effective Partner Ecosystem in 2025
Is it time to build your partner ecosystem and take your SaaS brand to the next level?
Read on for our 12 essential B2B partner ecosystem strategies for 2025.
1. Map Your Ideal Ecosystem & Define the ICP
Start with a partner ecosystem mapping exercise – you’ll thank yourself down the line.
This mapping exercise should help you to:
Clarify partner roles
Prioritize investment
Reduce duplication and gaps
Visualize how partners interact to deliver end-to-end customer solutions
Start by identifying high-value partner types, industries, and geographies.
Then visualize interconnections, so you understand how partners complement each other and deliver end-to-end customer solutions.
For optimal results, you should also dedicate time to developing your ideal customer profile (ICP).
Analyze your top-performing accounts to identify common traits, pinpoint their pain points and needs, segment the list by relevant criteria such as location or tech stack, and determine the decision-making roles within those businesses.
It’s vital to use data to define and refine your partner ecosystem ICP, for example, prioritising partners based on their impact on pipeline, adoption, and customer success.
2. Prioritize Ecosystem Fit Over Volume
While it can be tempting to take on every potential partner that comes your way, resist signing every logo and prioritize quality over quantity.
Remember: you need to be strategic about this.
Your business doesn’t necessarily need hundreds of partners to grow – in some cases, five or six well-chosen partners can be more effective.
So, how do you know which partners to sign and which to avoid?
First, create clear partner profiles. This provides clarity on roles, enables targeted enablement, reduces friction between partners, and simplifies onboarding and management of new partners.
And vitally, it also gives you a sense of whether and where each potential partner would fit within your ecosystem.
You should also investigate the potential value exchange of a partnership to see if it’s worth bringing a company on board.
Look at what the potential partner would contribute (for example, their reach, expertise, or technology), and what they gain in return (such as revenue growth, leads, product advantages, or market credibility).
3. Build Trust with Transparent Onboarding & Enablement
Don’t underestimate the importance of a robust onboarding and enablement program when it comes to laying the foundations for ecosystem success.
Our ten essential strategies for partner onboarding and enablement are as follows:
Start pre-onboarding prep before the contract
Segment and personalize the onboarding experience
Automate welcome and kickoff communications
Deliver role-based enablement and certification
Make deal registration fast and frictionless
Provide ‘always-on’ resource access
Assign dedicated onboarding support
Run automated progress and activation tracking
Schedule early wins and QBRs
Gather feedback and continuously optimize
Partner ecosystem platform Introw includes a multitude of features that make building an effective onboarding and enablement program much easier, including:
✅CRM integration
✅Automated onboarding
✅Partner enablement flows
✅Real-time tracking
✅Self-serve resources
4. Centralize Communication and Engagement
When you’re managing multiple partners, it’s crucial to prioritize communication and engagement.
Failure to master both of these disciplines can see your partnership program flounder and falter, and your business miss out on opportunity after opportunity.
When it comes to communication and engagement, it’s vital to meet partners where they’re working.
And this means launching and maintaining several communication channels. For example, you might establish three main channels: email, Slack, and your partner portal.
Save time and improve consistency by using your PRM to set up automated communication flows, including welcome messages, milestone reminders, and enablement updates.
Also, remember to track engagement levels and adjust your strategy as needed.
5. Enable Self-Service and “Always-On” Resources
Reduce friction within the partnership experience by enabling self-service and ‘always-on’ resources.
Using on-demand knowledge bases, self-service portals, and/or enablement content hubs empowers partners to engage with you at their leisure.
In 2025, it’s vital to track your partners’ content usage to improve the ecosystem consistently.
Introw, for example, provides analytics for every engagement metric – track asset views and downloads to find out which documents, resources, and deals your partners are engaging with, and how frequently they’re doing so.
Then, analyze this data to optimize your partner portal and resources effectively.
6. Collaborate on Go-to-Market (GTM) Motions
Collaborating on go-to-market motions is often one of the biggest payoffs of a strong partner ecosystem.
Whether you’re launching joint campaigns, co-producing events, co-selling, or creating bundled offerings, there are plenty of attractive benefits to taking this approach.
It allows you to expand market reach with a lower CAC cost, strengthens your customer value proposition, and can lead to a shorter sales cycle due to an increased trust factor.
Furthermore, GTM motions should also lead to better operational efficiency and shared insights.
To achieve this, be sure to share your pipelines, leads, and success metrics when collaborating on such initiatives.
7. Automate Deal Registration, Attribution, and Reporting
Automating deal registration, attribution, and reporting is one of the most impactful actions you can take when constructing your ecosystem.
Here’s why.
It eliminates channel conflict by ensuring partners don’t compete with each other (or with your sales team) for the same opportunities, and it provides accurate attribution, which means rewards are fairly distributed.
From your perspective, the real-time visibility and forecasting that automatic registration enables doesn’t hurt either!
And, as with most administrative tasks, automating deal registration, attribution, and reporting will save time for all parties involved, with no manual entry required.
You should also look for a partner relationship management tool that automatically syncs this data to Salesforce, HubSpot, or your preferred CRM.
Introw delivers CRM-native deal registration with a no-code form builder, which means that forms can be embedded in partner portals or external pages via URL, with no portal login required.
Each form submission is then automatically mapped back to your CRM and synced with Salesforce or HubSpot in real time.
Attribution is also automated, with partner revenue attribution tagging synced to your CRM, as well as automated deal notifications.
When it comes to reporting, lean on Introw’s real-time dashboards, which deliver up-to-the-minute revenue insights and partner engagement analytics.
Crucially, in a partner ecosystem, Introw also offers role-based visibility, allowing each stakeholder to access only the relevant dashboards.
8. Run Data-Driven QBRs and Partner Reviews
When it comes to maintaining and reinforcing the strength of your partner ecosystem, data-driven QBRs are non-negotiable.
It’s absolutely crucial to use engagement and revenue data to inform these sessions, rather than relying solely on anecdotes.
Not only does this enable you to align on what’s working (and what’s not), but partners want to see reliable, data-based results – in 2025, no one wants to be working off ‘gut feel’.
You must also conduct regular partner reviews to identify your top performers, as well as those who are at risk.
This way, you can fairly reward top performers and hold those who are not pulling their weight accountable.
It’s also beneficial when considering who to include or partner with on future initiatives within the ecosystem.
9. Scale with Segmentation and Personalization
Most partner ecosystems comprise a diverse range of businesses, which means you need to segment and personalize your approach to engage with them effectively.
There are many different ways to approach segmentation.
Depending on your circumstances and your goals, you might want to segment partners by:
Partner tier
Region
Solution
Engagement level
Partner type
Performance
Vertical
You can then automate personalized communications and incentives by segment, which enables you to scale your ecosystem much faster than you would have been able to in the past.
10. Build Feedback Loops and a Partner Advisory Board
Feedback loops can be the difference between helming a thriving partner ecosystem and complete disengagement.
Remember – your partners are on the frontline, hearing customers’ questions, objections, and feedback.
By establishing a structured feedback loop, you ensure that these insights flow back into product, marketing, and sales enablement, where they can actually make a difference.
Furthermore, feedback loops tied to metrics such as deal registration rates and co-sell win rates reveal what is working and what isn’t.
Meanwhile, establishing a partner advisory board gives strategic partners a seat at the table in shaping your ecosystem, making them co-owners of the initiative and ensuring they feel valued and heard.
The most effective feedback technique for you will depend on the makeup of your business and ecosystem, but it could include regular partner surveys, joint roadmaps, and open office hours.
11. Foster a Collaborative Ecosystem Culture
In more traditional schemes, partners have often been siloed.
But in 2025, we know that fostering a truly collaborative ecosystem culture brings significant benefits to all parties involved.
These benefits include faster business growth, lower CAC, expanded market reach, stronger partner relationships, improved customer experience, more innovation, and an overall strategic advantage.
Cultivate this vibe by enabling partner-to-partner introductions and sharing forums.
You can also highlight joint wins with case studies and public acknowledgement across the ecosystem’s communication channels.
12. Continuously Optimize: Iterate and Innovate
From A/B testing campaigns to regular reviews of partner data, you must continuously optimize your partner ecosystem for best results.
Tracking vital metrics empowers you to sunset low-performing partners before they become a drain on your ecosystem, and invest in ‘next gen’ ecosystem plays.
Of course, you want to make tracking ecosystem metrics and analysing data as easy and effective as possible – and that’s where Introw comes in.
This sophisticated PRM incorporates real-time, user-friendly partner performance dashboards, while centralized visibility makes it super easy to get a snapshot of what’s going on at any moment.
Furthermore, its workflow automation capabilities include engagement-based alerts and automated deal updates, ensuring you’re always in the loop.
Challenges of Managing a Modern Partner Ecosystem (and How to Overcome Them)
With a broad range of partners and rapidly evolving technology, managing a partner ecosystem comes with its own set of challenges.
Here are the pitfalls to be aware of:
Complexity: Staying on top of multiple motions, partner types, and geographies can be tricky, as each requires unique enablement, workflows, and tracking that quickly overwhelm manual processes.
Alignment: Keeping all your partners aligned behind shared goals is difficult when everyone has different priorities and circumstances.
Attribution: Accurately connecting activity to revenue can be super complex (especially without the right tech). This can make it hard to prove impact, reward partners fairly, or justify ecosystem investments.
Data visibility and reporting: Without centralized, real-time insights, leadership and partner managers lack the visibility needed for a thriving ecosystem.
Partner churn: If partners feel under-supported, misaligned, or unrecognized for their contributions (due to the above challenges), they will most likely disengage from your program and shift their focus to competing ecosystems.
The key to overcoming these challenges lies in your tech stack.
Indeed, investing in the right CRM-native platform and the right automation tools can prove something of a silver bullet for partner ecosystem challenges.
Look for software that:
✅ Streamlines complexity with standardized workflows
✅ Keeps goals aligned through transparent incentives
✅ Automates attribution for fair credit
✅ Delivers real-time analytics directly into your CRM
✅ Creates a smooth partner experience that reduces churn
The Role of Technology: Partner Ecosystem Management Platforms & Tools
So, when it comes to securing the optimal tech for your partner ecosystem, what exactly should you be looking for in a PRM?
There are three core must-haves:
CRM integration
Off-portal communications
Real-time analytics
But if you want to build a partner ecosystem that will become a significant revenue stream for your SaaS business, you’re going to want more than a traditional partner relationship management system can offer.
Instead, look for a comprehensive partner ecosystem management platform like Introw.
Building on the core must-haves outlined above, Introw is:
✅ CRM-first: Introw is natively integrated with Salesforce and HubSpot, so deal registration, attribution, and reporting all flow directly into your CRM.
✅ Scalable: Templates, auto-segmentation, and workflow automation make it easy to manage hundreds or thousands of partners without manual tasks piling up.
✅ No-login-required: Partners can register deals, access assets, and receive updates via forms, email, or Slack without needing to log into a separate portal.
✅ Built for SaaS ICP:Introw is tailored for the SaaS industry, which means it delivers handy features for modern SaaS go-to-market strategies, such as account mapping, revenue attribution, and co-sell workflows.
The Future of Partner Ecosystems: Trends to Watch in 2025+
SaaS is an incredibly fast-paced industry, so when building your partner ecosystem, it always pays to have one eye on the future.
Here are four rising ecosystem trends to watch out for in 2025 and beyond:
AI will increasingly be used to help identify the right partner opportunities, optimize workflows, and surface insights.
Embedded Integrations & API-First Ecosystems
Seamless technical integrations between partner products will become the norm.
This means that, before long, customers will expect access to end-to-end solutions without friction.
It should also drive up adoption stickiness.
Verticalization & Specialization Of Partner Networks
We can also expect partners to increasingly focus on specific industries or niches.
From the perspective of SaaS companies, this should enable the development and delivery of more tailored solutions, thereby achieving stronger alignment with customer needs.
The Rise Of ‘Ecosystem-As-A-Service’ Platforms
Platforms that provide turnkey partner management, automation, and enablement tools will become increasingly popular as ecosystems mature into a significant revenue stream.
These platforms will vastly simplify ecosystem operations, allowing SaaS companies to build, scale, and optimize their networks faster.
Why Introw Is The Future Of SaaS Partner Ecosystem Management
Ready to take your partner program to the next level with world-class ecosystem management?
Here’s how Introw – an advanced partner ecosystem management tool tailored for SaaS – can help.
✅ Unified partner management, engagement, and reporting in your CRM: All partner data, deal activity, and engagement metrics live within your CRM, giving teams a single source of truth and eliminating silos.
✅ Automation at every step: From onboarding and engagement to deal registrations and QBRs, routine tasks are streamlined and triggered automatically. This frees up teams to focus on high-value activities while keeping partners engaged and productive.
✅ Off-portal experience = frictionless for partners: Partners can register deals, access assets, and receive updates without logging into a separate portal.
✅ Role-based dashboards: Each revenue leader accesses their own dashboard, which displays the data most relevant to them.
Take the first step towards a thriving partner ecosystem today – request an Introw demo here.
Conclusion
Old-fashioned, siloed partner programs won’t do much for your business in 2025, but a strategic partner ecosystem could establish your brand as a major industry player.
Remember – to win with a partner ecosystem in 2025, you need to put a laser-sharp focus on automation, measurement, and collaboration.
➡️ Audit your ecosystem strategy, adopt CRM-native tools, and start scaling with Introw
Valuable partner onboarding strategies for SaaS success in 2025 include starting pre-onboarding prep before the contract is signed, segmenting partners for personalized journeys, and automating welcome communications. Key components like setting clear onboarding goals, aligning internal and partner stakeholders, and delivering role-based product and sales training (including ICP, battlecards, and sales frameworks like SPICED or MEDDPICC) ensure partners are ramped quickly and effectively. Enablement continues with fast, frictionless deal registration, always-on access to resources, dedicated onboarding support, automated progress tracking, early win scheduling, and continuous optimization.
SaaS companies often overlook partner onboarding.
Indeed, onboarding is often viewed as merely a list of tedious administrative tasks that must be completed before the real work can begin.
Furthermore, siloed ownership of tasks within the onboarding process means that, in many cases, no-one really takes accountability for the performance of the whole process.
And finally, the revenue impact of onboarding is typically long-term and, in the past, was difficult to track.
However, as we’ll explore in this guide, when done well, onboarding can be a powerful tool in your partnership arsenal.
Read on to discover the ten essential strategies you need to make onboarding work for your business to lay the foundations for long-term partner success.
Why Partner Onboarding Is a Make-or-Break Moment for SaaS
Once upon a time, onboarding was little more than an administrative checklist to get through.
But modern SaaS brands demand much more from their onboarding programs.
Leaders need to frame onboarding as a revenue strategy in its own right.
After all, a robust partner onboarding process can lay the groundwork for a thriving business with a healthy revenue pipeline.
Develop a fast, seamless, and effective B2B partner onboarding program, and you can expect early wins, high adoption rates, and loyalty.
However, if you fail to effectively harness the power of onboarding, you’re not only missing out on valuable opportunities to engage new partners, but you may also be actively harming your chances of future joint success.
Ultimately, poor onboarding leads to lost revenue, wasted investment, and partner churn.
What Is Partner Onboarding? (2025 Definition & Key Stages)
In the B2B space, channel partner onboarding is a structured process in which a business equips its new partners with all the things they need to sell, market, and support its product or service.
This means effectively and efficiently passing on knowledge, tools, resources, and support to your new partners, while also successfully engaging them with your business.
It’s vital you don’t mix up the principles and goals of customer onboarding – which most B2B brands are very familiar with – with those of partner onboarding.
While customer onboarding teaches buyers how to successfully adopt and gain value from your product, the goals of a new partner onboarding process include driving joint revenue, expanding market reach, and boosting ecosystem growth.
The key stages of B2B partner onboarding are:
Signed agreement and set-up: This is when you finalise your contracts, provide access to relevant systems, and integrate the new partner into your CRM or PRM.
Orientation: It’s time to properly introduce your company! Go in-depth on your brand, SaaS product ecosystem, value proposition, and partner program structure.
Enablement and training: Perhaps the longest stage of partner onboarding, during this phase you must deliver role-based training, certifications, and playbooks.
Go-to-market planning: Define your target customers, joint messaging, campaigns, and pipeline expectations.
Execution and first wins: Support your partners through their early milestones, from their first demos to their first implementations.
Ongoing support: Don’t abandon your partners after they’re up and running. Instead, perform regular check-ins and performance reviews, and roll out advanced training and attractive incentives.
10 Essential Strategies for Modern Partner Onboarding
As outlined above, modern SaaS brands require modern partner onboarding programs.
So how can you elevate your partner onboarding scheme to make it fit for 2025?
Read on for our ten essential modern partner onboarding strategies.
1. Pre-Onboarding Prep: Start Before the Contract
When it comes to effective partner onboarding programs, the prep starts before the contract is signed.
So, what happens at this early stage?
You’ll want to start with an internal team sync.
Bring sales, operations, and enablement together to ensure each team is aligned on partner fit and to set goals and KPIs, ensuring all stakeholders understand what success looks like.
Together, the teams also set realistic expectations, outlining what level of support and resources they can actually deliver and when, and identify any potential bottlenecks.
Finally, it’s vital that by the end of this phase, the ops team understands precisely what is required in terms of setting up systems and processes for the new partner.
Before the contract is signed, it’s also important to customize the onboarding plan for the new partner and gather all the necessary assets for the process.
If you’re using Introw, this is when you’ll set up your onboarding checklist to track and automate the onboarding process.
Introw empowers users to create structured onboarding flows and mutual action plans, enabling them to track partner responsibilities easily.
Set up and scale task templates, assign internal staff members or partner owners to tasks, and automate updates, which can be tracked via Slack or email.
2. Segment & Personalize the Onboarding Experience
Not all partners have the same goals, capabilities, or needs – but they do all expect a personalized onboarding experience.
Remember, this is your partner’s first real impression of your SaaS brand, so it’s essential to make a good impression.
To achieve a personalized onboarding experience, first, you must segment your partners.
Depending on your company and your goals, you may want to segment by:
Partner type (for example, reseller, referral, tech, MSP)
Location
Partner tier
By segmenting these groups, you can then develop personalized communications and enablement paths tailored to each segment.
While personalization may seem time-consuming, Introw enables users to create structured onboarding flows and set up conditional content access, empowering you to segment and personalize at scale.
3. Automate Welcome & Kickoff Communications
While more in-depth onboarding communications are best left to humans, automating your welcome and kickoff communications is a must.
Why?
Firstly, automating this vital early communication enables you to track, analyse, and optimise – and then standardize – your messaging.
Of course, this messaging should be personalized.
Introw’s built-in messaging tools enable you to keep your partners in the loop with branded email announcements, templates that are personalized by partner type or tier, and announcement pop-ups in the partner portal.
Remember that your welcome comms need to be multi-channel – for instance, across email and Slack.
In addition to ensuring that all your partners receive the same effective welcome and don’t miss out on any important information due to human error, it also saves your team time.
Generally, welcome messaging includes assets like:
Welcome kits
Orientation content
“Who’s who” intros
4. Deliver Role-Based Enablement & Certification
The best onboarding programs in 2025 don’t offer one-size-fits-all training.
Instead, they empower partners with targeted, role-based training from a comprehensive learning management system, with course content tailored to specific roles within partner organizations.
This is because not every partner, or every contact within a partner organization, requires the same level of knowledge.
For instance, sales reps require education around product positioning, objection handling, and competitive insights, while technical or implementation staff require deeper knowledge regarding product set-up, integration, and troubleshooting skills.
Meanwhile, marketers should be targeted with co-branding guidelines, campaign playbooks, and messaging alignment.
Modular training and interactive resources work well for partner onboarding as this breaks the learning into manageable chunks that partners can complete at their leisure.
Once modular, interactive training is set up, there’s little left to do.
You can simply assign modules by role, set up notifications of training completion, and it’s also easy to update training materials when necessary.
5. Make Deal Registration Fast and Frictionless
When we talk about user experience in SaaS, we’re typically considering customer satisfaction.
But don’t underestimate the importance of providing your partners with a fast, frictionless experience too.
Assigning dedicated onboarding support for partners – as opposed to more general support – ensures a smoother and faster ramp-up.
Depending on the scope of your program, the dedicated onboarding support could be a full-time partner success manager, an AI onboarding concierge who follows each partner throughout their onboarding journey, or even a peer mentor.
Remember – when offering support, it’s essential to conduct proactive check-ins at key milestones, rather than asking broad, passive questions.
✅ DO: “Now that you’ve completed the initial marketing training modules, how confident do you feel about positioning our product to your customers? Would you like additional guidance or resources in [X] area or [Y] area?”
❌DON’T: “Let us know if you have any questions”.
Introw’s AI agent is built to power smarter partner support, empowering businesses to easily train, optimize, and deploy their bot, all from one place.
The AI agent automatically converts existing content into actionable answers, and you can also create snippets to ensure important FAQs are answered with the correct information.
You can also give the AI agent a custom name, voice, and brand to ensure the support feels personal and on-brand.
8. Run Automated Progress & Activation Tracking
Use real-time dashboards to track partners’ progress and activation automatically.
Identify when training programs are completed and deals are registered in real time, and keep an eye on the number of portal visits by partners, too.
This allows you to spot minor issues and take swift action before they snowball into disengagement by, for example, nudging those partners who stall or need extra help.
Introw’s extensive partner engagement tracking capabilities make it easy to see which partners are active, engaged, and delivering value.
9. Schedule Early-Wins and QBRs
An important element of partner onboarding is building up momentum and getting your partners excited about working with you.
Scheduling early wins is the most effective way to do this.
Help your partners close their first deal fast, and you’ll help to build their confidence and motivation while implicitly demonstrating the value of your partnership.
What’s more, this encourages their adoption of your processes, tools, and best practices by linking them to tangible wins.
Establishing your quarterly business reviews (QBRs) early on in the partnership complements the early wins part of the strategy by ensuring your partners feel valued and heard.
This establishes a regular feedback loop and strategy review, identifies challenges and bottlenecks (ideally before they arise), and reinforces your relationship-building efforts, showing partners that you’re genuinely invested in them.
Perhaps most importantly, setting up your QBRs early on strengthens your strategic alignment.
So what should this look like?
Set up 30-, 60-, and 90-day check-ins to ensure you always have a meeting in the calendar to look forward to.
Introw PRM makes QBR prep easy thanks to its centralized partner activity, pipeline data, and performance metrics inside your CRM.
This means no slide decks, scattered spreadsheets, or lengthy prep sessions trying to collate and interpret all the data.
10. Gather Feedback & Continuously Optimize
As with any business process, it’s crucial to gather feedback on your B2B partner onboarding program and continuously optimize for success.
What should this look like?
Onboarding surveys
Open office hours
A partner advisory board
One-on-one check-ins
Email feedback requests
In-portal feedback tools
Post-training quizzes with feedback prompts
Net promoter score
This partner feedback must then be used to refine your content, each stage of the onboarding process, and onboarding support.
Best Practices to Avoid the Most Common Onboarding Pitfalls
Ready to build your onboarding process? There are several common pitfalls you’ll want to avoid.
Here are our four partner onboarding best practices to follow.
Avoid Manual, Spreadsheet-Driven Processes
Time-consuming, ineffective, and prone to human error, in 2025 there’s simply no need for manual, spreadsheet-driven onboarding processes.
By replacing clunky spreadsheets with sophisticated PRM platforms fit for 2025, you can boost data accuracy, scale your program, and significantly increase your speed and efficiency.
Don’t Force One-Size-Fits-All: Segment And Automate!
When dealing with a diverse partner network, a one-size-fits-all approach can result in low engagement or even complete alienation.
Fortunately, personalization has never been quicker or easier.
Indeed, using a PRM platform, you can automatically segment your partners and automate much of their personalized communication.
Ensure Two-Way Communication (Listen, Don’t Just “Tell”)
Making feedback easy is crucial for optimizing your processes and for building strong partner relationships.
It’s crucial to give your partners a choice of channels in which they can engage in two-way communication with your brand.
This could be email, portal, and Slack, for example – just ensure you’re meeting your partners where they’re already working.
Then, you need to encourage this open and transparent communication through prompts, questions, surveys, and rapid responses.
Track Real Activation, Not Just ‘Training Completed’
The breadth and depth of metrics that PRMs can track in 2025 empowers channel managers to track real activation.
While tracking ‘training completed’ gives you an indication of how ready your partners are to bring in business, tracking metrics like time to first deal, first revenue generated, and product usage paints a fuller picture.
How to Measure Partner Onboarding Success in 2025
While we’re on the subject of metrics, which KPIs should be used when it comes to measuring success around partner onboarding?
While the exact combination of KPIs tracked will vary from business to business, depending on their specific circumstances, business objectives, and goals, the following metrics are always useful.
Time to first deal
Enablement completed
Content usage
Partner NPS
Time to productivity
Onboarding completion rate
Assessment scores
Engagement levels
Pipeline contribution
You’ll also need to tie your onboarding success to downstream revenue to truly appreciate the impact of your program and measure ROI.
In order to achieve this, you need to first define ‘successful onboarding’ in measurable terms — for example, first lead or deal registered. Then, track onboarding speed (aka time to value).
Next, correlate onboarding with partner revenue performance by comparing the performance of partners who completed full onboarding with those who only partially completed onboarding.
Segment partners by onboarding completion level (for example, fast vs slow, complete vs incomplete), and track their revenue across 3, 6, 9, and 12 months. Then analyse your results, and use your findings to optimize your onboarding program.
For optimal results, utilize dashboards to track progress and identify at-risk partners early.
Modern Onboarding Tech Stack: What to Look For
Building your onboarding tech stack?
Make sure your software incorporates:
✅ CRM integration
✅ Automation
✅ Real-time tracking
✅ Self-serve resources
Take a look at Introw. This CRM-native PRM comes complete with handy automation capabilities and is seamless for both partners and managers.
Example: The Introw Automated Partner Onboarding Flow
So what does a partner onboarding flow look like with Introw automating the journey?
Step 1: Signup
A potential partner decides to sign up to your program via your portal or an embedded page.
At this point, Introw creates and/or updates the CRM record, assigns them to the appropriate tier, and generates the relevant program benefits.
Onboarding tasks are auto-generated from a template.
Step 2: Kickoff
The partner immediately receives a welcome pack and their onboarding checklist via email or Slack, with no portal login required.
The same tasks are reflected inside the dedicated partner portal, allowing them to self-serve.
Step 3: Enablement Content
Introw sends the partner the enablement content they need, such as sales tools and marketing materials, based on tier and partner type.
When items are opened or downloaded, you (and the partner) receive alerts, and you can see which assets they are using.
Step 4: Engagement Tracking
As the partner works their way through their tasks, Introw logs portal visits, content usage, and notification opens and clicks.
This data is then automatically sent back into your CRM for RevOps and forecasting.
Step 5: Deal Registration
The partner has identified an opportunity!
They will now submit it from the portal, or directly from Slack or email via a form.
This opportunity is then automatically mapped to your CRM, attributed to the relevant partner, and will be sent for any required approvals.
Step 6: Co-sell & Support
Your sales rep and the partner collaborate in one shared space.
If a customer raises a question, either party can open a support ticket and communicate with the other about it in real-time.
Step 7: Automated Status Comms
As the opportunity moves forward, Introw sends the partner automatic deal updates and keeps everyone aligned, again via email and/or Slack.
Step 8: First Win
Congratulations! The partner has brought in their first win.
Introw will now fire over a win notification to the partner in question, and also attach attribution to the deal.
If you’re using a commission structure to reward partners for hitting sales targets, the PRM will update commission workflows in light of the first win.
Step 9: Feedback Loop
After the first win, Intow immediately switches into feedback mode.
It will encourage partners to fill in a brief survey to capture what has helped or hindered the partner on their journey to their first win.
You can also see which content and touchpoints correlated with success in this instance, so your next partner can ramp up even faster!
Step 10: CRM Reporting
As Introw is a CRM-first platform, RevOps and leadership see everything directly in your CRM, from partner-sourced/influenced revenue to engagement scorecards and content impact.
Forecast accuracy improves because the partner pipeline is live and attributed.
Conclusion
Onboarding is the partner revenue lever that many teams ignore.
It’s easy to see why: onboarding is often viewed as little more than admin, ownership within the process is typically siloed, and any revenue impact is relatively long-term.
However, dismissing the revenue potential of a strong partner onboarding program is a huge misstep.
We know that building a top-notch structured partner onboarding process can lead to a lower time-to-first-revenue, boost retention and lifetime value, and set good engagement habits early.
Furthermore, external partners who complete a structured onboarding are generally more likely to register a deal or make a sale.
In other words, mutual success!
Without onboarding, you end up with ‘signed but silent’ partners.
With this in mind, is it time to audit your onboarding?
Consider where in the process you can add in more automation, personalization, and tracking to boost business growth.
Everflow is purpose-built for B2C affiliate marketing and e-commerce referral programs. If you need to collaborate with SaaS resellers, enable co-selling, or deeply integrate with your CRM, you’ve already outgrown affiliate tools and should consider a modern, CRM-first PRM.
Why Consider an Everflow Alternative in 2025?
When scaling a SaaS partner program, choosing the right technology stack is critical — but not all “partner platforms” are created equal. Everflow is a popular platform in the affiliate marketing world, built for B2C brands and digital commerce teams that want to manage high-volume, transactional affiliate or influencer relationships. But for SaaS companies running B2B partner programs — especially those focused on co-selling, enablement, and revenue collaboration — affiliate tools like Everflow simply aren’t designed for the job.
Everflow’s core strengths are affiliate link creation, payout automation, and large-scale tracking — ideal for e-commerce or consumer referral programs. If your goal is to manage influencer marketing, run pay-per-click campaigns, or turn your customer base into referral partners, Everflow is a solid choice.
However, Everflow is not built for B2B SaaS channel programs where:
You need to train or enable partners with content and resources
You want to co-sell and collaborate on pipeline, not just pay out commissions
You work with resellers, referral partners, or managed service providers
Your revenue team relies on real-time CRM data for forecasting and attribution
In short: Everflow is a strong B2C affiliate tool, but not a PRM (Partner Relationship Management) solution for SaaS. If you’re building a modern B2B partner ecosystem, you’ll want a CRM-native PRM platform that supports deep engagement, automation, and revenue alignment across your entire partner lifecycle.
What to Look for in an Everflow Alternative — If You’re Considering a True PRM
If you’re evaluating alternatives to Everflow because you want to do more than just affiliate payouts — like building lasting partner relationships, driving co-selling, or enabling resellers — you’re really in the market for a Partner Relationship Management (PRM) solution, not another affiliate tool.
Here’s what to prioritize if you’re ready for a real PRM:
CRM-Native Workflows: Seamless integration with Salesforce or HubSpot to keep partner data and deals in your single source of truth
Automation: Onboarding, deal registration, communications, and reporting handled automatically — not through manual tracking
Off-Portal Engagement: Communicate and collaborate with partners via Slack, email, or other tools they already use (no portal logins required)
Real-Time Analytics: Pipeline, attribution, and forecasting updated live inside your CRM
Scalability: Manage anywhere from 10 to 300+ partners, each with customized journeys and permissions
The bottom line: If you’re running a B2B SaaS partner program and want more than basic affiliate marketing, focus on platforms designed for lasting, revenue-driven relationships — not just transactional tracking.
17 Best Everflow Alternatives for SaaS & B2B Partner Programs (2025)
There are plenty of great Everflow alternatives out there in 2025.
Here are our 17 top picks of the best Everflow alternatives, alongside their stand-out use cases and pros and cons.
1. Introw
A modern, CRM-first PRM platform that integrates deeply with Salesforce and HubSpot. Introw empowers businesses to launch branded partner portals in minutes — no coding needed.
Other highlights include:
Off-portal comms
Deep engagement tracking
Automated deal registrations and partner updates, with no login required
Customizable by partner type or tier
It also automates deal and lead registration, commissions, and real-time partner engagement via email or Slack; all synced seamlessly with CRM data.
Best for: SaaS teams needing CRM-first partner automation
Why switch? Introw empowers SaaS teams to go beyond affiliate marketing and run true co-selling and revenue-generating programs.
Impact.com is an all‑in‑one partnership management platform that empowers brands to manage diverse partner types — affiliates, influencers, creators, and referral advocates — within a unified interface.
It automates the full partner lifecycle, from recruitment and contracting to tracking, payouts, and performance optimization.
However, it's worth noting thatImpact.com offers fewer B2B and channel features than many other platforms, and its CRM integration is limited, too.
Top features include:
Marketplace
Deep affiliate tracking
Payout automation
Best for: Affiliate-first organizations, influencer, and content partnerships
Pros and cons: Impact.com is best suited for scaling digital commerce and affiliate programs rather than SaaS channel co-selling.
6. Impartner
Impartner is a leading partner ecosystem platform that offers end-to-end PRM and Through-Channel Marketing Automation (TCMA).
It simplifies the partner lifecycle — from recruiting and onboarding to training, marketing, deal registration, and performance analytics.
Highlights include:
Full-featured PRM (including deal reg, MDF, onboarding, and analytics)
Advanced role permissions
Strong reporting
Best for: Enterprises, global channel programs
Pros and cons: A great option for large organizations with IT resources, but it has a slower setup than similar tools
7. Tune
TUNE (formerly HasOffers) is a flexible SaaS platform designed for brands, agencies, and networks, offering a comprehensive solution for partner marketing.
It's important to bear in mind that this is a digital-first platform and is not ideal for SaaS channel sales.
Key features include:
Flexible tracking
API
Good mobile support
Best for: Affiliate/performance marketing (mobile, app, gaming)
Pros and cons: TUNE offers API integration, fraud prevention, and real-time reportingbut lacks partner co-selling and CRM integration.
8. Partnerize
Partnerize is an AI-powered partnership automation platform that helps enterprises manage, optimize, and vault affiliate, influencer, and referral programs end‑to‑end.
The platform's highlights include:
Affiliate, influencer, B2B, and channel all in one platform
AI-powered optimization
Flexible reporting
Best for: Large brands managing mixed partner ecosystems
Pros and cons: Partnerize works best for companies with big budgets and delivers big reach — but it's not tailored for SaaS workflows.
9. Zift Solutions
Zift Solutions — a unified PRM and through-channel marketing automation platform for indirect selling — promises to optimize campaigns and deliver happier partners.
It excels in channel marketing and automation for large teams.
Platform highlights include:
MDF
Campaign management
Strong integrations
Best for: Channel marketing automation at enterprise scale
Pros and cons: Zift Solutions offers robust reporting but can be complex
10. Crossbeam
Crossbeam is an ecosystem‑led growth platform that securely connects partner CRMs and data sources to identify account overlaps, surface warm leads, and enable co‑selling.
This platform is designed to help sales teams uncover partnership opportunities and drive ecosystem‑based revenue — and should be used to supplement your CRM and/or PRM.
Crossbeam's key features are:
Account mapping
Partner overlap
Joint pipeline tracking
Best for: SaaS with ecosystem and co-selling focus
Pros and Cons: Crossbeam is not a full PRM, but it's super useful for ecosystem data
11. Channeltivity
Channeltivity is a cloud-based PRM and channel management software designed to help companies build, scale, and optimize their indirect sales programs.
It works well for classic channel teams rather than affiliate-heavy programs.
Key features include:
Deal reg
MDF
Reporting
Customizable portal
Best for: Mid-market B2B SaaS
Pros and cons: Quick to deploy and has HubSpot/Salesforce connectors but is not ideal for affiliate-heavy programs
12. Magentrix
Magentrix is a robust PRM and partner portal platform.
This software helps organizations streamline partner onboarding, deal registration, pipeline tracking, incentives, and training via a built-in learning management system.
Its LMS makes it an excellent fit for SaaS teams with heavy partner enablement or content needs.
Key features:
PRM
Community features
Strong Salesforce integration
Resource library
Support tools
Best for: Teams needing robust partner portal customization
Pros and cons: Magentrix is highly flexible and scalable, but it does come with a learning curve, and its high level of customization means implementation can be slow.
13. Affise
Promising to help companies master performance marketing and mobile attribution, cloud‑based Affise simplifies partnerships — affiliate, influencer, app, and referral marketing.
This is a handy tool for teams that are digital-first, mobile-first, or work in e-commerce.
Highlights include:
Flexible tracking
Payout automation
Supports mobile attribution data
Best for: Performance marketing and affiliate networks
Pros and cons: Affise is helpful in the B2C space, but it's not built explicitly for co-sell or B2B SaaS channels.
14. Salesforce PRM
Salesforce PRM is an extension of the Salesforce Sales Cloud that empowers companies to manage channel sales with their partners.
As you'd imagine, it's fully integrated with Salesforce CRM, enabling organizations to grow indirect sales and collaborate efficiently with their partner ecosystem.
Salesforce PRM is a top choice for teams with SFDC admins or those who need single-source-of-truth
Key features include:
Native integration
Customizable objects
Customizable workflows
Best for: Organizations already on Salesforce
Pros and cons: Salesforce PRM offers built-in reporting but has limited out-of-the-box PRM features
15. Elioplus
Elioplus is a B2B platform for software and cloud vendors that simplifies channel growth by combining partner recruitment with PRM features.
It's best used for building partner networks rather than scaling complex programs.
Highlights include:
Marketplace
Partner discovery
Some PRM features
Best for: SaaS/IT vendors looking for partner recruitment
Pros and cons: The software's emphasis on partner recruitment is valuable for those building their partner program, but Elioplus is limited when it comes to automation and deep integrations.
16. Post Affiliate Pro
Need a software that will help you launch, track, and manage affiliate programs at scale?
Take a look at Post Affiliate Pro, which is designed for affiliate programs.
If you're looking for channel sales support, however, this may not be the software for you.
Key features of Post Affiliate Pro include:
Multi-currency
Campaign management
Automated commission payments
Best for: Affiliate marketing and pay-per-performance schemes
Pros and cons: While useful for affiliate programs, it's not focused on B2B or SaaS channels.
17. WorkSpan
WorkSpan is a SaaS-based ecosystem business‑management platform that unifies co‑selling, co‑marketing, co‑investing, and co‑innovating across partner networks.
Features include:
Joint pipeline tracking
Workflow automation
Real-time referral sharing
Salesforce integration
Comprehensive data visibility
Best for: Co-selling, alliance, and ecosystem management
Pros and cons: This software is a good fit for businesses with complex ecosystems but not classic affiliate programs.
Why SaaS Teams Upgrade to Introw
Modern SaaS teams need tools that match the speed and complexity of today's partner ecosystems while also simplifying collaboration and streamlining user journeys.
Here's why leading SaaS teams are making the switch to Introw.
CRM-native workflows
Introw works directly within your existing CRM, so your team gets to keep using familiar tools without any disruption, and you get to retain your single source of truth.
Forget forcing partners to log into separate portals — this is a fast track to disengagement.
Introw enables seamless communication and collaboration outside of portals (such as email and Slack), reducing friction and keeping partners engaged where they already work.
Instant analytics
Action real-time insights with analytics that update instantly.
Track partner performance, spot trends early, and make data-driven decisions without waiting for reports.
No more missed updates or chasing partners
Stay effortlessly connected with automated alerts and notifications.
Role-based dashboards for managers, RevOps, and CROs
Everyone on your team gets personalized dashboards tailored to their needs.
This means managers, RevOps, and CROs can easily access the data that matters most to them, empowering them to make faster and smarter decisions.
Introw has been proven to scale SaaS partner revenue — request a demo here today.
Conclusion
Today's partner programs demand more than just tracking — they require deep CRM integration, automation to reduce manual work, and meaningful engagement that create results.
It's fair to say that traditional tools and disconnected portals simply can't keep up with the speed and complexity of modern SaaS ecosystems.
What are the next steps for organizations building and running modern partner programs?
Evaluate the leading partner management solutions
Schedule a live demo with your team
Choose a platform that can future-proof your channel strategy as you grow
After all, the right tool can make all the difference in unlocking partner-led revenue.
.svg)
