Understanding the Value of the Affiliate Channel

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This is a live blog post from AffiliateManagementDays.com how in San Francisco. This session is presented by Kevin Edwards of Affiliate Window.

The question – how do I measure the value?

Where we’ve come from and where we’re going. Are coupon affiliates goal hangers? Am I paying for sales I already had?

The term “incremental” is important to understand in this channel. How incremental are my sales? could translate to “Would I have got my sales if I didn’t run them through an affiliate marketing channel?”

What is incremental? New vs existing. Volume. Upselling. Churn. Demographics. Frequency. Profitability. Average Order Value.

Cross channel reporting is vital to understanding the affiliate value chain.

The incrementally of affiliates:

  • Brief : to understand how affiliates impact sales and other channels across whole online ecosystem
  • Retail client’s data from August 2012
  • All channels, both paid and unpaid marketing , assessed
  • Understand how affiliates are influencers in the path to conversion. Work with them to influence the products they are promoting.
  • Work with influencers to understand how they can convert rather than just influence
  • Work with individual partners to get better placements across their sites. Alternative payment models may need to be considered.
  • Look at bespoke offers for the largest incentives sites to see how to best capitalize on their loyal membership base to drive incremental value.

There is no single measure of “incremental”: Look beyond sales’ volume to sales’s value. Incremental in context of changing consumer habits. Cross-channel paths to purchase can show where value is added: a single attribution model does not work for all. Demand insight into publishers audiences / member bases: Build profiles for more intelligent targeting. Not all similar looking affiliates are the same.