Kevin Edwards, Affiliate Window strategy director talks exclusively to Retail Technology about how to get maximum value from online marketing investment

Kevin Edwards, Affiliate Window strategy director talks exclusively to Retail Technology about how to get maximum value from online marketing investment

The strategy director of the marketing specialist, Affiliate Window, said: “Performance marketing, now fully mainstream, has always touched on all aspects of online, providing a one stop shop for digital entrepreneurs to easily access hundreds of High Street and blue chip brands.

“Given how accessible advertisers are via affiliate networks the industry provides not only a showcase for innovation but also an avenue for affiliates looking to monetise emerging trends.

“One such trend, accelerated by the economic turbulence of recent times, is that of the ‘savvy online consumer’. This person typically appreciates that shopping around online can unlock discounts or extra value adds not available to the casual browser and it’s within the area of discount or voucher coding that this has been most visible.

Harnessing the power of online networks

“Whether the online consumer created this phenomenon or whether voucher code sites (an excellent example of which is vouchercodes.co.uk) created it is open to debate.

“There is, however, no doubt that the huge popularity of voucher codes (In the past three years the revenue generated from voucher sites has increased fivefold on the Affiliate Window platform) has required advertisers to reassess whether they want to monetise this traffic and, if they do, how they go about doing it without compromising their brand and ROI.

“Obvious questions advertisers should be asking are whether they are happy to be associated as a ‘discounter’ and if they are how frequently discounts are offered. For example if a code is run once every six months is that infrequent enough for it to be seen as a really great deal? There is always the danger when always offering codes that an advertiser may be considered a permanent discounter with a perception amongst consumers that standard, everyday prices are simply overinflated.

“The type of code (general site wide money off, product specific or only effective on a certain spend) also needs to be considered as well as margins; advertisers will not only be discounting products but also paying a commission and network fee.

Avoiding campaign double charging

“But beyond all of this advertisers need to be conscious of how this traffic impacts their other affiliates, as well as additional online channels. There is a perception that voucher codes overwrite a large number of other cookies from other affiliates who may act as a sale ‘initiator’ at the start of the sale process rather than the end.

“Interestingly the research conducted into click paths has shown this isn’t necessarily the case. But one interesting issue it does raise is how de-duplication of sales (that is ensuring that advertisers only pay once for a sale rather than multiple times across different channels where cookies may be present) has focused attention on the ‘last click’ model. In other words, affiliates have always been tasked with converting a sale and receiving a reward for doing so but this potentially ignores the additional contributions that other affiliates or online channels offer in the consumer path to the sale.

“Voucher coding is here to stay and can be exceptionally powerful in driving volumes but advertisers need to be fully aware of the impact they have not only on their brand but also their other online channels.”