Proving incrementality and measuring your ROI can be difficult in all forms of marketing but when it comes to affiliates, this channel is challenged profusely.
We discussed the relevance of affiliates in our latest online debate; our host Jules Pancholi questioned Lee Carter, Marketing Acquisition Manager at PrettyLittleThing, Sri Sharma, CEO & Co-Founder of Increasingly, Jessica Brown, Agency Partner at Awin Global and our CEO John Readman on how we can measure affiliates most effectively.
How can incrementality be proven?
Lee believes that the world of digital marketing is changing, and we’re moving away from last-click attribution and PrettyLittleThing in particular, are now acquiring crucial data through an attribution partner to give them a clearer ROI. “When our finance team or marketing directors are asking questions, we can now prove the full impact that someone’s had on the customer journey.”
He recognises the growth of digital and that a consumer no longer searches for a product and buys from the first page they click on to. He says that people are influenced by other outside sources, which is why an attribution tool is important in proving how all marketing channels tie in together.
In her role at Awin, Jess endorses the use of affiliates in a digital marketing strategy and highlights the positive reports and studies that evidence the incrementality of affiliates.
She emphasises the Single View attribution analysis report, which indicates that you are 10% more likely to make a sale using affiliates. Jess recognises that some companies may experience duplicate sales figures and data and recommends using tag management systems and a channel parameter solution to truly measure affiliates.
What can be done?
As the Co-Founder of Increasingly, Sri pushes his on-site bundling technology which helps to increase the average order value (AOV). “This technology boosts revenue by 10-15% for the entire site, which means the role of the affiliate and their revenue also goes up by this amount. We’ve done multiple incrementality tests to prove this.” Sri believes this offers a variety to the affiliate mix and presents newness and innovation to the channel.
At Modo25, we help businesses explore untapped marketing opportunities and diversifying from Google. John emphasises that measuring your success is crucial and ensuring that you have the right tools in place.
Sri remarks that previously you would have had to see a brand 5 times before making a purchase, which has since increased to around 12+ times. This means that businesses have to work harder than ever to connect with their audience. He believes that one of the benefits of affiliate marketing is that they offer a ‘brand halo’ which can present a positive attitude towards the business.
Despite the current tools available to prove the incrementality of affiliates, Lee believes that there are still misconceptions surrounding this channel. “People fall into a bubble of thinking that affiliates are just discounts and cashback, but we think that there’s a whole side to affiliates that people forget about.”
Our team of specialists can help you to set up your affiliate channel as well as help you to build a strategy that you can easily manage. Similarly, we will provide you with the tools to begin reporting which can also, if relevant, help you with international expansion. Send us an email to team@modo25.com to find out more.
