affiliates summit 2
TRANSCRIPT
Introduction to Affiliate Marketing for Merchants
Forrest Schaaf, Partner, Schaaf Consulting (Moderator)
Dan Chiss, Director, Affiliate Strategy, Performics
Peter Figueredo, CEO and Co-Founder, NETexponent
Rob Key, CEO, Converseon
John Tomaszewski, VP Policy and Legal, TRUSTe
Affiliate SegmentationThe devil is in the details
Dan Chiss
Director, Affiliate Strategy & Publisher Development
Performics
It’s Marketing!
Affiliate marketing requires execution of traditional marketing techniques
Success is not always about discovering new techniques
Advanced affiliate marketing lies in strong execution
Success relies on the details
Why Segmentation Matters
Affiliates tend to be a heterogeneous group, with different business models, audiences, motivations, and behaviors
Affiliates are time-strapped and inundated with communications, offers, and incentives
Segmentation can lead to greater efficiency, productivity, and profitability
Standard Affiliate Segmentation Schema
By performance (high, medium, low)By classification/business model
Loyalty/Rewards Shopping/Promotions, Community and Content Search Specialists
By content category (e.g., Technology, Sports & Outdoors, Fashion)
By site demographics
Advanced Segmentation Ideas
By age (how many days since an affiliate joined your program)
By recency (how long since an affiliate last generated a lead or sale)
By customer quality/profitability (% of new-to-file, high LTV, etc.)
By products purchased (on a sku level)
Affiliate Segmentation Rules of Thumb
Make sure your segments are distinct, actionable, and measurable
Segments need to be large enough to matter
Start simple – add complexity over time
I’ve Created Segments, Now What?
Create and test different versions of email newsletters against each segment Content and personalization can have a
significant impact on response rates
Utilize pricing and incentives to motivate and reward best behavior
Test, measure, refine, test again
OutsourcingPeter Figueredo
CEO & Co-Founder
NETexponent
Benefits Of Outsourcing
In-House Outsource
Data Limited Diverse
Staff Oversight No Yes
Experience Limited Diverse
Relations Limited Medium
Costs Fixed Hybrid
Skin-in-Game Minor Major
Cross Client Limited Diverse
Negotiation Limited Amassed
Overhead Full None
Exclusive Always Sometimes
Severable Difficult Easy
Outsourcers can provide affiliate managers with much needed bandwidth and expertise in affiliate recruiting and optimization
Affiliate Outsourcing RFP Questions How long have you been managing relevant programs
and relevant tech platforms? What client service background do you have? What is the average length of your client engagements? What programs do you currently manage? What is your current client to staff ratio? How many staff hours can you guarantee? How do you minimize fraud? What relevant partnerships do you have? How will you protect my brand? Do you offer category exclusivity? Please provide bios of my team. Please provide relevant client references.
Contact ([email protected]) For All 40 Questions
Affiliate Management Outsourcers
ConverseonCommerce 360Forge BusinessiMarketingNETexponentPartnercentricSchaaf ConsultingShawn Collins Consulting
Truisms…
According to Shop.org studies, search and affiliate marketing are the two most efficient online acquisition channels (after in-house lists)
Synchronizing search and affiliate provides helps ensure greater efficiencies. Bid strategies Meta-search Natural optimization “Long tail” keywords Brand protection
Three Eras of Search/Affiliate Strategies
Era 1 “The Wild West” Many companies basically outsourced much
search to affiliates to pay on performance basis. Affiliates Arbitraged.
Era 2 “The Taliban Era” Companies take hold of search strategies and
begin precluding affiliates from bidding on relevant keywords (esp. branded)
Era 3: Our Emerging Era
Era of “Shelf Space” Search and affiliate more strategically utilized to
maximize real estate on SERPs. More strategic policies to set bid limits on critical keywords
(not bidding against brand) Handpicked, controlled, trusted affiliates brought into more
integrated efforts (natural and PPC) Utilization of select content-oriented affiliates (including
bloggers) for “long tail” keywords Fills void that could be filled by competition Utilize “direct link” technologies to boost linking, where
possible (is your affiliate link direct or redirected?) Focus on “Shelf Space” Maximization
Competitive Advantage Requires “Shelf Space” Approach
One top listing only captures a percentage of potential traffic for a given keyword.
According to Jupiter research, 75% of search engine users never scroll beyond the first page of results.
A key approach for some leading brands for highly converting/valuable keywords is occupy as much of the top listings – the valuable “shelf space” – as possible by enabling affiliates to compliment brand property strategies
Search Engine Marketing – Shelf Space Defined
Paid Search
Natural ResultsAffiliate Listing
Elements
Take control of your Search Engine Result Pages (SERP). Allowing a few trusted affiliates to bid along
with you limits the amount of control you cede to Google, other search engines and competitors to correctly represent your brand to consumers.
Force unwanted or confusing natural results (celebrity gossip and competitors) below the fold.
Elements
Major Search Engines allow only one paid ad per domain/per keyword
Using a few trusted affiliates can: Increase your exposure on SERP’s by adding more ads
for merchant on each search term. Push your competitors out and limit their exposure to
Your customers. Limit customer confusion by allowing affiliates to add
correct information on your SERP’s
Formulating a Strategy
What bid limit for brand keywords?How to tackle long tail keywords?Where (what keywords) to focus efforts
maximize shelf space? (most valuable traffic)?
Fully leverage policies across affiliates Consider a blog strategy to optimize for
long tail keywords as well
Keyword Phrases
Merchant account
Credit cards
Buy online
Stores online
Take credit cards
“Company” – Top Ten Listings Site title Status
1 http://www.Company.com/ Company - Welcome Company
2 http://www.Companysucks.com/CompanySucks.com is where you will learn the abuse, fraud, & evil ...
Negative
3 http://www.Companywarning.com/CompanyWarning.com - Company Warning to Investors, Merchants ...
Negative
4 http://www.aboutCompany.org/Tongkat Ali, unrestricted sex – Company, restricted account
Negative
5http://www.hack.com//Company/buyer/protection.html
Hack.com: Company: Stay Safe When Buying Online
6 http://Company.typepad.com/ Company Developer Network Blog Friendly
7 http://www.ygoodman.com/Company.html Company - the "Pal" You Pay Negative
8 http://freshmeat.net/releases/166124/freshmeat.net: Project details for Company Shopping Cart
Other
9http://www.htmlgoodies.com/beyond/Company.html
What Is Company? Neutral
10
http://www.zend.com/zend/tut/tutorial-Company.php
Intended audience Other
SERP Visibility Map
Affiliate Marketing, Adware & SpywareWhat you don’t know can hurt your brand.
John P. Tomaszewski, Esq.VP, Legal, Policy & Compliance, TRUSTe
February 4, 2005
04/12/23 25
What You Don’t Know Can Hurt Your Brand Adware/Spyware/Malware reaching Epidemic
Proportions Adware/Spyware affecting 80% of home computer
users*
80% of those with affected computers didn’t know these programs were installed
Consumers losing trust in software delivered over the internet
* Per AOL/NCSA Online Safety Study, October 2004
Pushing the Envelope Adware is an effective way to generate leads
and to make content and services possible for free
Using surreptitious means instead of offering a clear, responsible value proposition has resulted in growing consumer backlash
No independently verifiable standards existed
No clear business incentive to “step-up” to best practices
Trusted DownloadProgram
Trusted Download Program is a whitelist which our partners Yahoo!, CNET, AOL and (You Can), use to direct internet advertising dollars and distribution opportunities to software that demonstrates informed consent and gives control back to the user.
www.trusteddownload.com
Market Incentives for Certified Applications
UncertifiedApplication
Trusted Download Program
Advertisersand Ad
Networks
ContentAggregators and
Consumer Portals
CertifiedApplication
Incentives= Money
= Install
= Ratings
Anti-SpywareSoftware
You Are Here
Objectives
Promote meaningful notice and control for consumers
Establish industry-wide standards for software developers
Identify trustworthy applications via whitelist for distributors and marketers
Help advertisers protect their brands through spyware-free advertising
Protect Your Brand By Doing…
Clear Value Prop to Consumer What is the deal?
Consent to download/installAds are labeled as to the advertiserSoftware serving the ads are also labeled
Who is the advertiser and what is the software doing the advertising
Examples of Prohibited Activities
Taking control of a consumer’s computer Modifying security settings Collecting personally identifiable information
(PII) through the use of keystroke logging Inducing the user to provide PII to another
person through intentional misrepresentation Inducing the user to install software onto
computer or preventing efforts to block installation
Contact TRUSTe
John P. Tomaszewski, Esq.
VP, Legal, Policy & Compliance
415-520-3423
www.trusteddownload.com