kevin edwards - voucher codes: understanding the metrics
DESCRIPTION
Europe 2010TRANSCRIPT
Voucher Codes: Understanding the Metrics18th May 2010
The growth of the ‘maximising consumer’
Voucher code search traffic is maturing
Growth of longtail searches shows
growing sophistication of consumers
Awin’s Top 20 Affiliates
Voucher Code Trends – AWin
The Data (thank you Hitwise)
With a year granular search terms featuring the word ‘voucher’ had quadrupled
Jul 08
Jul 09
34,200 search term variations
8,300
Jul 2009
41.5%
% of searches direct to VC sites, dropped by 5%
Retail site share of ‘voucher’ traffic
Merchants’ Reacting
Current Situation
Merchants are reacting differently:• doesn’t allow any paid search ads
to appear for brand + generic code terms• has banned an affiliate based on
brand misspells & impact on SEO strategy• allow a voucher affiliate brand rights
when codes are available
A merchant’s considerations• Impact on other affiliates; latency• New vs. Repeat customer• Setting commissions• Type of code• Distribution, monitoring & tracking• Just voucher code directories?• Paid Search & SEO T&Cs• Testing & optimising
Value of Traffic
Value of Code
Value of code: How to define
Any merchant needs to understand the importance of any affiliate’s traffic
Value System
Average Order Value
New Customer Acquisition
Contribution in the sales journey
Sales Volume
ConversionRate
Intelligent commission setting
Who Overwrites Content & Codes?
• When True Content is last referrer voucher code sites are more likely to be second to last referrer more than any other affiliate
• BUT this amounts to a very small number of sales and amount of commission
• Voucher Code & True Content affs gain equally when multiple referrer voucher code sale occurs
Latency – Click to sale speed
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• VC sites convert sooner• Other affiliates convert later
Latency – Click to sale speed
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es • Big similarity between TC & VC• Minor variance, inconclusive
Latency – Electrical code (general)
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• 16% sales’ increase for code• 2% increase in multiple ref sales• Most 1st click VC sales lose to VC sites
Setting the parameters• What type of code?
– Bespoke code?– Stretch and save code?
• What tracking is in place?• Which affiliates are you giving the code to?• Think ‘affiliates who use codes’ NOT ‘voucher
code affiliates’• Set yourself clear objectives
The power of an exclusive
• M&S issued exclusive code to one affiliate:
• Sales increase during the peak Christmas period for the three days was 5,000%
• What we don’t know: impact on rest of prog.
Vodafone e-voucher
• Uplift in orders; maintain Gross to Net?• Strength of the e-voucher for affiliates? • More exposure for Vodafone?• Did it increase upsells (longer term contracts)?• How cost effective was it to run the e-voucher?• What was the feedback from affiliates?
Vodafone e-voucher
• Value add proposition; bundles, extras, freebies• Opportunity to upsell or build affinity deals
• Vodafone saw a 12 fold increase in clicks
• Offers helped create significant buzz, but conversions dropped
• 28% uplift in contracts• 60% overall sales uplift
Driving customer acquisition• Shop Direct ran with three affiliates, £15 extra
off for new customers• Sales increased 75% for the three affiliates• New customer numbers increased 37%• Indicates code drove both additional buzz and
exposure and new customers• Further analysis showed higher than average
repeat customers driven by code
Increasing your basket value‘Stretch and Save’
• 3% increase in overall programme AOV• 41% increase in voucher code AOV
Monitoring & Reporting
• Voucher code tracking
Monitoring & Reporting
• Address affiliate concerns about overwriting of cookies in the final stages of buying cycle
• Enable every affiliate to provide compelling & exclusive deals to customers, without disadvantaging any particular affiliate type
• Reduce sales leakage
How does it work?
• Display/hide voucher code entry box in the checkout• Enable affiliates to pass in an extra parameter in the
inbound URL called a ‘deal ID’ • Corresponding promotion is applied automatically• Deal IDs are exclusive to individual affiliates• Deals are session-based, providing a powerful call to
action – ‘you must click on this link to get this deal’ & ‘you must start your journey from this site to get this deal’
How does it work?• Types of deals - £ or % off:
– Individual product– Product Category e.g. Driving– Product Subcategory e.g. Driving > Ferrari Driving– Site-wide
• Additional functionality:– Individual products can be excluded from any category,
subcategory or site-wide based deals– Set a minimum spend before customer receives discount
• Affiliate can have multiple deals running
Codes in action
Codes in action• Promotion running from 9-16 April: Exclusive
15% off Champneys Express Manicure or Pedicure, promoted via VoucherCodes.co.uk
• Regular 10% discount code also offered on the VoucherCodes.co.uk website
• Compared to same period in March:– Traffic increased by 212%– Number of sales doubled– Sales value increased by 68%
End-to-end analysisIssue Code
Which affiliates?Just VC sites?What type of
code?Sale strategy?
Monitor Sales:Volume?
Distribution?Control?
VC tracking in place?
Inform Decisions on Future Codes:Which affiliates?
Commission setting?Impact on other
affiliates?
The IAB’s Code of Conduct
• Sets standard for promotion of codes• No click to reveal• No attempt to mislead• Separation of codes from deals• Protects exclusivity• Voucher Code of Conduct
The Future• Better reporting; increased scrutiny• More automated solutions• End to end monitoring & ‘intelligent’ commission
setting• Tracking of mobile codes• Mobile opens opportunities for localised codes
Voucher Codes: Understanding the MetricsKevin Edwards, [email protected] 7553 0354, 07974 810 547