This presentation is from Affiliate Summit West 2018 (January 7 - January 9, 2018 in Las Vegas).
Session description: Find out what CJ has discovered about affiliate’s true influence and impact on shopping behaviors. These findings are guaranteed to alter perceptions and incentivize increased affiliate budgets.
5. Affiliate Drives New Customers
33%
29%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
33%
+14%
Difference
Affiliate Other Marketing ChannelsSource: CJ Affiliate Customer Insights Network Findings, Retail Vertical, 2017 Monthly Customer Analysis
Percent of Affiliate Customers
who are New to the Advertiser
6. New Customers From the Affiliate Channel Are
More Valuable than Those From Other Channels
+27%
AOV
+3%
orders per
customer
+30%
annual customer
revenue
33%
Source: CJ Affiliate Customer Insights Network Findings, Retail Vertical, 2017 Monthly Customer Analysis
Percent of Affiliate Customers
who are New to the Advertiser
7. Affiliate Reactivates Lapsed Customers
16%
8%
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
12%
14%
16%
18%
16%
Percent of Affiliate Customers who are
Reactivated
Affiliate Other Marketing Channels
Source: CJ Affiliate Customer Insights Network Findings, Retail Vertical, 2017 Monthly Customer Analysis
+100%
Difference
9. High Value Repeat Shoppers Use
Affiliate Too
+21%
AOV
+7%
orders per
customer
+30%
annual customer
revenue
51%
Source: CJ Affiliate Customer Insights Network Findings, Retail Vertical, 2017 Monthly Customer Analysis
Percent of Affiliate Customers
who are Repeat Shoppers
11. Affiliate Shoppers
Research More
1.75 x
more likely to do heavy
online research
Source: comScore , 2017
1.5 x
more likely to do
moderate online research
12. Higher Value Transactions with More Affiliate
Engagement
[CELLRANGE]
[CELLRANGE]
[CELLRANGE]
[CELLRANGE]
[CELLRANGE]
$0
$50
$100
$150
$200
$250
1 click 2-5 clicks 6-12 clicks 12-24 clicks No Affiliate
Engagment
Average Order Value
Source: CJ Affiliate Customer Insights Network Findings, Retail Vertical, 2017 Monthly Customer Analysis
Welcome to all of you. I’ve very excited to be here today to talk about investment in the affiliate channel, why it warrants an increase in the year(s) ahead.
My premise is that the affiliate channel is under-funded, and likely has been for many years. When one considers the essential value propositions that the affiliate delivers on – rate of new customers, lifetime value of the customers being driven and
The biggest inspiration that drives this talk is ACI, what we’ve learned.
Today I’ll share some ideas I have on how to operate as affiliate marketers within this “brave new world” of cross device tracking in which we can track a click that occurs on one browser or device and connect it with a purchase that occurs on another browser or device
I do realize I’m the only thing standing between you and the networking drinks….so I’ll try to keep a tight pace here.
Slide 2. Understand the Customer = Understanding Affiliate Channel Value
This is important, because it underlines the kind of customer the affiliate channel delivers, the key KPIs they feature, and how the channel itself addresses the value a brand looks for. We understand that data is a critical component to uncovering the true value of the channel, particularly as it compares to other marketing channels.
Slide 3/4: By combining 75 million daily online and offline purchases via 160 million+ anonymous consumer profiles with publisher referred order data, our data provides unparalleled reach, accuracy, and persistence into the affiliate consumer.
How we measure an individual -- we take all the data from CJ, clicks (those that convert, those that don’t), take all the orders, marry it with advertiser data (on and offline) and pull it together using the conversant individual ID. We want to understand how that falls within a consumer’s journey – is it their 1st purchase, their 45th purchase. So that we’re not just measuring a bunch of individual IDs, our goal is to understand the an individual.
Affiliate Drives High Rates of New Customers
Now that we know affiliate drives a more valuable customer, let’s put that into context with the relationship segments those consumers fall into, and how those segments match the kinds of value marketers look for. Acquiring new and retaining repeat customers (in a profitable way) is paramount to almost every business. On average, the affiliate channel delivers a 33% new customer rate as compared to other channels’ 29% new customer rate (a 14% difference). The Content and Social publisher verticals have a 50% new customer rate, which speaks to the appeal and growth of those verticals within the affiliate channel
The new customer segment affiliate drives, across all verticals, becomes more compelling when you consider that they have a 27% higher AOV, and make 3% more orders per customer, leading to 30% higher revenue per customer (when factoring all subsequent purchases) than other channel’s new customer segments.
Our data shows that 16% of all affiliate customers are lapsed, or “reactivated”, shoppers, compared to 8% for other marketing channels. This means that brands investing in affiliate are twice as likely to re-engage with lapsed shoppers.
Here it gets more interesting: those lapsed customers account for a 46% higher annual customer revenue than other channels’ lapsed customers (considering a 16% higher AOV and 20% higher orders per customer, plus all subsequent purchases). When marketers work through the affiliate channel, they not only bring lost customers back into the fold, but they do so at a more valuable rate than any other channel they employ.
Highest Value Repeat Shoppers Engage with Affiliate
New customers are important, but we ultimately want to encourage them to buy often and become loyal shoppers. Our data found that 51% of affiliate customers are repeat shoppers, and in comparison to other channels, these customers deliver a 21% higher AOV and a 7% higher order per customer rate. This further proves the affiliate channel offers marketers the chance to drive stronger revenue than other channels, both from new customers and their existing customer base.
We also see that affiliate customers are 1.5 times more likely to engage in moderate product research and 1.75 times more likely to engage in heavy product research prior to making a purchase.
That means affiliate customers are spending a good deal of time leveraging the affiliate channel as a source for product research. They engage with a variety of publisher sites (content, social, loyalty, product review, etc.) to learn about products before transacting, this is especially true for high price-point purchases. The more affiliate engagement a customer has before making a purchase, the higher the purchase value. (i.e. 1 click equates to a $115 AOV, 12-24 clicks equate to a $229 AOV).
We’ve also found that affiliate drives 22% higher rate of new customer acquisition than other channels during the critical holiday lead up (September through November). This is the timeframe that businesses acquire most of the new customers that will contribute to their buying file and CRM efforts in the year/s to come. That also means additional investment in the channel offers the opportunity to incrementally grow your new customer base and yield a higher return from that valuable segment. In sum, affiliate is offering a higher rate of more valuable new customers than other channels, making it apparent that investment in the channel enables many marketers to achieve their new customer and overall revenue goals.