This presentation is from Affiliate Summit East 2016 (July 31-August 2, 2016 in New York City, NY). Session description: Learn what to look for when trying to find value in the affiliate channel. Merchants: These are the sales you want. Affiliates: These are the sales you want to generate.

1. Elements of Incrementality
in the Affiliate Channel
Affiliate Summit East 2016

2. • What is an incremental sale
• What are the characteristics of an
incremental sale
• How can affiliates drive incremental sales
• How can merchants encourage
incremental sales from their affiliates
Elements of Incrementality In
the Affiliate Channel

3. 3
– Been in the affiliate industry since ~1998
• Started one of the first SEO agencies
• Transitioned to being a full time affiliate
in 2000
• Natural search, datafeed, PPC, social, video
• Moved into full time affiliate management
in 2012
– Manage affiliate programs for Fanatics.com, FansEdge.com,
NFLShop.com, NBAStore.com, MLBShop.com,
Shop.NHL.com, UFCStore.com and about 20 other programs
Who Am I?

4. 4
• Definition: A sale that occurs or increases
as a result of additional influence (courtesy of Karen
Garcia from Lab6Media.com)
– Would the sale have occurred without the affiliate there?
– Would the sale have had the same value?
– Would the sale have gone to another channel without the
affiliate in the click stream?
– Imagine a bucket…
What is an incremental sale?

5. 5
• The Bucket Analogy
– 1st bucket: 6 different hoses from 6 different sources
– 2nd bucket: 6 hoses spliced off from each other
– 3rd bucket: 6 hoses from one source
• Which bucket fills the fastest?
What is an Incremental Sale?

6. 6
• Incremental isn’t necessarily black or white
• Examples
– Customer woke up in the morning with no thoughts of buying anything
– Customer knew what he wanted to buy but not sure where
– Customer already knew what he was going to buy and where he was going
to buy it
Levels of Incrementality

7. 7
• First/Only touch
– Are there other marketing channels or affiliates in the click stream?
– Was the affiliate the first touch?
– Did the affiliate come later in the click stream?
Elements of an incremental sale

8. 8
• Is the behavior introducing the merchant, influencing the
purchase, or closing the sale?
– Each of these has benefit but some are more incremental than others
• Introducer – Most likely to be incremental
• Influencer – High incrementaltiy
• Closing sale – Questionable incrementality – This is where the work
comes in
Elements of an incremental sale

9. 9
• New Customer
– Is this the first time a customer has shopped at the merchant?
– Is this a regular customer? Has the customer purchased before?
– Is the affiliate “reactivating” the customer?
Elements of an incremental sale

10. 10
• Time between click and sale
– Is the affiliate cookie set very close to the checkout?
• Know your site metrics. How long does a normal checkout take? If an
affiliate’s sales take significantly less time than that they probably aren’t
incremental
– Under a couple minutes could be concerning
Elements of an incremental sale
~16 minutes between click and checkout
~1 minutes between click and checkout

11. 11
• High Order Value
– Is the order above average?
– Did the affiliate do anything to encourage a bigger cart value?
• Recommending high ticket products
• Suggesting multiple items
• Pairing items together
– Did the affiliate cause the cart value to increase?
Elements of an incremental sale

12. 12
• Coupon Usage
– A coupon doesn’t automatically negate any incrementality
– Did the coupon cause or influence a specific action?
– Did the coupon help drive the sale or close the sale?
– Did the coupon encourage the customer to buy from one merchant vs.
another?
– Are the coupons just being used by people jumping out of the cart to find a
discount?
Elements of an incremental sale

13. 13
• If you take the affiliate out of the equation would the
customer have purchased anyway?
– Other paid marketing channels
• Is the affiliate channel more efficient than other channels?
– Offline marketing
– Other affiliates
– Regular customer
Elements of an incremental sale

14. 14
• Be creative – new merchants, new products, creative
connections
• Communicate with your affiliate manager
• Drive high AOV orders
• Drive new customers
• Push a merchant to your audience
• Jump on high demand opportunities
How can Affiliates Drive Incremental Sales

15. 15
• Know your stats/metrics
• Know your customer flow
• Know your affiliates and talk with them
• Utilize advanced commission rules
• Reward incremental sales
• Pay less for non-incremental sales
• Pay what a sale is worth
• Be smart with coupons
• Test Everything
How can merchants encourage incremental sales from their
affiliates?

16. Contact Me
Email – jsousa@fanatics.com
Twitter - @drcool73
Skype – joesousa73
http://whatdoesjoethink.com