Shawn Collins' Blog

Affiliate marketing and other stuff from Shawn Collins, co-founder of Affiliate Summit.

Early Affiliate Marketing Statistics with AffStat

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Back in the early 2000s, there was not a lot of data on affiliate marketing, and I wanted to know more about what was going on. So I decided to make my own report of statistics on the industry and registered AffStat.com on October 29, 2002.

Presenting at Affiliate Force 2003

The first report came out in the spring of 2003 and I gave a presentation on it at the Affiliate Force conference, which took place April 24-28, 2003 aboard the Carnival Imagination cruise ship.

At the time I was the ClubMom.com Affiliate Manager, as well as the President of the US chapter of the Internet Affiliate Marketing Association.

It was during this cruise conference that Missy Ward and I presented together in a session for the first time.

It was also the time the two of us became disenfranchised with Affiliate Force and the work we were doing to build it up. So we made plans to launch our own conference, which could have easily faded away as nonsense we spouted off about at one of the cruise bars.

But we got on the phone a couple of weeks later and AffiliateSummit.com was registered on May 19, 2003.

Less than six months later we had our first event, and there was never another Affiliate Force.

Over the years AffStat was folded into Affiliate Summit.

The Big Impact of Big Data on Affiliate Marketing

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bigdataMarketingProfs and Impact Radius recently produced a whitepaper that highlights the use of big data in affiliate marketing.

The whitepaper covers the legacy approach to affiliate data management, and why that approach is problematic, as well as the disruption of traditional affiliate analytics by big data.

The whitepaper also includes 10 questions to evaluate the health of your affiliate program.

And there is a case study about how Advance Auto Parts leveraged big data intelligence to overhaul their affiliate program.

Download The Big Impact of Big Data on Affiliate Marketing whitepaper.

Mobile Christmas 2013

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Affiliate Window has shared some really interesting data on affiliate marketing and mobile in the UK as we close in on Christmas.

Affiliate WindowBased on the millions of clicks and sales from affiliate programs running with Affiliate Window, they have seen the share of tablet and handset traffic hit 35% on weekends, with an increasing share of that through smartphones.

Further, one in six clicks in their affiliate network is originating from a mobile handset.

Here are some other items they shared on affiliate marketing and mobile…

  • On Sunday, November 17, 35% of traffic came through a mobile device. The iPhone and iPad were neck and neck with 13.4% each.
  • There are traditionally spikes in mobile traffic over the weekend and last year saw mobile performance peak on Christmas Day and the day after.
  • The average order value through mobile handsets was $75 last December. Consumers are widely predicted to spend even more through mobile this year.

I’m anxious to see the Cyber Monday (and surrounding days) data from the affiliate networks.

Mac vs PC for Affiliate Marketers in 2013

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Affiliates were asked “Mac or PC?” for the 2013 Affiliate Summit AffStat Report.

Only a quarter of the people said they were a Mac, while the large majority favored PC’s.

affstat-2013-mac-vs-pc

I’ve been using PC’s for my work since I got my first computer back in 1994.

Lots of people like to claim that once you go Mac, you never go back. Well, I wanted to test that premise, and I got a Macbook years ago.

I went back. Team PC!

More than sixteen-hundred affiliates were surveyed on their methods, preferences, and strategies for the 2013 Affiliate Summit AffStat Report.

More details on AffStat at AffStat.com.

Internet Retailer Ranks the Top Affiliate Networks

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Top Tech 2014, a book published by Internet Retailer that lists the leading vendors to the Top 1000 e-retailers, has ranked the top 10 affiliate networks.

2014_toptechWell, the list is mostly networks, though they refer to them as the top “affiliate marketing services providers”.

Here are the rankings…

  1. Commission Junction
  2. Rakuten LinkShare
  3. Google Affiliate Network
  4. eBay Enterprise
  5. ShareASale
  6. LinkConnector
  7. Affiliate Window
  8. Impact Radius
  9. AvantLink
  10. Gen3 Marketing

The rankings are based on the combined 2012 online sales figures of each company’s clients ranked in the Internet Retailer Top 1000.

It will be interesting to see how the numbers shake out with the closure of Google Affiliate Network earlier this year.

Preferred Methods of Affiliate Commissions in 2013

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Affiliates were asked “How many affiliate programs are you currently promoting?” for the 2013 Affiliate Summit AffStat Report.

The most popular response, at 53.6%, was direct deposit, followed by 28.1% for PayPal.

affstat-2013-commission-payments

Then there were 15% who still like getting a check, as well as 1.3% favoring wires, another 1.3% who stated other, and just 0.7% for store credit.

I used to be big on getting checks, because I liked the psychological part of feeling the money as it came in. But then I was noticing that it was becoming a hassle to make trips to the bank.

Direct deposit is definitely a nice option, as well as PayPal for the small number of programs where I’ve got it as an option.

I do still have some checks in, but I may as well change those over to direct deposit, because I just deposit them by phone now, and that brief process, as well as the chance of misplacing them has become a nuisance.

More than sixteen-hundred affiliates were surveyed on their methods, preferences, and strategies for the 2013 Affiliate Summit AffStat Report.

More details on AffStat at AffStat.com.

Number of Affiliate Programs Promoted by Affiliates in 2013

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Affiliates were asked “How many affiliate programs are you currently promoting?” for the 2013 Affiliate Summit AffStat Report.

The most popular response, at 47.1%, was that affiliates are promoting 1-10 affiliate programs.

affstat-2013-number-of-programs

Then there were 16.3% working with 11-20 programs, and 14.4% who are currently promoting 21-50 affiliate programs.

The percentages of affiliate programs promoted continue to decrease as the amounts of affiliate programs increase until the 301+ level. At that point 12.4% of affiliates are promoting that many affiliate programs.

I suspect a great deal of those are coupon, deal, rebate, etc. sites.

In my case, I’d fall into the 21-50 group for actively promoting, though I have relationships with more than 100 affiliate programs.

More than sixteen-hundred affiliates were surveyed on their methods, preferences, and strategies for the 2013 Affiliate Summit AffStat Report.

More details on AffStat at AffStat.com.

Impact of Affiliate Nexus Tax in 2013

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Affiliates were asked “How many programs have you been removed from based on state legislation?” for the 2013 Affiliate Summit AffStat Report.

Fortunately, the vast majority of affiliate marketers, at 71.2%, have not been impacted.

affstat-2013-affiliate-nexus-tax

However, there were 19.6% who have been removed from 1-9 affiliate programs, and then another 6.5% who got kicked out of 10-24 affiliate programs.

Stay on top of affiliate nexus tax issues and help fight legislation by joining the Performance Marketing Association.

More than sixteen-hundred affiliates were surveyed on their methods, preferences, and strategies for the 2013 Affiliate Summit AffStat Report.

More details on AffStat at AffStat.com.

Preferred Methods of Communication to Affiliates in 2013

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Affiliates were asked “What is your preferred method for finding out information from an affiliate manager?” for the 2013 Affiliate Summit AffStat Report.

The most popular response, with 56.3%, was email from an affiliate network.

affstat-2013-info-from-am

This was followed by mass email from the affiliate manager (17.1%), blog or company website (11.4%), Twitter (1.9%), Facebook (1.3%), and video (1.3%).

Additionally, there were 10.8% who picked Other, but didn’t specify.

I like getting email from the affiliate manager, but also like the information shared on Facebook and Twitter, in case I miss it.

More than sixteen-hundred affiliates were surveyed on their methods, preferences, and strategies for the 2013 Affiliate Summit AffStat Report.

More details on AffStat at AffStat.com.

Affiliate and Affiliate Manager Relationships in 2013

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Affiliates were asked “How important is your relationship with an affiliate manager?” for the 2013 Affiliate Summit AffStat Report.

They were given three answers to choose from.

affstat-2013-relationships

The most common answer selected was “Somewhat valuable. I sometimes join, promote, or terminate programs because of the affiliate manager” with 51.9% of affiliates selecting it.

Next up was “Irrelevant. I almost never consider joining, promoting or terminating programs because of the affiliate manager”, which was picked by 25.3%.

Finally, 22.8% chose “Crucial to my business. I typically join, promote, or terminate programs because of the affiliate manager.”

For me, it can be a plus if I have a favorable opinion of the affiliate manager, but if the program is working out for me, despite the affiliate manager, I am not going to dump it.

More than sixteen-hundred affiliates were surveyed on their methods, preferences, and strategies for the 2013 Affiliate Summit AffStat Report.

More details on AffStat at AffStat.com.