Standardisation, Self Governance And Self Regulation As An Industry – Can This Become A Reality? Matt Bailey – Head of Affiliate – i-level Alistair Nichols – Head of Agency Sales – Webgains Helen Southgate – Head of Affiliate – dgm Pete Wilson – European Product Manager – buy.at
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Standardization, Self-Governance and Self-Regulations as an Industry - can this become a reality?
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Standardisation, Self Governance And Self Regulation As An Industry – Can This Become A Reality?
Matt Bailey – Head of Affiliate – i-level
Alistair Nichols – Head of Agency Sales – Webgains
Helen Southgate – Head of Affiliate – dgm
Pete Wilson – European Product Manager – buy.at
Why is regulation important?
WIN – WIN – WIN - WIN
Satisfying all parties
Merchant Affiliate
Network
Agency
What we will cover
• Affiliate Approval• Affiliate Business Model Categorisation• Protecting against fraud
– Lead Generation• Spyware and adware• Brand Bidding• How to regulate
• Most networks categorise affiliates into one business model
• Affiliates themselves nominate their category (usually their
biggest revenue / traffic generator)
• Problems arise when affiliates utilise two or more business
models – Voucher and PPC
• Network Quality Technology can categorise affiliates on the
granular or source of traffic
Protecting your Campaign
Quality Vs QuantityProactive Vs Reactive
• What do you need to look out for?– Unusually high / low Conversion Rates (click to sale)– High Deletion / Rejection Rates– Unknown Referrer IDs / direct links in referrer IDs– Relevance of Web page – IP addresses– Human touch– Short Sales Lags
Being REACTIVE
Example
Being PROACTIVE
• Vet all affiliates onto your campaign– Do they have a relevant URL?– Are their contact details correct?– Have you had direct contact?
• Have a validation system in place– Is there a cancellation period?– Spot check sales
• Quality Assess Affiliates– Known affiliates on different terms– Trial new affiliates on longer validation / different remuneration
Working with a network?
• What systems do they have in place– Applications– Activity Monitors– Removal of unethical affiliates– Preventing re-sign ups– Dual network campaigns
Lead Based Campaigns
• More susceptible to unethical activity
• What can you do to limit risk?– Have a clear lead validation process – Be able to check validity of leads– Have a closed campaign– Work with new affiliates on a trial basis– Do not over incentivise– Consider a commission based on conversion in addition to lead
Brand Bidding
• What is it?• The use of branded terms associated with
an advertiser to display advertisements usually on a PPC basis.
• Where can you see it?• Google Adwords, Yahoo search marketing,
Microsoft Adcenter.
What does it look like?
What to look out for
• High conversion rate• High number of clicks compared to other
affiliates• Sales and clicks at certain times of the day
usually outside office hours, when they think nobody is looking.
• Referrers, they could be linking direct as in the example. – E.g
• Have firm terms and conditions about this e.g. Three strikes and your out
• Your network should be monitoring this, ask them what tools they have?
• Look for them, Use Firefox and a plugin called HTTP headers. This will show you all the tracking connections that your browser follows before getting to a page.
Spyware and Adware
• Adware or advertising-supported software is any software package which automatically plays, displays, or downloads advertisements to a computer after the software is installed on it or while the application is being used. Some types of adware are also spyware and can be classified as privacy-invasive software.
• Probably the biggest non publicised negative effect on your Affiliate Account.
• They are usually adding no value at all and effectively stealing sales.
What to look for
• Very high clicks with a very low conversion rate. You should be seeing a conversion rate of 2% plus for the majority of affiliates.
• Strange or no referrers.• Poor website but seeing more sales than
you would expect.
What can you do?
• Unless your network has invested in technology to combat this, very little.
• Ask your network what they can do to combat Spyware and Adware.
What does it look like?
• Video to go here
Regulation – is it feasible?
• Demands understanding of the channel
• Requires buy in from all parties
• Zero tolerance
What we’ve done in the UK
• IAB Affiliate Marketing Council
• Not a regulatory body
• Best practice guidelines issued– Managing an affiliate campaign– Voucher codes– Rebate catching toolbars
Questions for delegates
• What would you like to see covered?
• Is the UK experiencing the same issues as the rest of Europe?