Voucher code affiliates steal sales from other affiliates and 'last click wins' is an outdated and unfair reward mechanism for affiliates. Affiliate Marketing is full of these and other assumptions yet rarely has any in depth research been carried out to show whether these accepted truths are actually the case. Having trawled the Affiliate Window database, chopping, splicing and scrutinising the reams of information available, Affiliate Window presents our findings on some generally accepted affiliate marketing assumptions and asks whether it's time to revise some of these commonly held beliefs. Using actual merchant examples to illustrate how different variables can impact the performance of your programme such as what effect introducing vouchers, paid search activity and cashback sites can have on your campaign or whether rewarding all affiliates involved in a sale rather than just the last referrer is a fair and viable alternative, Affiliate Window will be offering some key considerations for merchants looking to take their programmes to the next level. Aimed at affiliate managers and merchants who are looking to understand the value of their affiliate traffic within the wider online mix AffiliateWindow will aim to provide plenty of food for thought.

1. The Truth Will Out: Disproving Common Misconceptions in Affiliate Marketing Kevin Edwards Strategy Director, Affiliate Window

3. Voucher Code sites are goal hangers who steal sales at the last minute

5. Number of Referrers – Gifts Single Referrer Two Referrers Other Referrers Total Merchant 1 87.1 10.1 2.7 100 Merchant 2 88.6 9.6 1.8 100 Merchant 3 86.8 10.5 2.7 100 TOTAL 87.8 10.0 2.3 100

6. Number of Referrers – Gifts

7. Number of Referrers – Mobiles Single Referrer Two Referrers Other Referrers Total Merchant 1 92.3 6.7 1.0 100 Merchant 2 91.2 7.6 1.3 100 Merchant 3 86.9 10.7 2.4 100 TOTAL 89.6 8.7 1.7 100

8. Number of Referrers - Mobiles

9. Number of Referrers – Electricals Single Referrer Two Referrers Other Referrers Total Merchant 1 82.3 14.2 3.6 100 Merchant 2 87.0 10.5 2.5 100 Merchant 3 87.0 10.5 2.5 100 TOTAL 85.0 12.1 2.9 100

10. Number of Referrers – Electricals

11. Winners & Losers - Electricals

12. Winners & Losers – Mobiles

13. Winners & Losers – Gifts

14. Latency – Click to sale speed Minutes Percentage of Sales

15. Latency – Click to sale speed Minutes Percentage of Sales

21. Last click wins is outmoded and doesn’t fairly reward affiliates...

23. Attribution Choices First Click Acquisition Last Click Conversion Even Split Egalitarian Weighted Recency Budget Spend

24. Last Click Wins £6 £0 £0

25. First Click Wins £0 £6 £0

26. Every Click Wins £2 £2 £2

27. Every Click Wins - Weighted £3 £1 £2

28. Multi Attribution Models - Mobiles First Click Equal Click Weighted Last Weighted First

29. Multi Attribution Models - Electricals First Click Equal Click Weighted Last Weighted First

30. Multi Attribution Models - Gifts First Click Equal Click Weighted Last Weighted First

31. Average Order Values - Electricals Number of Referrers +7% +14% +25.1% +35%

32. Average Order Values - Gifts Number of Referrers +12.8% +31.8%

33. Where’s the value? Affiliate multi-attribution isn’t necessarily the answer but it could be a contributory element of a wider value system Value System Average Order Value New Customer Acquistion Contribution in the sales journey Sales Volume Conversion Rate ?

34. Kevin Edwards, Strategy Director 020 7553 0354 07974 810 547 [email_address]