This presentation is from Affiliate Summit East 2014 (August 10-12, 2014 New York City). Session Description: Reduced coupon site payouts, toolbars, click attribution – have you evaluated these choices for your program lately? This diverse experienced panel discusses the pros & cons of today’s tough issues.

1. Affiliate Summit East
2014

2. As technology changes, new issues
arise demanding a decision
Growth/Risks
Fair/Unfair advantage

3.  Merchant - John LoBrutto
◦ 1&1 Internet
 OPM - Rick Gardiner
◦ iAffiliate Management
 Affiliate – Alan Rapoport
◦ DealTaker.com
 Network - Jeannine Crooks
◦ Affiliate Window

4. You’re part of it too!
Tell us your thoughts and
why you reached your
decision

5. Coupon sites – pay them
the same or less than
other types of affiliates?

6. Less value because
Didn’t really drive the sale -people
were only looking for a coupon code.
Less revenue from sale because of
the coupon
Overwriting an existing cookie

7. Same Value as Other Affiliates
because:
Cost conscious customers start
shopping process there
Discount is just the cost of doing
business
Coupon sites often generate a higher
average order value

8. Toolbars – Work with
them or not?

9. Less Value Because:
Cookie stuffing, so they really didn’t
earn the sale
Some overwrite existing cookies, so
steals sales from other affiliates

10. Worth having in the program because:
Drive large volumes of traffic from
loyal users
Technology exists to prevent cookie
stuffing or overwriting existing cookies

11. Click Attribution – Makes
things fairer, or not worth
the trouble?

12. Worth the trouble because:
Every touch along the way helps the
conversion and should be rewarded
Stops coupon sites from getting the
full commission just because they had
the last click

13. Not worth it because:
Not all touches added value in the
conversion process
If they did add value, not at the same
level in each conversion so same %
each time wouldn’t be accurate

14. Multiple Networks for
Merchants – Growing the
program or waste of time
& money?

15. Multiple networks will help to grow the
program because:
Access to different affiliate base
Some affiliates prefer one network
over another
More exposure in the industry

16. Not worth the effort because:
Original network has sufficient affiliate
base so the incremental addition can
be minimal
Cost factor – another set of fees
Time factor – more affiliates to
manage through a different interface

17. Transparency – Grows
relationships or too much
information

18. Transparency improves everything
because:
Much easier to contact the affiliate or
merchant
Less guessing about how an affiliate
promotes a merchant
Easier to develop a strong relationship

19. Better to only provide limited information
because:
Affiliates don’t always want to be
contacted by merchants, and vice versa
Affiliates want to keep their trade
secrets private
Danger of going direct, cutting out the
network

20. In-House vs. OPM Program
Management – Better to
have complete in house
control or hand it over to an
outside company?

21. Better to manage in-house because:
No one knows or loves your product
like a staff member does
Less program control
Fees and overrides add additional
costs to having an affiliate program

22. Better to hire an outsourced expert
because:
They can grow a program quickly
Fixed cost can be easily managed
No need to hire and train a new staff
member
Easier to change if there’s an issue

23. Your Questions or
Hot Topics?

24.  John LoBrutto
◦ John.LoBrutto@1and1.com
 Rick Gardiner
◦ rgardiner@iAffiliateManagement.com
 Alan Rapoport
◦ alan@dealtaker.com
 Jeannine Crooks
◦ Jeannine.Crooks@AffiliateWindow.com