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If you run an affiliate programme or have one being managed for you it can be challenging to know if it is working well. Affiliate programmes operate with lots of different partner types and promotional mechanisms meaning it can be difficult to truly evaluate performance - is my programme “good”?
In this article we outline the key checks anyone can make to their affiliate activity, this could be done even if you don’t have too much technical knowledge of the channel. These checks are things any good affiliate manager should just be doing as standard, not everyday, but as a periodic evaluation of the affiliate activity you run.
If you run through this checklist and see you are doing all these things then great! You have really solid foundations to grow. If you are finding your programme is a bit misaligned to where you had hoped to be - don’t worry! Affiliate programmes can be reshaped with time and effort - all is not lost.
Check 1: Your affiliate programme is meeting and hopefully smashing your KPIs
We work with retailers who have lots of different KPIs and ways they want the channel to add value. Aligning the affiliate channel to your business goals is a surefire way to build a programme that adds value.
Examples include:
CPA targets, AOV growth or New customer targets.
These metrics will often result in very different programmes and types of activity if optimised fully. For example, new customer targets can lead to programmes with a weighting towards upper funnel activity or CSS partnerships, as we know this kind of activity is aligned to successfully achieving that target. It may be for some of these metrics you don’t have the required data tracking in place via your affiliate platform, you could either upgrade your tracking or use manual data look ups to your internal CRM to sense check. Upgrading your tracking should always be the preferred method as this enables whoever is running your programme access to real time data.
Check 2: You’re not reliant on one partner or partner type
Diversity is one of the key benefits of the affiliate channel, with a vast ecosystem and mix of publishers available you should be able to build a really strong base of affiliates. If all your sales come from one partner or partner type you leave yourself open to risk.
A) If that one affiliate partner stops performing you have lost a vast % of your programme and expected results
B) By over relying on one partner type, i.e. if you only work with voucher partners, your programme becomes incredibly limited and likely not incremental.
Check 3: You have a clear understanding of how your sales driving partners are delivering revenue
Knowing where your sales are coming from and how they are being driven is the sign of a well managed programme. If you are reviewing your list of partners and you are unable to clearly understand how you are being promoted from the information provided - either in an affiliate profile or by asking that partner - then that should be your sign to investigate further!
Check 4: You are engaging new partners and testing
The affiliate industry is not static, partners are growing and entering the space constantly. There should always be an interesting new opportunity to explore or a way of working with a partner to test. Finding new partners comes in lots of ways - programme approvals being a key one but also attending events, network newsletters, looking at publisher discovery tools to name a few.
The same goes for testing! Great programmes test and establish clear testing criteria, with realistic expectations. For instance when evaluating a content partnership, immediate revenue shouldn’t be your KPI. In my view, the absence of testing is more detrimental than a failed test.
Check 5: You have partners that do different things and fulfil different roles in a customer journey
I love auditing programmes where the top 10 partners are a cashback site, closed user platform (think Blue Light Card), CSS partner, select direct voucher sites (not subnetworks) and content partners. Seeing this mix of partners in the top 10 shows that care has been taken in selecting partners. The channel has so much more to offer than just fake codes or low quality sites, if I see a list of affiliates across promotional types, I typically know that a programme has been optimised and considered.
These are my top 5 things to check to ensure affiliate activity is being run well, it's not exhaustive and it's not all you can be doing! But anyone running affiliate activity should be able to use this as a sense check - how does your affiliate programme measure up?
