For many brands whose affiliate activity is pretty established in the UK, the US can feel like a natural next step. It is the most common market that we get brands wanting to expand to as the challenges of translated copy and varying currencies across regions like in the EU can feel less of a barrier.
It is however a huge region with a very established affiliate ecosystem making it a challenging market to break into for many brands wanting to launch affiliates in the US for the first time.
If you are a brand at the stage of wanting to launch your US affiliate programme then we would suggest asking yourself a few key questions before you begin.
The first point about other channels is really important, generally thinking we don’t see the affiliate channel as a great entry channel for any market but especially in the US. We believe that establishing a base of other activity via running PPC and awareness activity on paid social for example can give you a good starting point to build traffic and start the beginnings of establishing a customer base.
A driving factor in many brands looking to launch an affiliate programme in the US is because they have started PR outreach. In the US a lot of the big editorial publications have commercial editors who require affiliate tracking, typically via Skimlinks, and this can lead brands by default into setting up an affiliate program. Having a PR team in place will support you in navigating this space, for example having a team well versed in the nuances of the US market and dealing with commercial requirements is really important.
As a brand newly launching in the US you need to be aware of what stockists or direct competitors are doing. This can be from onsite conversion tools like shipping times/offers or from their cashback rates and vouchers. The US is a busy market and as such offers in the form of discounts or higher cashback rates are a very big part of affiliate activity. If you are launching as a new brand in the space on a low CPA and with no discount strategy you might struggle to gain traction. It can be challenging for brands to compete with resellers, you must think about what your USP is and why a customer would buy direct, this then needs to form the core foundation of the affiliate messaging and offer that you do.
The US is not a cheap market in affiliate terms, sites will often require integration fees or a commitment to signing up for an exposure package to launch. Coupled with this, commercial editors at content publishing sites will typically want up to 20% CPA rates and may also request extras such as gifting. Running exposure packages can be significantly more expensive than in the UK, this will also hold more true as a new brand without a proven track record in channel and strong conversion data to fall back on. Have this in mind and consider what your budget is, it may be that you need to assign more upfront to get live on key partner types with the goal to then be able to move to a CPAi model over time once established.
Don’t be put off however! The US DOES present a world of affiliate possibilities but do your homework before launching to ensure you build the foundations for success. Understanding the market and what you need to thrive there should make the US an exciting expansion opportunity and one with so much reach it's hard to ignore!
