AffStat 2016 Affiliate Marketing Benchmark Report

Page 1

Stat

AFFILIATE MARKETING BENCHMARKS

41%

AFFILIATES ARE LIKELY TO MOVE ON WITHOUT HESITATION WHEN DENIED BY AN AFFILIATE PROGRAM EMAIL SOLICIATIONS HAVE THE GREATEST IMPACT ON AFFILIATE ENGAGEMENT

2016 AFFILIATE MARKETING BENCMARK REPORT

RESEARCH AND INSIGHTS ON AFFILIATE MARKETERS' METHODS, PREFERENCES AND STRATEGIES. SPONSORED BY AFFILIATE SUMMIT

84%



CONTENTS DEMOGRAPHICS 5

COUNTRY AND U.S. STATE REPRESENTATION

6

GENDER, AGE, MARITAL STATUS

7

CHILDREN, WORKPLACE, AFFILIATE MARKETER SINCE...

TRENDS 8

TRAFFIC SOURCES, TYPES OF PROGRAMS, DECISION PROCESS

9

SELECTION FACTORS, PROGRAM DISCOVERY, APPLICATION PROCESS

SPOTLIGHT

THE FUTURE OF AFFILIATE MARKETING

Better, Faster & Stronger / p4

OUR NEEDS HELP US TO HELP YOU

Affiliates offer suggestions to merchants that will help them make more sales and more money / p16

10 AFFILIATE MANAGER RELATIONSHIPS, COMMUNICATION METHODS AND PREFERENCES 11 SLOTTING FEES, PROMOTED CATEGORIES, VISITOR DEMOGRAPHICS

HEAR US

12 TARGET MARKETS 13

AFFILIATE NETWORKS, AFFILIATE NEXUS TAX

14

PROGRAM COUNTS, ANNUAL REVENUE, PAYMENT METHODS

15

CUSTOM CREATIVES, ATTRIBUTION

YOU MAY COPY, DISTRIBUTE, DISPLAY AND/OR PERFORM VERBATIM COPIES OF THIS MATERIAL WITH ATTRIBUTION AS: "CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSED CONTENT FROM THE 2016 AFFILIATE SUMMIT AFFSTAT REPORT."

WE'VE GOT A LOT TO SAY

Affiliates share their opinions, suggestions and complaints regarding affiliate marketing / p17

CO-PUBLISHERS: MISSY WARD SHAWN COLLINS AFFSTAT.COM 2002-2016 AFFILIATE SUMMIT INC.

©


AffStat

STATE OF THE AFFILIATE MARKETING INDUSTRY

BETTER, FASTER, AND STRONGER

By Missy Ward & Shawn Collins

Affiliates, Advertisers, Networks, Vendors, our fellow Affiliate Marketers: This marks the 14th year that we've come to report on the state of affiliate marketing with the annual AffStat report. Way back when AffStat was started, the purpose was to bring together data from the burgeoning affiliate marketing space. 4

Along the way, the questions we've asked have evolved, but the final result has remained the same - a snapshot of where the industry has been for this past year.

AffStat | 2016

Take a look at the results and compare them to last year (you can still get the 2015 report at AffStat.com). How has the industry changed over the past year or two? Some results may surprise you, while others will reaffirm what you already believe to be trends in affiliate marketing. Thank you to everybody who took the time to complete the survey. Feel free to use material from the report in blog posts, presentations, etc. Just reference that the information came from the AffStat 2016 Affiliate Marketing Benchmark Report.


Netherlands 2.58% Canada 9.71%

United Kingdom 5.24% Ireland 1.79%

United States 57.44% Mexico .54%

Germany 2.97%

France 1.01% Portugal .55%

Poland .81% Ukraine .61% Switzerland .69% Spain Israel 2.09% 5.88%

China 1.37% Hong Kong .92%

India 1.85% Malaysia .62%

Singapore .91%

Brazil 1.39%

COUNTRIES REPRESENTED

Australia 1.03%

AFFILIATE

U.S. STATES REPRESENTED .02%

3.51% .10% 1.46% .25%

.12%

0% 5

AffStat | 2016

DEMOGRAPHICS


AFFI

LIAT

ES MARITAL STATUS

AGE GROUP

AffStat | 2016

6

GENDER


WORKPLACE CHILDREN

AFFILIATE MARKETER SINCE...

AffStat | 2016

7


TOP TRAFFIC SOURCES:

11.2%

AFFILIATE TRENDS THE AFFILIATE PROGRAMS THAT I PROMOTE, SELL:

4.12%

3.17%

WHEN SELECTING AFFILIATE PROGRAMS TO PROMOTE: 81.16%

I am always or usually the decision maker

I am sometimes the decision maker

3.19%

I don't make or influence the decisions

I influence the decisions but not the final say

AffStat | 2016

8

.19%

12.18%

2.81%

I'm kind of new to the business

My wife makes all the decisions

.47%


TOP FACTORS DRIVING MY AFFILIATE PROGRAM SELECTIONS ARE:

I FIND OUT ABOUT NEW AFFILIATE PROGRAMS THROUGH:

Searches on Google, Yahoo, etc.

Affiliate or CPA Network website

WHEN AN AFFILIATE PROGRAM DENIES MY APPLICATION, I TYPICALLY:

Affiliate Manager reaches out to me directly

Word of mouth

My competitors websites

ESS C C A IED N E D

Searching affiliate sites

Affiliate Manager website

9

AffStat | 2016

Affiliate information on the merchant's website

Conferences


MY BUSINESS RELATIONSHIPS WITH AFFILIATE MANGERS ARE: Somewhat valuable. I sometimes join, promote, and terminate programs because of the affiliate manager. Crucial to my business. I typically join, promote, and terminate programs because of the affiliate manager. Irrelevant. I almost never consider joining, promoting or terminating programs because of the affiliate manager.

INFORMATION FROM MY AFFILIATE MANAGER TYPICALLY ARRIVES VIA:

Facebook Affiliate network email

Mass email

Blog/company website updates

Email

AffStat | 2016

10

I'D PREFER THAT AFFILIATE MANAGERS CONTACT ME VIA:

Phone, Instant Messenger & Email

Instant Messenger

Phone

Personal email or call

Skype

Twitter


I CHARGE FEES TO LIST ADVERTISERS ON MY SITE(S):

AVERAGE AGE OF MY SITE VISITORS:

62. 32%

37. 68%

Yes No

TOP FIVE CATEGORIES THAT I PROMOTE:

AffStat | 2016

11


MY PRIMARY TARGET MARKET IS:

Canada: 3.47% United Kingdom: 4.46%

USA: 63.83%

Central America: .23%

MY SECONDARY TARGET MARKET IS:

Canada: 14.29%

12

AffStat | 2016

USA: 22.68% Central America: 2.06%


THE AFFILIATE NETWORKS THAT I WORK WITH ARE:

"AFFILIATE NEXUS TAX" HAS HAD THIS IMPACT ON MY BUSINESS:

IRRELEVANT I’ve been fired from some affiliate programs but I’ve found replacements and/or I’ve not been fired from any programs..)

13

AffStat | 2016

CRUSHED MY BUSINESS (I've lost significant revenue because I've been fired from affiliate programs.)

LIMITED IMPACT (I’ve lost a minor amount of revenue because I’ve been fired from affiliate programs)


NUMBER OF AFFILIATE PROGRAMS I'M CURRENTLY PROMOTING:

ANNUAL REVENUE DERIVED FROM AFFILIATE MARKETING EFFORTS:

14

AffStat | 2016

PREFERRED COMMISSION PAYMENT METHOD:


PROGRAMS I'M PROMOTING OFFERING CUSTOM CREATIVES:

None

26% - 50%

1% - 25%

51% - 99%

100%

PERCENTAGE OF AFFILIATE PROGRAMS I'M PROMOTING THAT UTILIZE AN ATTRIBUTION MODEL FOR COMMISSION TRACKING:

AffStat | 2016

15


AFFILIATES WERE ASKED, "WHAT WOULD HELP YOU GENERATE MORE BUSINESS FOR YOUR MERCHANTS AND SUBSEQUENTLY, YOU?" YOU WILL FIND THEIR RESPONSES BELOW. The larger the term, the more times it was mentioned.)

(

AffStat | 2016

16


AFFILIATES WERE ASKED TO SHARE THEIR OPINIONS, SUGGESTIONS, AND COMPLAINTS REGARDING AFFILIATE MARKETING. BELOW ARE THE RESPONSES, VERBATIM. I left CJ because they have continually dropped me because I have not generated the required commissions. It would nice if they communicated a WARNING BEFORE dropping me forcing me to reapply. NO other of my companies have that policy."

I don't use Amazon because their outdated payment method does not fit with my portable/ nomad business. When is Amazon going to introduce Paypal? BUT, I like how Amazon pays commission to affiliates on all purchases through the aff link...whether the purchase relates to the blog topic or not. I wish Shareasale and Rakuten and Clickbank would use the Amazon system."

"

"

Lack of real training. I could use some." "

"Kindly [notify] if some merchant is organically on top, don't just delete it from index as it costs much time, effort regarding content and SEO techniques. It just demotivates a lot."

Optimize your campaigns!!"

"

My biggest pet peeve is affiliate networks that charge affiliates to receive payment. It's a business expense that should be included in the network's advertiser fees or other source of revenue. Affiliate marketers make money for networks and shouldn't have to pay to receive the money they've earned. There is no other sector in which that would be acceptable." "

Please create videos to help us get on board faster."

"

Serious multiple attribution accounting." "

Partnership is more important in the USA than in my home country, The Netherlands. I appreciate that very much.." "

17

AffStat | 2016

More long term promotions. Products these days are short term, mainly focused on "new releases"." "


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