R.O.EYE Blog

By Richard Wright. Programme Executive, R.O.EYE

Comment and speculation is rife at the moment following another apparent round of Google changes which have affected many affiliate campaigns. From speaking to our own affiliates, and following numerous forum threads, it seems that no satisfactory explanation has yet been provided, or indeed confirmation whether any changes have actually been made at all.

Given that these changes can seemingly destroy an affiliate campaign in one fell swoop without adequate warning or explanation – what does this do to the trust in the relationship between Google and their paying advertisers?

Google will no doubt argue that communications such as their Adwords Updates blog and email are in place to help guide people to build a Google friendly site. I know much of these communications refer to the quality score, however there seems to be a growing lack of faith in how these quality scores are calculated, sentiments that have been backed up by numerous affiliates reporting that their unique content-rich websites have been ‘slapped’ whereas thin bridging page sites have survived in their place.

In theory at least, unique content-rich sites should score highly in Google, but are these sites being penalised for having slow landing pages as reported in Matthew Wood’s recent article? Sites that are image-heavy certainly need to be considering whether this affects them, and we here at R.O.EYE will be doing everything we can to make sure our hosted creatives are as small as they can be.

You may also have heard about some upcoming changes regarding the display and destination URL in Google adverts to take effect on 1st April, however this is more a matter of enforcing existing rules than creating additional guidelines.

It seems that life is never easy chez Google, and perhaps if it was a complete level playing field when it came to choosing between the major search engines (SEs), then the logical outcome would be that affiliates simply would simply switch to the better solution. However this is simply not a reality when you consider how the traffic is broken down amongst the search engines, as reported by one affiliate.

Despite the issues mentioned above, the reasons why Google is so important and successful is because they are 100% committed to providing the best search tool and experience for the end user. The proof of this commitment is that they are by far the most popular SE, and as a result it you would probably struggle to live without them.

So we all need to learn ways to live with them, warts and all. In one of the forum threads a very wise affiliate said “Never, ever, rely on one company. No business can survive if it is totally reliant on another business” which is relevant to all businesses in any industry, at any time. So diversify, use other SEs and methods to generate traffic such as SEO, email, or even some offline activity such as leafleting. Use your imagination!

Other things we can all do is share our knowledge and experiences, something which I think this industry is brilliant at as evidenced in this forum thread. I’ve included seven references to various forum threads and blog articles in this piece, and in amongst all that one hopes there will be enough wisdom for affiliates to take something from and use in their affiliate marketing campaigns.

By Daniel Austin, Programme Executive R.O.EYE.

The relationship and open communication channels between affiliates and agency staff is a top priority. This becomes even more apparent when trying to recruit affiliates on to existing or newly opened programmes. Affiliates are very busy people with limited time for all of those affiliate programmes that exist. I have outlined what I think are a few key points to think about when trying to recruit those more allusive of affiliates.

Out Lining The Programme.

Asking yourself what an affiliate needs to know is your first step. Is the merchant relevant to there site? What would make the affiliate push this programme above others they maybe already promoting. Other important points that affiliates need to know are commission structures, cookie length, EPC’s and, if its an existing programme how well is the programme performing.

Affiliates will frequent forums and blogs to do there own research on existing programmes, especially the A4U Forum, If there has been a problem with a programmes let the affiliate know. Be open, honest and upfront at all times. If there is limitations to the programme then let the affiliate know from the start. These things will make an affiliates mind up when choosing to promote your merchant and also help build a trusting relationship.

Listening to your affiliates.

They are (usually) experts in this field and their thoughts and ideas can be solid affiliate gold. Listen to there concerns take on board there ideas and if necessary go back to the merchant and outline them. Get to know you affiliates and there sites on a personal level. Find out how they plan to promote your merchant (SEO, PPC, Email Campaigns) find out if you can assist them in any way. Offering advice and practical solutions for things like where to place creative and tips on how to generate more traffic can be invaluable to affiliates, especially if they are entering a new sector for the first time. Growing there sites and generating more conversion for them will ultimately grow your programme.

You will often find affiliate sites will be suitable for more than one programme. Cross selling is of huge importance to us at R.O.EYE, and should be to any agency. If an affiliate is promoting say bank accounts on there site they may want to think about loans or credit cards as well.

Recruitment is only the beginning, don’t stop there.

Different affiliates prefer different methods of communication. Some only stick to emails or MSN. Others prefer a chat over the phone, some affiliates prefer none of these and opt for the silent treatment. Either way don’t be to pushy, find out the best method for your affiliate and keep them update on all aspects of the programme. This is ultimately a working business relationship and good communication will benefit all parties.

Remember the objective with affiliates is to develop long term business relationships….

By Ben Friedman, Recruitment Executive R.O.EYE

Valentines Day is definitely one of the biggest times for most retail industries with everyone trying to find the perfect gift for their loved ones, but does this have a big impact on affiliate sales? And if so what kind of impact?

At R.O.EYE we run a large retail brands programme which sells a wide variety of gifts for both men and women, so we expected a large amount of sales over the Valentines period.

Towards the end of January sales started to pick up and this growth continued to build all through the start of the February.

As we approached the big day we expected the sales to fall a few days before, to allow for postage. This is what we saw at Christmas and it’s what we are used to seeing before events that involve gift buying. But the sales didn’t stop. Sales actually increased on the day before Valentines Day to their highest level in that period. How does this make sense?

My personal view is that couples may have been shopping for their gifts in the high streets and then deciding to go home and buy online, possibly so that they can get up to 10% cash back on their Presents. If this is the case would some affiliate programmes benefit from being more closely related to what is happening on the high street? I mean this in terms of the merchants seeing the programmes not solely as an online medium of sales, but as a more important part of their overall marketing strategy with better links with the high street stores selling their products.

Which leads me to a new question, should more High Street stores have the means for tracking affiliate sales? Let’s flip this on its head. For example, if an affiliate pre-sells a product on their site, like and item of clothing and the customer then buys it in the high street store the affiliate receives no commission. Would a scheme involving printing off vouchers for use in store, with affiliate specific codes mean that online sales could be tracked on the high street? Would this be a good thing? Where does this leave last click now??

I know I have asked a lot more questions than I have answered, but it is Friday morning. Please feel free to comment if you have the answers to my questions or any views on anything.

By Richard Wright, Programme Executive R.O.EYE

As if affiliates, networks, and agencies involved with promoting loans and credit programmes don’t have enough to worry about what with the ever increasing costs involved for paid search, the credit crunch, and the sheer level of competition out there, they also have the worry of falling foul of the various financial regulations.

Affiliates can run the risk of being removed from a programme, but ultimately of course it is the merchant who may suffer the most from any issues of non-compliance as they can suffer hefty penalties, and in extreme cases have their trading license revoked altogether.

From speaking with finance merchants personally I know that this is a massive headache for them, it is an issue that troubles them all the way up to board level and can effect their decision whether to embark on an affiliate programme at all. In fact some merchants believe that affiliate marketing exposes them to non-compliance as they feel there is little control over what their affiliate partners are doing.

A pro-active response to the problem is therefore required, and I think it is vital for everyone involved with promoting loans and credit programmes to be aware of the issues and demonstrate that they are committed to being compliant.

I believe by doing this we can all help to present a more professional image of the industry, making finance merchants more comfortable (therefore more willing), to allocate more of their marketing budget to the affiliate channel.

BTW, “20 Seconds to Comply!” was a line from Robocop and a song by Silverbullet for those still scratching their heads!!

By Andy Mitchell, Programme Manager R.O.EYE

I wonder how many articles with that title have been written? 100’s? 1000’s?

Well this one is written from the point of view of an affiliate manager, and asks the question why “content is king” for an affiliate programme….

When launching an affiliate programme, you look for some quick wins that will bring in volume. This is fairly straight forward and generally involves working with some talented PPC affiliates who can add value to the programme immediately. Follow this up with ensuring that the merchant is placed on cashback sites and strategically supplying offer codes to discount code sites, you can be reasonably sure the programme will start to bring in some quick results. Obviously you’ll work with these affiliates and help them as much as possible to deliver maximum results for your programme.

But where does the programme growth come from? How do you ensure that the affiliate programme doesn’t stagnate and continues to steadily grow?

Once you reach a level where the PPC affiliates, cashback sites and voucher code sites are delivering a steady volume, you start to look for other affiliates. Generally, those ‘other affiliates’ are content affiliates, building niche sites and occupying natural listings. But why only look for them now? When the programme isn’t growing at the rate it once was?! This is a common mistake in the early stages of an affiliate programme….

In most cases, it is content affiliates that will ultimately determine whether your affiliate programme can continually grow. It is also content affiliates that can take longest to produce results, due to the nature of their type of promotion. So why not start working with these affiliates as soon as your affiliate programme launches?! That way, a few months down the line when their sites start to flourish and produce results, there won’t be a period of stagnation - just continual growth.

How can you do this?

In many ways!
Tell your affiliates what you think you’re top selling products will be for the next year. This means SEO affiliates can start building and optimising sites for those products.
Offer affiliates a higher commission on some of your key products - If you know an affiliate who is capable of producing results via SEO, then ask them to work on a site promoting these products in exchange for a higher commission - the worst they can do is say no!
Make it as easy as possible for SEO affiliates to get to work. If you are asking an affiliate to promote certain products, send them that product so they can personally review it. It’s hard work trying to promote something you know very little about!
And finally, provide content! We have a several merchants who are increasingly providing unique content to individual affiliates. Be it PR articles that weren’t used internally, or articles specifically written for affiliates, more merchants are starting to supply targeted content to affiliates, recognising the benefit content affiliates bring to a programme.

So, if you are planning to build a site to promote a specific merchant or product and need some content, ask the merchant if they’ll give you a hand!

By Colin Telford, Affiliate Director, R.O.EYE

OK, I’ll be the first to admit that the journey into work this morning wasn’t my best ever. But then again, 2nd January has never really been my favourite day of the year. It was only made slightly better because the roads were not as busy as usual, due to plenty of holidays and sickies by the look of it. However, on arriving at our office on Oxford Road, it was more than the heating that gave me a really warm feeling. It was Revolution magazine’s Agencies and Suppliers Survey 2007 that really cheered me up.

Being “Focused on Results” is our strap line and I think that the secret really is out now having come joint first in the Return On Investment section of the results. Backed up with a joint second in Data Collection, joint third in Account Management, a strong position for Technical Support and in the top thirty for every other category, we’ve really shone through as a serious contender in the direct response agency arena.

In our three years of existence we have continued to ensure that all of our client’s budgets are spent in the most cost effective way. This means setting realistic yet efficient CPA’s based on the products on offer, whilst maximising the delivery of results. Following effective cost and commission structuring, we can ensure that account managers are at hand for both client and supplier queries. There is no ticketing system, unfair prioritisation, answering machines or call screening - just an account manager on hand when you need one. Further to that, our support departments know our client’s programmes too. This means that the team can work to effectively deal with any queries and provide realistic responses. This is what we have been doing so far and what we will continue to do moving forward. It’s the way that we know clients want to be managed.

So a huge well done to the team here at R.O.EYE. and thank-you to all of our clients who cast positive votes for us. Happy New Year!

By Mark Kuhillow, Managing Director, R.O.EYE

When we founded R.O.EYE in October 2004, we were pioneers in the affiliate space, who believed that the fledgling industry represented a big opportunity. It seems that we were right, as three years on the affiliate market is booming and we are now the largest affiliate marketing management agency in the UK! We’re now well beyond our third birthday, and the time seems right to look back at how far the industry has come already in its brief history.

The huge difference in the affiliate market of today and that of three years ago is perfectly illustrated by the A4U Christmas Party in 2004. The event was populated by young affiliates and their families, all of whom were excited about what the future would bring. Some light networking was followed by various games - designed to appeal to the attendees’ competitiveness. I would estimate that there were maybe a hundred people there, the vast majority affiliates who had come along to enjoy themselves and not take anything too seriously.

There was some business talk, but no mention at all of RFIs (Requests For Information) or RFPs (Requests for Proposal). Affiliates, clients and agencies were content to just sit down, discuss their existing projects and try to see where value could be added. There was no strategy behind it at all. This was where R.O.EYE differed - we were the first in the UK to introduce an account management service that provided a strategic approach focused on the needs of both the affiliate and the client.

2005 marked the rise of the Pay Per Click (PPC) affiliates. Due to a commercially aggressive business model, they rapidly began to account for a significant slice of online advertising share. However, Google did respond to this trend by raising the bar for affiliates. To that point, if you had entered any random search term, you would have been presented with a link informing you that one was live on their auction site - which, after much exhaustive searching, you swiftly realised it wasn’t.

At this point, the market dynamics began to change, as corporate money was making its presence felt. PPC affiliates were making significant sums, which allowed them to invest in PPC, Development and SEO teams to broaden their product portfolio. Google for one made no secret of the fact that is was more than happy for affiliates to make money through its system - they were making a solid contribution to its Profit and Loss sheet.

More recently, some affiliates have guaranteed their success by building rich content sites, which add true value to the consumer journey. Affiliates such as Flightmapping spring to mind - great sites which offer a unique service on the web.

There is a caveat to all of this, however, and that is the increasing number of affiliates who are being forced to abandon the industry, for various reasons. I have seen many who have announced their decision to move on - either because of overly aggressive competition, higher click prices or simply the long term impact of working alone. Many of these have been people who were there right at the beginning of the industry, and it is sad to see them go.

So where does this leave us? My own view is that the inevitable consolidation of ’super-affiliates’ (however this is fundamentally defined) will continue as traditional market forces take affect. Those with a strong proposition will further enhance their position in the market, while I would expect to see those affiliates who have built up funds to look for new ways to invest, potentially diversifying or looking at other territories.

Yes, the affiliate space has become more corporate - but we are probably only about 65% of the way to being truly professional. I believe that it could take another 12 to 24 months for all the current activity - mergers, acquisitions and closures - to die down. After this period, expect to see the affiliate market emerge as a robust, mature, self regulated channel which can stand head and shoulders above its siblings - PPC, SEO, Email, Design & Build, and Media.

Here’s to the next three years and more…

By Gavin Hudson, Technical Solutions Manager

Inspired by a post on Lee’s blog - Last Click Commissions - Still Relevant in 2007 / 2008? there has been a bit of chatter recently about the validity of last click as a tracking and de-duplication method. For those unfamiliar with the term “last click” we use it to mean the system of attributing the sale to the online channel that the user last clicked on.

In the eyes of many, this system has a number of flaws, and can reduce the affiliate incentive to be creative in order to drive that initial “first click” and incremental sale. The usual example given is where a customer finds an affiliate blog or review, decides that they are 99% sure want to purchase the product (perhaps convinced by a review or content on the affiliate site) but decide to think about it. With the proliferation of toolbars and integrated search boxes, it’s now more than likely that a customer will revisit the merchant site not by typing in even the simplest of URL’s or by looking at their history, but simply by searching for the brand term.

If the user then clicks a paid ad, then there is a strong chance that the affiliate cookie will be overwritten by the one assigned to a paid ad - whether that be a client PPC ad, or an affiliate one.

Is this fair? Well, I’m going to stick my neck out and say “Yes”. It’s frustrating, I agree, but I really feel it’s the only sensible and just way at the moment. In an ideal world, everyone who had contributed to that sale would be rewarded, but ultimately affiliates are paid for ‘finishing’ the transaction. The key reason as to why I believe this is the best way, is that it works both ways - for every affiliate that loses out on a sale to brand PPC, you would hope that there are some that win too.

I like the example of the customer walking into a high street electrical shop. Let’s call them “Kormas”. A customer is assisted to make a judgement by talking to sales assistant X for twenty minutes, but doesn’t purchase there and then. The customer goes off, phones their partner, and comes back into the shop to make their purchase, but sales assistant Y processes the transaction. It’s perhaps a bit unfair that Y gets the credit on his sales figures, where X did all the hard work but at least it’s the same for both parties and you’d hope that over the quarter, things even themselves out. The same holds true online as well as offline.

A perceived issue with last click referrers is that PPC affiliates are more likely to gain that precious last click, at the pureplay ‘content’ affiliate’s last click. This may be true, but I guess it again works both ways, and it goes back to the affiliate to ensure that their sales pitch is convincing enough to ensure that they gain the last click!

Overall, last click tracking is far from perfect, but it’s the best we can reasonably hope to use at the moment in online media, it works the same for everyone, and at least avoids the nightmare of duplicated orders and large scale over-reporting, which can lead to (whisper it) reversals of affiliate commissions by unscrupulous merchants.

Now, what was the domain for Amazon again? Ah, I’ll just search for it…

By Chris Worthy, Programme Executive

Discount codes and vouchers have been a long term favourite with merchants as a method of passing discount back to the customer. Discount codes can vary from short term, product specific offers to generic long term codes. Discount code sites are the platform that that make discount codes available to everyone.

Obviously, consumers love voucher codes as they can see an instant reduction in basket value as a result of entering a code. Often this can be more favorable than a cash back site where the order has to be tracked, validated and credited to the customers account over a matter of months before the benefit can be reaped. They are also available to non-cashback site members – another attraction.

Of course offering discount codes on an affiliate programme would be of no benefit unless both the Affiliate and Merchant experience positive results. Offering discount codes as part of an affiliate programme can produce much greater exposure to online consumers as the merchant is promoted on many more sites. It is also important in today’s competitive market that merchants are seen in the same arenas as the competition. If merchants are not visible on a voucher or discount code site, valuable sales could be lost to a competitor.

Many discount codes sites have a loyal membership, who regularly visit the site just prior to buying their goods online. Again, access to these members is important to merchants and only possible by offering a code.

One of the top discount code sites that R.O.EYE works with is Discount Codes. DiscountCodes take a fresh approach to offering discount codes with clean and bright interface with codes from all the brands in online shopping. Discount Codes offers a range of added value benefits to customers. These include a discount star rating system to determine what the best discounts on offer are at the moment and also a selection discount codes offered exclusively to the site from merchants. Couple this with well maintained and up to date content, superb navigational interface and merchant specific email updates Discount Codes is onto a winner.

By Mark Kuhillow, Managing Director, R.O.EYE 

The affiliate marketing industry has been talking about the potential opportunities mobile presents for a long time now. During the final quarter of each year, mobile is usually in every industry expert’s top 5 predictions of ‘next year’s things to watch out for’.

I have already listened to numerous presentations and speeches so far this year on the subject of mobile marketing, given by various thought leaders from the digital media industry. But in 2007, the mobile debate has had a slightly different feel. It finally seems as though the tipping point has been reached and mobile is proving to be a communication tool which the digital media industry can monetise.

Why is this happening now? My own view is that the key inhibitors to date have been driven by the fact that the technology hasn’t quite delivered the user experience which consumers require. However, with handset manufacturers now developing more capable products geared towards the mobile internet and 3G networks delivering faster connection speeds than ever before, it seems as though this obstacle has finally been removed. This opens up a range of possibilities.

The global key players have been flexing their muscles over the last few months, having seen the imminent opportunities in this space, and are developing their platforms accordingly. Google is about to Beta Adsense for mobile, whilst UK operators are moving away from the traditional ‘walled garden’ approach to offer users a more navigable experience.

However, this still leaves a key issue to be addressed - how do consumers carry out transactions when using the mobile internet? The most obvious option is reverse billing, but there is a potential problem here, initially at least, with credit balances being capped - prohibiting anyone booking their holiday over the phone for example. My prediction is that the starting point for alternative solutions will be Paypal or Google Checkout, enabling consumers to go mobile using tried and tested online payment methods.

Let us assume that all of the corner-stones are in place for mobile to be viewed as a medium which can be monetised and scaled. So, the technology offers the necessary degree of functionality, media owners have created content users are actually searching for and consumers have the ability to transact with advertisers and merchants. But what does that actually mean for the affiliate community?

The accepted view is that traditional methods can’t be employed, when it comes to mobile tracking solutions, as a cookie cannot be dropped on a mobile phone. Yet supplier specific referral codes would seem an ideal solution. By using channel and affiliate specific source codes, the referral code of a transaction’s originator can be captured. This will allow the relevant affiliate commission, based on the transactional value, to be recorded.

Finally, it is worth remembering that user behaviour is not about to change overnight. People aren’t going to immediately start using their mobiles to book holidays or take out a loan for instance. But wouldn’t it be great if while searching on your mobile to find a local restaurant, you were also presented with details of a local car park and the opportunity to click through and pre-pay for your evening’s car parking? Affiliate marketing on mobile…. Long predicted, but finally here in time for 2008?