R.O.EYE Blog

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?