R.O.EYE Blog

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

In August I will be launching 3 affiliate programmes for a new merchant here at R.O.EYE. We will be running these both on a closed and open network and I got to wondering… what is the general perception of this kind of strategy in the affiliate community? Are the benefits and drawbacks of both widely understood? To throw my two pence worth out there I’ve put together some observations which may help to explain some of the thought processes involved.

In my experience merchants face two very important considerations when deciding on which strategy to employ depending of course on the industry and product, and these are typically reach and control.

For example, a non-premium branded retail merchant will be more concerned with driving sales than brand compliance and have few reservations about allowing affiliates from as many different genres join the programme as possible. In contrast a premium-branded, FSA regulated finance merchant will need considerably more control over the programme as they need to consider compliance as well back-end quality if the programme is paying out per lead for example.

Closed networks offer the merchant a good degree of control because the affiliate manager or agency can keep affiliates close and develop mutually beneficial working relationships with them. Good communication then facilitates effective programme optimisation from a quality perspective and compliance management, ticking two very important boxes.

Another big box to tick is of course volume of sales (or leads) and for this it helps to have access to large numbers of affiliates. Open networks offer considerably more reach in terms of accessing affiliates and depending on the network can attract specialist affiliates in a variety of different verticals. Other benefits include the extremely valuable add-on services such as XML product feeds, widgets, APIs, etc which can be of huge benefit and often integral to making the programme a success.

However it is also true that these add-ons are not always required and in some instances are left completely redundant, which then brings into question the justifiability of the network override. This becomes a very important consideration where for example the programme objectives involve working to a cost-based KPI.

If only a standard tracking solution is required then a closed network is preferable as this eliminates the inflationary impact of network overrides and creates cost efficiencies. This means the programme is not inhibited in its ability to deliver to the cost based KPI and the maximum commissions can be passed on to attract, recruit, and nurture top performing affiliates.

In summary it’s very much ‘horses for courses’ but decisions whether to run an affiliate programme on a closed, open, or mixed strategy often stem from some of the considerations covered in this blog. In all instances however the decisions made must satisfy the merchant objectives and provided that is the case there will always be a successful programme for affiliates to be part of.

By Kate Perry, Programme Exec, R.O.EYE

From shopping and research to banking and social networking, we are increasingly going online, for everything we need. Obviously, Marketers want to be where their audience is, but as online becomes more and more complex and the consumer increasingly more savvy, it appears that using established tactics and static sites to get brands in front of consumers, no longer works. Indeed - in the light of Affiliate Window’s recent announcement of its new Facebook Application - it has become apparent that Merchants need to engage in a personal relationship with users; providing them with interactive tools, which encourage them to become part of the advertising process.

Affiliate Windows’ very own Facebook application – ‘The Wishlist’ – ‘encourages users to share, recommend, review and – crucially - covet items via an interactive list on their profile.’ Products are fed through to each Wishlist using the ShopWindow API. Though advertising through Facebook applications has, historically, provoked many a cautious response, there is no doubt that engaging users, to the extent that they customise their own online space and become a crucial part of a brands online advertising, is a very powerful tool.

The key to the success of this application, is to create a tool that adds value to the end-user experience, encouraging them, not only to download the application themselves, but also to distribute it through their network of friends. Users must feel empowered by the tool, rather than like a small part of the broader advertising process. To do this, it appears that Merchants will have to release a small element of brand control to their consumers, allowing them to review products and comment on brand messages in the public forum of Social Networking. Merchants who appear to have done this – such as Sky and STA Travel - are set to benefit, not only from the demographic profiling Facebook has to offer, but also from having a network of online brand ambassadors,

Creative, subtle, engaging and – crucially – interactive: it appears that these are the rules Merchants who wish to utlise Social Networking, as a direct-response marketing platform, must abide by. It is too early to forecast the success of Affiliate Window’s ‘Wishlist’ at this stage, but what is clear, is that this move signifies a new direction in traditional affiliate marketing.

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?

By Andy Mitchell - Senior Programme Executive

It’s been coming for a while, but Google has recently launched Adsense for mobiles. Google Adsense clicks have risen 47% year on year, according to the Search Engine giant. In the same financial report, Google stated that partner sites contributed $1.35 billion of revenue, 35% of its total.

So, on the back of this overwhelming success Google has branched out their Adsense service to the .mobi domain. It’s the same format, the same model and is likely to have the same success, but only once mobile advertising really takes off.

“The mobile advertising market is certainly in the early stages. We are making it [financially viable] for new sources of mobile content to emerge,” Dilip Venkatachari, product management director of Google AdSense for Mobile, told Reuters

Shawn Collins has picked up on it as well here.
So for affiliates who have got a few .mobis up their sleeve, now would be a good time to start developing them. Of course it does mean you are forced to use Adsense to monetise them, but this then raises the obvious question of “which Affiliate Network is closest to a network solution for the mobile platform?”. Any guesses (or inside info?!)….

Google Adsense for Mobile will very soon be launching in the UK as well as widely across Europe.

Publishers and affiliates can find guidelines and help here.

By R.O.EYE’s Data Solutions Manager, Chris Le Quesne

We are excited to launch our ‘Icon’ tool, which handles all our internal analysis and reporting. We’ve been redesigning the system over the last six months following positive feedback from affiliates and clients, and this month it has finally gone live in the office!

Icon is a purpose-built data analysis tool that will allow us to get further under the skin of our affiliate management programmes than ever before and report this back in detail to affiliates and clients. The results of our analyses will be filtering through to our clients and affiliates over the coming weeks and months, and judging by the feedback we’ve had so far, the extra knowledge will really help to increase their performance.

The way we see it, the more we know about our programmes, the better we can manage them. We’re looking forward to seeing how the new reporting is received, and hopefully it will help to strengthen the position of everyone involved with our programmes.

Knowledge and accountability are becoming fundamental to any healthy affiliate programme; with Icon, we’re hoping to keep a step ahead of the data needs of our clients and our affiliates!

Please contact me on 0161 2281228 if you have any queries or email chrisl at ro-eye.co.uk