Affiliate marketing – sounds like rocket science, but the underlying principle is simple. Above all, it is a key growth driver for your JTL-Shop. We explain the what, how and why in this blog post.
What exactly is behind it?
Affiliate marketing is a commission-based remuneration program that a provider can use for its sales partners. A partner therefore makes the reach of its own channels available for marketing campaigns and receives a share of the marketing success through commissions. The big advantage for the advertiser: The financial risk for advertising costs is spread across various affiliate partners, who in turn are only remunerated if success (in this case sales) can actually be proven.
Affiliate marketing: classification in online marketing
Alongside search engine marketing and social media marketing, affiliate marketing is a powerful performance channel for acquiring new customers and is part of any healthy online marketing mix.
It enables the advertiser to generate further growth and new customer contacts via partnerships. Partners often receive a percentage or a fixed amount of the sale. Of course, the principle applies here: the better the likelihood of purchase for the affiliate, the more likely they are to provide the advertising space. However, there are some factors that determine the success of the partnership:
Commission
The height of the commission set determines the profitability of the campaigns for the partner. For this reason, commission rates should tend to be based on the competition in order to encourage potential partners to cooperate. Our tip: Integrate graduated commissions. Partners with good advertising performance are additionally motivated to display corresponding advertisements. Good basis for planning more campaigns with the partner.
Selection & design of advertising material
The quality of the advertising material determines the CTR (Click Through Rate). Accordingly, the advertising material should comply with the AIDA principle. Of course, this does not mean the ship: AIDA principle → Attention (generate attention) → Interest (arouse the user’s interest) → Desire (arouse the customer’s desire to interact) → Action (clear call to action)
Potential of the store
Partners are naturally also interested in successful collaborations. For this reason, if you have thought about conversion rate optimization, you should also address this with your partner so that they gain confidence in the professionalism of your online store. This is another reason why it is important to present the overall concept of the online store in a coherent way.
Communication
Affiliate partners love active programs with lots of “movement”. Communicate discount promotions or other events that affiliate participants can use to promote the program.
Actions
Such regular promotions have a significant impact on the success of the affiliate program. Special discount campaigns, seasonal promotions or special conditions for very successful affiliate partners also contribute to better overall success.
Technical aspects of affiliate marketing
A cookie is used to determine the origin of the user and the respective assignment is made when the order is completed. The integration requires a sophisticated tracking system that meets the requirements of the affiliates in order to enable transparent, fair billing and to clearly measure success.
If you don’t want to take on the challenge of integrating your own tracking and looking for partners, you can fall back on existing structures: so-called affiliate networks take over the billing of affiliates and provide a corresponding tracking system.
Affiliate networks: Strong partners at your side
Affiliate networks, such as Adcell, handle the tracking and billing of affiliate partners in affiliate marketing. We recommend working with an affiliate network, especially for new sellers, as they can assist with the setup and acquisition of partners. The affiliate network charges a fee for this, which is linked to the previously defined commissions. Various networks charge set-up and fixed fees for participation in the network. Our example above, Adcell, does not charge any setup fees and has no fixed monthly costs. This network therefore generates variable costs that are linked to turnover. Good for new sellers in particular, it is a good way to gain initial experience with affiliate marketing.
Conclusion on affiliate marketing
A professionally run affiliate program can bring you new store customers at low financial risk. However, a successful affiliate program is not a sure-fire success. This is because resources for managing the program and monitoring partner activities must be provided before and during the program.
However, a professionally managed affiliate program should be part of every online marketing toolbox for a successful online store.
