years of affilinet

15

The Insider / October 2012

Download now: FREE iPhone and iPad affilinet Publisher App. Page 8

ApptasticThe essentials: Insight into the growth of European markets. Page 5

Market WatchThe low down: Big data & mobile purchasing trends plus the 10 commandments. Page 3

What’s Trending?Don’t miss: Six key considerations for SME advertisers. Page 6

Small is Beautiful

And it’s true, what a difference a year makes. In the past 12 months we’ve seen the enforcement of the EPrivacy Directive with the ultimate aim to “enhance privacy in the electronic communications sector.” The response has been reasonable with TRUSTe recently releasing research stating that 63% of the top UK websites have taken steps to address the directive. Google continues to keep the markets on their toes by rolling out more algorithm changes; most notably limiting the traditional top 10 search results to just 7 results per page for specific

keywords. Unsurprisingly mobile and social were the big topics hitting the headlines in 2012, with consumer purchases via mobile devices increasing significantly year-on-year according to many published reports. Vodafone’s move to take a majority stake in Invitation Digital the business behind Vouchercloud demonstrates that big brands are taking the SoLoMo (Social Local Mobile) approach seriously. Last but not least, how could we forget about Pinterest? This fast growing platform has the ‘network effect’ built-in, users can go from zero to hero in next to no time

if they manage to connect with individuals whose interest (quite often niche) crosses over with theirs. Every month the number of micro affiliates signing up with Pinterest accounts seems to be creeping up. Exciting times, bring on 2013!

Indeed the conference program is testament to the fact that a lot has happened over the last twelve months. From sessions like “Mobilisation of the Nation” to “Social‘s Big Performance Battle” on the agenda, it’s hard not to see how developments in the broader digital landscape are impacting performance

marketing. Recently it seems we’ve begun to see a new dawn for the channel, with more entrepreneurs and professionals embracing performance as a tool for digital innovation.It takes a lot more than innovation to be taken seriously however, and currently a contentious topic of debate among our industry peers is what could be done to raise the profile and credibility of the industry within the broader digital marketplace. The subject will be hotly debated within a panel discussion aptly named “Performance

Marketing - The Perception and Value Debate”, featuring some of the digital industry’s key figureheads including Mary Keane Dawson, Strategic Leader and Business Development Consultant, Chris Hauth, Head of Strategy at affilinet, David Brown, CEO of Ve Interactive, Melanie Mack, Director of Search at Mediacom and Julia Stent, Director of Telecoms at uSwitch.com. They will address how together as an industry we can embrace regulation and self-regulation, standards and best practice, as well as professional development and training in order to raise

London, 16th October 2012. “Much has changed within a year of Performance Marketing.”That’s the claim made by Existem, the organisers of this year’s A4U Expo London, which today opens up its doors to an estimated 1,200 guests. For the next two days, Hilton Metropole is the hub for everyone who’s anyone in performance marketing to debate, discuss and dissect the marketplace.

Industry gathers to decide the future of performance

Report by Christine Traub

the profile of the industry and encourage C-level executives to take the CPA model more seriously. Naturally none of this can be achieved in silos and industry collaboration is crucial to success.

A4U Expo is the perfect forum to get the industry together under one roof to discuss how we can spread the virtues of our channel and prove the value of performance. So please be part of the debate by joining Mary and the panel in the Balmoral Suite at midday on 17th October.

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In my opinion the diversity of topics covered in the panel discussions coupled with the opportunity to network with all manner of businesses from within the performance industry, makes two days at A4U Expo time well spent. The event offers glimpses of what’s important and what will be important for performance marketing in the future – and looking at the content I think we’re all set for an insightful 2012 expo!

Thinking about what’s important, affilinet is celebrating 15 years this year giving us a strong view of how the industry has and will develop. We’ve done a lot as a network since 1997, but there’s always more that we can do to make sure we continue to stay relevant and valuable.

To demonstrate what we’re thinking, doing and predicting we’ve produced this great newspaper for the event. Inside ‘The Insider’ you’ll find a broad range of insight covered by many members of the affilinet team, both long-serving and new converts, including advertiser success stories, tasters of the panel discussions taking place at the conference and a look into the size and growth of international markets. We also discuss the importance of understanding big data, provide a recipe for the perfect email marketing campaign and offer tips on managing an international team, something that’s increasingly commonplace in today’s virtual world. For publishers we’ve got all the information you need to start planning for Christmas as well as details of the recent launch of the affilinet international publisher app for iOS. And don’t forget to enter the competition on the back page for a chance to win an amazing weekend away, ask for details on our stand.

If you get some time in among all the exciting things happening at the event, feel free to join me and the team for a coffee and some well-deserved respite on our stand. With the jam-packed schedule on offer, it looks like it will be much needed!

From the editor…

ContributorsChris Hauth Business Development & Strategy Director

At affilinet Chris is responsible for driving forward all strategic initiatives, M&A and lobbying across Europe. Chris takes a look at big data on page 3 and offers advice on how to harness its value and increase conversions.

Christine TraubMarketing Manager

Christine is responsible for marketing affilinet in the UK and for raising brand awareness through events, PR and other activities. She examines exactly how much has changed in performance marketing in the last 12 months on page 1 and co-edited this edition of The Insider.

Donna Pullen Account Manager

As part of the account management team Donna looks after advertisers across a variety of sectors. She previously worked at Maxus as a Planner Buyer and at OMD, so she has a well-rounded view of the online advertising industry.

Fiona BatemanKey Account Manager

The newest member of the team, Fiona joined affilinet from Freemax Media and has an excellent understanding of affiliate strategy and online marketing. She provides advice for harnessing email marketing and looks to the future of the medium on page 6.

Helen Nugent Key Account Director

Helen has been with affilinet since the business launched in the UK in 2005 and has played a key role in its growth. She has been in the affiliate industry for over 8 years and dispenses advice for SME advertisers new to performance marketing on page 5.

James BennieKey Account Manager

James looks after a few of the programs on the affilinet network and presents the Matalan success story on page 4. This was the retailer’s first affiliate program and really proved the value of strategic account management and performance marketing.

Karen Sweere International Account Director

Karen manages the Thomas Cook affiliate program. She has over 7 years of experience in online and affiliate marketing and joined affilinet Netherlands in April 2010. Karen works across Europe and she reveals her tips for managing an international team on page 7.

Paul BrownBusiness Development Manager

Paul has an extremely high level of technical know-how and a strategic mind-set. He presents some interesting mobile trends on page 3 and gives us an insight into the wider European market on page 5. Catch Paul’s session on mobile marketing at 2.30pm on Day One of A4U Expo London.

Pete Berry Senior Publisher Manager

Pete heads up the Publisher Services Team and oversees key partnerships across the affilinet client base. He states the case for strategically planning your Christmas activity to ensure the season is a lucrative one on page 4.

Viivi Vaatainen Publisher Services Executive

Having worked in the Publisher Services Team since February 2011and previously worked for an online retailer, Viivi is well versed with all types of publishers and focuses on growing relationships with new publishers. She looks at the new affilinet Publisher app on page 8.

Kevin plays a substantial role in managing some of the programs on the affilinet networks. He outlines the Virgin Atlantic success story on page 7, which demonstrates the results that can be achieved with planning and implementing relevant activity. Kevin has met the Dalai Lama.

Kevin Sutton Key Account Director

Zaynab AhmedMarketing Executive

Zaynab works on building brand awareness for affilinet through events, social media and other marketing activities. Zaynab is a keen tweeter and rounds up our favourite industry tweeters on page 8. She co-edited this special A4U Expo London edition of The Insider.

Gary Bicker has over 8 years’ experience in online and performance marketing, managing the affiliate activities of advertisers such as HSBC, Eurostar, Debenhams, Barclays, Virgin Atlantic, Mazda and more. He joined affilinet in the UK in 2010 and was appointed Managing Director in November 2011.

Contents

Page 2 / The Insider

Gary BickerManaging Director

pg3 Big data:how to harness its value and increase conversions

The ten commandments:golden rules for mobile optimised performance marketing

Mobile trends:the lowdown on mobile purchasing behaviour

pg7

Success story:Matalan’s first foray into performance marketing

Success story:the sky‘s the limit with Virgin Atlantic

pg6 60 second interview with:advertisers on our platform

Small is beautiful:6 key considerations for SME advertisers

pg4 ‘Tis the season:essential Christmas planning advice

Changing face of email:the perfect email marketing campaign

pg5 Market watch:insight and opportunities across Europe

Virtual reality:tips on managing an international team

pg8 Apptastic:download our free app for publishers

Competition:enter to win a fantastic weekend away

Tweet tweet:who we’re following on Twitter

The changing perception of data.Data has been growing in value for the last two years, but in 2012 Big Data has really taken a grip of the industry. This is down to two key factors. Firstly, clients want added value and that is no longer derived from what products you can offer them, but the insights you as a service provider are able to bring to the table. Data is insight and in a multi-channel world that is the difference between success and failure. Secondly, new entrants into the market have recognised this trend and have engineered their business models from the ground up around data in a bid to provide end-to-end visibility. So if you aren‘t in the business of data, you‘re out of the game. But data isn‘t just highly prized by brands. Data also represents a significant opportunity for the performance marketing industry. If we can get ahead in integrating great swathes of data and crunching that into

hard facts and knowledge, it will help us to better educate our clients about the value of what we do and serve them better.

The challenges facing data.There are three key challenges at play here. Firstly, data exists in abundance so the biggest challenge will be how companies can take data from various channels and make it meaningful

for their business. Raw data by itself isn‘t meaningful, it needs to be put into context through interpretation and visualisation. Secondly, often different marketing disciplines hold different segments of

data, meaning that in many circumstances a picture may only be at best half complete. Many brands are now seeking to create a more collaborative environment across the marketing mix in order to try and fill in the gaps to generate better insight. The tricky part is that working collaboratively together is reasonably new and many rightly view the data they hold as their competitive advantage.

As an industry we need to recognise the value in sharing information and how it can drive up the value of what we do. Thirdly and most importantly we need to look at data from a customer perspective. In the

light of ongoing privacy debates in particular and heightened customer awareness, the value that comes out of the data needs to be clearly communicated. Increased company efficiency is certainly not a primary concern for the consumer. The mantra here in the industry that you still “gather as much as you can and think about what you can do with it later” is dangerous and short sighted. The insight data offers.As marketing looks to make itself more relevant to consumers, data by itself isn‘t enough. To turn data into gold, organisations must have the basics in place. In my opinion that incorporates a high performing infrastructure that is geared towards helping them to integrate information. This is especially true as data becomes more fragmented. Content is no longer just numbers based, but includes videos, likes, tweets etc. A classic SQL database simply isn‘t enough, it won‘t

generate the insights you need. The faster you can interpret data the more agile your marketing can be.

Alongside this infrastructure you also need a dedicated business intelligence (BI) team and give every employee an understanding of BI. There has been a lot written about how people who can draw insights from data will see their value in the job market skyrocket over the coming years and it’s true. Data is meaningless unless it is interpreted.

And finally there is visualisation. A business intelligence team can generate knowledge but the best way of bringing that to life and understanding the impact of those insights on your business is to utilise visuals. Here we are talking about infographs and not excel graphs. Again it’s about presenting value not numbers.

“ We need to recognise the value in sharing information and how it can drive up the value of what we do.„

Mobile trends

The ten commandments of mobile optimised performance marketing

Data, and its importance, has been an emerging trend in the performance marketing space for the last couple of years. However, in 2012 it has really gathered momentum as advertisers and publishers alike have sought to harness its value in order to drive sales, gain insight into customer journeys, increase conversions and tailor the customer experience. Certainly as a network we have noticed that data is the area where advertisers see the most added value. This is because it can deliver the insights that can make the difference between success or failure.

4Setup a specific rate for mobile actions so that you can incentivise promotion via these devices.

5Consider dual branding landing pages to increase conversion rates.

6Test your mobile site on multiple devices whenever significant changes are made.

7Continually optimise your check out process, i.e. allow quick purchase for those that do not want to register.

8Pay for repeat customers. If users are continuing to come back to your website via other links reward the referrers the user values.

9Test Learn Refine. Give a mobile campaign a try, monitor the results and learn lessons for next time.

10Keep an eye on industry best practice.

Report by Chris Hauth

The Insider / Page 3

*Source: Affilinet Analysis

1Ensure that your networks tracking sits on your order confirmation pages for mobile.

2Does your mobile site display a telephone number or a "press to call function"? If so you need to offer call tracking or hide it from affiliate visitors.

3Try to offer at least the standard mobile ad units sizes as GIF or JPEG.

* Featured in The Drum “Digging Data” in August 2012

Keep up to date with affilinet: Website: affili.net/en Blog: affilinet-inside.com Twitter: @affilinetuk

Data, data everywhere data

5% of all affilinet orders generatedthis year were through mobile& tablet devices 22% of all mobile & tablet orders

across affilinet’s platformare generated in the UK80% of mobile orders are

generated through iOS devices-iPhones & iPads

62% of all mobile & tablet ordersgenerated were for retailadvertisers 8-10am

Orders made via mobile devices peak during commuting hours 8-11pm

Orders made on tablet devices spike when people are browsing whilst relaxing and watching TV

uplift and feed this back into your strategy.

Identify your respective in-store and online peak shopping times; consider the shopping behaviour of your customers and when different products are prone to fly off the shelves. Communicate any advance knowledge of predicted best-sellers to your publishers so they can focus their efforts in the best places, but do be mindful of stock levels to avoid selling out.

Make sure to keep a detailed log of activity so that you can analyse the effectiveness and optimise further in 2013.

Christmas is fast approaching and both publishers and advertisers are already planning ahead to the 2012 festive season. And it’s hardly surprising considering last year online sales in December were up 30% year-on-year, and the week before Christmas saw almost double the sales compared with 2011.

It sounds all-too-simple, but preparing and planning early really makes a difference and is essential to avoid missing out. Read on for all the information you need to make this a lucrative season.

Think BroadlyReach and diversity of opportunities is relatively simple to achieve within the performance space given the prominence of targeted campaigns at this time of year.

All publishers should be considered as part of a Christmas strategy as messaging and creative can be adapted across the board for the sake of continuity and conversion.

See page 6 for a sneak peak of what some of our advertisers are planning for Christmas.

Synchronise the performance marketing efforts with other marketing channels, including above the line, so that publishers are pulling in the same direction and can capitalise on traffic spikes.

Get the Basics RightMost publishers have already released Christmas plans. Take time to review the choices and act fast on those that suit.

Advertising creative and messaging should be refreshed with a festive theme and reflected across all promotional content on publisher sites. Be aware of last delivery dates and communicate them early.

Publishers will feature these on their sites so take advantage of this coverage, especially if last delivery dates are late enough to be a selling point.

Do the MathAs Christmas is such a competitive season, budgeting appropriately can help ensure you’re in the right place at the right time. Provision should be made as offers and codes will be in high demand. It is also advisable to be flexible with your commissions, due to tenancies and prizes.

Publishers want appealing but ultimately sustainable offers for their users and therefore

it’s important to be mindful of overall costs per sale versus margin. Have a target ROI in line with how competitive and aggressive you want your strategy to be.

It is vital that commitments to publishers aren’t forsaken as each promotional slot carries such a high value during peak weeks. Incentives can be successful if targets and rewards are thought out enough to be appealing to all parties.

Make Informed DecisionsRevisit statistics of last year’s Christmas activity, look at which publishers, offers and placements offered the best

Image courtesy of Debenhams

Page 4 / The Insider

Written by Pete Berry

‘Tis the season: Christmas planning

Makes affiliate sense

Matalan is an established retailer specialising in value fashion, with over 200 stores in the UK and a rapidly expanding online presence. The retailer wanted to replicate its high street success online and needed an affiliate marketing program that would provide it with as much exposure as possible in order to build its brand in the online marketplace as well as help it compete with larger fashion brands.

Resu

lts 340 publishers signed up to the program in yr1 - 30% generating sales and 46% generating traffic

PROGRaM OBJECTIvES • Set up and launch Matalan’s first affiliate program in UK. • Meet year one sales targets of 29,000 sales and £1.1m in

revenue. • Establish a strong publisher base benchmarked at 15%

active selling publishers and 30% generating traffic.

STRaTEGy • Built a complete and ambitious network of publishers

for Matalan predominantly based on partnerships with content, email retargeting, voucher code and cash back publishers.

• Approached selected fashion bloggers to review merchandise for their audience in order to support tackle preconceptions of Matalan as a cheap rather than a value brand.

• Implemented website and technical changes including the creation of a voucher code facility, product page improvements to enhance conversion and the creation of product data feeds to create new opportunities.

• Frequent communication of new special offers, product deep links and provision of special content such as copy and press images in order to allow publishers to quickly and easily update their sites.

£1.3m in revenue generated in the first year, with a strong average ROI of £15.31.

Increase of 240% in sales and 183% in revenue y-o-y**March 2011 to Feb 2012 (compared to previous year)

Success Story by James Bennie

“Online is set to become our primary sales engine. When we launched our website in 2009, we wanted to see an immediate commercial impact and in comparison with the other marketing programs we’ve initiated, the affiliate program has proven to be the most successful in terms of revenue and sales. Tom McLaughlin, Online Marketing Manager

“

Think Beyond OnlinePublishers are increasingly using multi-channel activity and it is important to think of how performance marketing could support your offline strategy.

Our work with Debenhams has demonstrated that this can be done on an on-going basis, but around Christmas mobile and printable vouchers can be effective in driving sales even after your last delivery date has passed.

Market watch

Compiled by Paul Brown

What opportunities are available to performance marketers across Europe and how can these be monetised? Here’s an in-depth look at market trends and predicted growth across some of the major European markets where affilinet is present.

Market lowdown To borrow a turn of phrase from the recent London Olympics, the French online advertising market claimed bronze position when it came to total online advertising spend during 2011. This year it is forecast to grow at 12% - a similar speed to Germany according to eMarketer. affilinet believes that the performance segment will broadly sit inline with this, chalking up 11.7% in extra revenues over the 12 month period.

affilinet in FranceWhat drives the French market? Email still plays a key part, but we are seeing increasing traction for sites such as iGraal.com which offers a composite ‘go to’ market strategy that includes cash back, voucher codes and price comparison services. A model which many of the established UK players have been following for several years already. Not to be forgotten, pure content plays a growing role in the French performance market as does media. If you have expertise in arbitrage why not get in touch with our French team and explore this option on a short term campaign?

Food for thoughtWhen it comes to social platforms, just like in Germany, Facebook competes with a number of local players, which are perhaps even stronger than the German incumbents. For example, Copains d’avant holds accounts for 49% of French Internet users, which is not a million miles away from Facebook’s 56%; the difference lies in the monetisation options and Facebook’s strong API infrastructure. For potential targeting options it is well worth checking out what is trending in each market. In France, for example, over the last 6 months Harry Potter has been nearly as popular as in the UK achieving 1.8m fans; the same cannot be said for Germany.

Market lowdownGermany accounted for 19% of all money spent in online advertising across Europe in 2011, second only to the UK in terms of absolute spend. eMarketer predicts 2012 growth approaching 12% across all online media and affilinet expect performance marketing to track more or less in line with that.

affilinet in GermanyYear to date, key drivers of this growth have been voucher and cashback publishers which are nowhere near as entrenched as they are in the UK market. There are certainly large publishers in this space such as payback.de, but second, third and fourth slots do not appear to be as sewn up as over here. However, the key volume driving publisher type for our Munich office is pure content. If you want to engage in this market it is suggested that you supply publishers with exclusive content and offers which they can build articles around.

Food for thoughtFacebook penetration is not as high in Germany as it is in other markets. This is partly due to the existence of local competitors. The upshot of this is that the average CPC has grown as fast as in other markets averaging out at $0.54 over the past 6 months. This presents arbitrage opportunities, but remember not to forget local players like stayfriends.de.Stereotypically Germans are thought to be quite concise, so one might expect Twitter to be an ideal communication medium however, this is not reflected in the numbers. Germany’s Twitter population places it in the top 20 markets by user base but market penetration sits at just 10%. Clearly efforts to leverage this platform will not achieve the same results as other more engaged markets like Spain.

Market lowdownThe IAB’s Adex Benchmark for 2011 reported that by the end of this year the total Spanish online advertising market will be worth €925m, and eMarketer has forecast that it will have grown by approximately 11%. Affilinet expects the performance market to track just ahead of this forecast around 11.7%.

affilinet in SpainOur Madrid based team are driving this growth across the publisher mix, but are seeing particular success when working closely with data owners and email specialists. Affiliates working in this sector are massively out performing all other publisher business models year to date. If your business has access to opt-in data in Spain, please get in touch and let us help you monetise.

Food for thoughtAccording to research by Semiocast, Spain is one of the chattiest nations in the world, at least by Twitter standards. Recent research places it number 3 in terms of percentage of active accounts. Have you investigated how you can leverage traffic on this platform? More that 10 million people now have Twitter accounts in this market.In terms of Facebook approximately 58% of people have an account and the average cost per click is $0.30, this compares favourably with $0.72 in the UK. There is a real opportunity for publishers to leverage arbitrage tactics here and for advertisers to potentially take advantage of a lower cost per sale.

Market lowdownThe Dutch market ranked as the 5th largest by total online marketing spend during 2011 according to the IAB. At €1.2bn it finished just behind its far larger (by size and population) European neighbour Italy. By the end of this year there is every chance it could be larger, the 2011 growth rate was 19% up on 2010.

affilinet in the NetherlandsWith its recent acquisition of Cleafs (the Dutch affiliate network), affilinet is well placed to take advantage of this growth; its local publisher mix in the Netherlands has always been strong, with not too much reliance on any one publisher business model. Cleafs supports this mix by strengthening the very technical price comparison segment and boosting the all-important area of topic / content sites.

Food for thoughtWhen it comes to Twitter the Dutch are the most engaged market within the network according to recent research by Semiocast (33% active). You could say, “Sure, but how many accounts are there? It’s a small place”. Well, there are actually 8 million, equivalent to half the population of the Netherlands! Speak to our team today to discuss opportunities for leveraging this platform.From a Facebook perspective there are not too many surprises, CPC costs are higher than the other countries mentioned due to significant competition for a limited amount of impressions, the average click cost coming in at $0.61 over the past 6 months. When it comes to pure numbers of fans (not necessarily a means to commercial success) KLM and G-star Raw are leading the way with 2 million and 1 million fans respectively. If you are publisher with media arbitrage experience and you think you can help KLM please get in please get in touch as we work with them in several countries.

“Spain is one of the chattiest nations of the world, at least by Twitter standards.„

The Insider / Page 5Keep up to date with affilinet: Website: affili.net/en Blog: affilinet-inside.com Twitter: @affilinetuk

FRANCe GeRMANy SPAIN THe NeTHeRlANDS

Six key considerations for SMe programsIt could be said that E.F Schuhmacher’s economics of “small is beautiful” is more relevant in the 21st century, than ever before. With the proliferation of the internet and the emergence of mobile, opportunities for small to medium sized enterprises have sky rocketed, enabling emerging businesses to complete with even the most established players dominating the market.Report by Helen Nugent

A brand name should not ultimately determine the success of an advertiser’s program. Even the biggest of brands can miss opportunities if they do not promote their programs to affiliates effectively or can alienate their base by failing to conduct their affiliate relationships effectively. With this in mind I think there are a few key considerations in particular for SME advertisers:

1. Don’t be afraid to sell your program.Without a big brand name to back you up it’s even more important to sell your program to affiliates. In particular make sure your program description is enticing, informative and helpful to

publishers, remembering that this is often the first time affiliates will have exposure to your program.

2. Follow best practice. Affiliate marketing is all about building relationships, and as such affiliates should be treated as long-term partners. The IAB Affiliate Marketing Council has drawn up an Ethical Merchant Charter with tips on how to conduct your program. Read this charter and make it your bible. One simple slip up can easily put affiliates off promoting a program.

3. Communication is key. Transparency and open communication facilitate and develop stronger

relationships with affiliates – and will ensure your brand name stands out from the crowd. It is also important to communicate any upcoming promotions or seasonal activities to affiliates to ensure they see what brand activity might help them to optimise exposure and sales.

4. Be willing to trial activity. Always be on the lookout for new opportunities and make trend-spotting a regular activity. Your affiliate network will present you with new and developing affiliate models, and these will be assessed for feasibility for your program. More often than not it’s risk-free to trial due to the CPA payment metric, so why not give opportunities a go.

5. Be tactical. Being tactical is particularly key for lesser known brands - get your commission structure right and be flexible with the affiliates that work the best for your program. Offering incentives can help to entice new publishers to join your program, reactivate dormant affiliates and encourage affiliates to go that extra mile for seasonal peaks.

6. Give affiliates the tools they need to do their job.Make sure you provide a selection of good quality creatives so that affiliates have more to work with. Regularly updating creative or enhancing the range on offer can be an extremely

effective way of activating existing and engaging new affiliates with your brand. In summary, there are plenty of fantastic opportunities for small businesses within the space and for the affiliates that promote their products and services. The flexible nature of these companies make them able to adapt to changing market conditions and willing to react to opportunity – sounds like the ideal business partner to me!

“With the proliferation of the internet and the emergence of mobile, opportunities for small to medium sized enterprises have sky rocketed.”

Report by Donna Pullen

60 second interview with…We asked some affilinet advertisers what they’re up to at present and if we can get a sneak preview into what they’re planning ahead for Christmas and the New Year…

Page 6 / The Insider

Gemma Crozier for Red Letter DaysRed Letter Days is the leading gift experience provider in the UK. From Driving Days to Pamper Days there is something to suit everyone for every occasion.

What do you predict will be a best seller? This year we think Body Flying and our Thames Cruise will be big sellers.

What is your last order date? Our last order dates for 1st Class is the 20th December and we can courier up until the 21st December. The great thing about ordering online is that customers can use our Instant e-Vouchers through to Christmas Day!

What are the peak trading weeks? Our peak trading weeks run all the way from November to Christmas Day.

are any generic vouchers going to be live? We will be running a free courier offer in the lead up to Christmas. Details will be sent through to our partners closer to the time.

When do January sales start? Our sale period starts on 26th December.

The changing face of email marketing

Interview by Zaynab Ahmed

How has the perception of email as a channel changed in recent times?

Many advertisers have shied away from email in the past due to poor quality and low conversion rates. However, recently there has been a distinct shift of focus from volume to quality. Instead of measuring the strength of an email campaign on open and click rates and using earnings-per-click as a metric, the conversion rate has taken a much higher precedence in measuring the success of a campaign. For example, email has always been a popular channel for lead generation because it isn’t incentivised but it’s important that the email publishers providing the highest quality of leads and conversion rates are rewarded.

We interviewed Fiona Bateman, who recently joined affilinet from Freemax Media, about her experience with the email channel, how it’s changed and what the future holds.

So how can advertisers incentivise to ensure they are getting the highest quality possible from their email campaigns?

It is essential for advertisers to provide lead-to-sale conversion rates to ensure there is the visibility and incentive for affiliate managers and email marketers to really optimise their lead generation and email activity.

Predominately, traditional email publishers have favoured the CPM model which removes the incentive for both parties to produces the best results that we see with the performance model. This is partially due to email being very similar to content sites in their position in the consumer journey. They often drive a lot of traffic initially

but people leave the site to search for a voucher code or use comparison sites (yes, this argument again!). There are, however, ways of getting around this. Freemax Media, for example, have tackled this issue by allowing advertisers to opt for a hybrid payment model. For advertisers that they send large volumes of traffic to they work on a hybrid cost-per-click basis plus a CPA or percentage of sale. Not only are they still incentivised by the performance based element but they also eliminate a lot of the risk of sending high volumes with no reward. By building up good relationships with advertisers and proving your quality of sales/leads this commercial model can be mutually favourable for all parties involved.

How can advertisers harness technology and design resources to optimise their campaigns?Third party email publishers have vast amounts of technology available to them that, when used strategically, can really help optimise an email campaign. Small things such as using subject line personalisation, making sure the email lands in the inbox before 9am and using deep links to go straight to the basket or sign up page can really maximise conversion rates. Think about what your objectives are from your email campaign and how you can be smart about achieving these. If it is a cost-per-sale campaign consider using trigger paths by re-mailing those records that clicked on a department or product with follow up emails or alternative suggestions

as a further attempt to convert the record. If it is a lead generation campaign utilise bespoke landing pages and, where possible, provide unique telephone numbers via a network’s call tracking technology to minimise site leakage and offer another route to market ensuring you’re generating all potential revenue possible from that one record.

Looking to the future, what’s next for email?

Unsurprisingly the volume of emails read on mobile devices is rising. Approximately 34% of emails are now opened and read on a mobile device which is a large enough proportion for advertisers and email publishers to be adapting to this shift. It is vital that the email creative is designed and coded with mobile users in mind which means rendering, copy and imagery all have to be considered and optimised for all viewing devices. It is essential that users are still able to engage with the email the same way they would via a desktop. The landing page will also need to be considered and, if the advertiser has an m-commerce site, a tracking solution will have to be in place. Large publishers such as Freemax Media are beginning to offer specific targeting for records that always open their mail on a mobile device allowing opportunities for advertisers to promote specifically mobile products such as their apps via this channel.

Gillian Makepeace for DebenhamsDebenhams is the second largest department store chain in the UK and has a strong presence in all shopping categories, including womenswear, lingerie, beauty, menswear, kids, electrical, home & furniture and gifts.

What do you predict will be a bestseller? Our evening and party dresses are a big seller for all the glitzy and glamorous Christmas do’s. But something you don’t necessarily associate with Debenhams are kids toys and games. We always stock some of the biggest Christmas best sellers!

What are the peak trading weeks?Of course all weeks are great for trading for Debenhams at Christmas. Online sales have increased a whopping 40% this year and we’ll be doing everything we can to ensure we continue to deliver in the festive season. One of our biggest weeks of the year tends to come in November. So keep a look out for communication surrounding that!

are any generic vouchers going to be live?There will be lots of offers and promotions for affiliates to get their teeth into throughout the Christmas period. We’ll have a weekly offers update every week throughout the period to keep you posted. You can contact our account manager ksutton@affili.net for more details on these.

Donna Pullen for Champneys Champneys is the UK‘s most prestigious health spas offering luxury accommodation, delicious cuisine, fitness and wellbeing breaks, pampering treatments & spa products.

What do you predict will be a best seller this Christmas?A great gift for a loved one is the 2 night Champneys spa break. This is their most popular package and includes a Champneys Massage, relaxing facial, unlimited use of facilities and up to 20 classes per day to choose from, with breakfast, lunch and dinner also included.

What is your last order date?You can order all the way up until the last minute for Christmas for our spa breaks and still be the perfect partner!

Do you have specials deals or offers?You can always find and deeplink into their great offers and deals at www.champneys.com/Booking/Packages/special-offers. Some of their best deals are displayed on this page and it’s a great place to start when it comes to linking in and converting sales.

Sophie Stoner for Thomas CookThomas Cook UK & Ireland is the second largest leisure travel group in the UK.

When is the most popular time to book?Interestingly, bookings have peaked on Sundays in January. This has been the case for the past few years with sales on the 2nd and 3rd Sunday in January breaking records!

What are the top holiday destinations?In order our top destinations are 1) Turkey 2) Spain 3) Greece 4) Mallorca 5) Egypt

Interesting travel trends to note?The peak season still takes place in January, although, we’ve noticed a minor shift away from this pattern in the last few years with customers starting to book later in the year too. Make sure that you’re well indexed on keywords like ‘cheap holidays’, ‘all inclusive holidays’, ‘Turkey holidays’ and ‘Egypt holidays’ as these are the most searched for terms during the peak season. Don’t forget ski holidays in January too – this is a popular last minute trip booked at the beginning of the year.

The Insider / Page 7Keep up to date with affilinet: Website: affili.net/en Blog: affilinet-inside.com Twitter: @affilinetuk

No ordinary airline; no ordinary affiliate program

The aviation industry has undergone a tough couple of years as consumers reign in spending against a fluctuating global economic backdrop. This has led to many holidaymakers opting to go on a staycation in a bid to avoid rising airline and fuel taxes.

Airline operators have always found margins to be tight, but when trying to convince consumers to change their behaviour and jet off, it is more important than ever that marketing spend delivers the best possible return on investment. Recognising the challenges that its business faced, Virgin Atlantic knew it needed a performance marketing program that would be flexible and creative in incentivising publishers through a combination of monetary and non-monetary rewards.

Resu

lts Ad impressions increased by 132% on the program, demonstrating the branding impact of CPA activity.

PROGRaM OBJECTIvES • Grow revenue from the long tail of publishers by 25%. • Reward publishers with non-monetary incentives to avoid

impacting profit margins. • Look outside of CPA activity and integrate other methods

of acquisition that add value.

STRaTEGy • Set up “contra” deals with individual publishers to offer

access to company benefits, including flight tickets, which were passed onto users in exchange for premium exposure.

• Publishers promoted these experiences to engage users through activities such as members-only competitions. The deals offered publishers a unique opportunity to align themselves with the Virgin Atlantic brand.

• Partners included The Dibb, The UK‘s largest Disney and Orlando holiday planning site, and Kidstart, a free shopping club.

• After each campaign affilinet and nonstopConsulting outlined activity effectiveness. This enabled Virgin Atlantic to look beyond standard CPA activity and treat each individual affiliate as a campaign in its own right.

Pound-for-pound return was an impressive £46.37.

Sale-generating publishers increased by 53%and revenue from new publishers grew by 551% y-o-y

Success Story by Kevin Sutton

Karen Sweere heads up a team based across Europe as part of her role as International Account Director on the Thomas Cook account. This involves splitting her time between the London office for three days and our other European offices the rest of the week. We ask Karen how she deals with managing a virtual team.

How do you find working in a team dispersed across different countries and time zones?Managing an international team requires a lot of effort from the team as well as the manager. Technology plays a huge role when it comes to connecting and sharing information with my team members. Meetings and conversations take place via phone, messenger and video conference as well as face to face when I can. Structure and clear deadlines help when you can’t physically work in the same office as your team. It could be very tempting

Managing an international team

Interview by Zaynab Ahmed

to push activities forward and postpone them when you don‘t see each other face to face. Luckily the time difference is only 1 hour between here and the rest of Europe so it doesn’t really affect us. Timings for meetings are always carefully considered so that no one has to start earlier or leave too late in the evening.

Managing an international team requires good functional and task management, how do you do this successfully on a continual basis?It’s all about clear expectations, trying to limited ad hoc tasks

Six top tipsPredefine meeting structures in advance.

Prioritise individual calls and face to face meetings to support, coach and build a relationship.

Make an effort to learn a few phrases in the local language. This gesture is always appreciated.

When emailing a request for certain tasks to be done, follow-up with a phone call to ensure everyone’s on the same page.

Set up a rule for when to cc. various parties in all emails. This helps to limit the number of emails flooding your inbox.

It’s important to acknowledge results no matter how small the success is. Celebrate it.

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and understanding cultural differences.Inspiring a culture of integrity and knowing that you can rely on your team members is important when creating and sustaining trust. For me success lies in not only managing but actively supporting the account manager with hands on activities. This helps understand the local market.

What are the advantages of working with an international team?Learning about cultural differences, meeting many inspiring people in various

countries and gaining knowledge concerning other markets are some of the major advantages. My personal goal is to spread the knowledge and share experience from one country to another and not to be limited by country borders.

How do you cope with being on the go all the time and yet remain so bubbly and energetic?During the work day I listen to classical music. It helps me to block out the rest of the world and focus on what I need to do. I’m on the road a lot so being at home really helps me unwind – I love to bake!

Speakers we’re following on TwitterWe’ve rounded up our favourite industry tweeters who are participating in this year’s a4uexpo. Follow them for their insightful perspectives on digital marketing in 140 characters.

The affilinet Publisher is an easy to use free multi-lingual app that enables publishers with an affilinet account(s) to securely manage their activity on the go. The Publisher App allows you to search for new programs, see all the latest offers available, access performance reports and check recent payment information. User-friendlyFollowing a once-off registration, all of your linked accounts are automatically listed in the app. The intuitive user interface offers all the core functionality of the interface you use when sitting at your desktop computer, even the ability to apply for new programs. Stay in the loopKeep up to date with a real-time activity stream, order notifications and all the latest network news. The affilinet Publisher app also gives users access to detailed “by day” and “by program” statistics to allow you to keep track of your account. Work on the goWe have a unique feature on this app which we’ve developed specially with busy publisher teams in mind. Download this app for a mobile version of affilinet’s voucher and offer management

Affilinet Publisher App for iPhone and iPadWe’ve just launched our free feature-packed iPhone and iPad iOS6 compatible Publisher App! Whether you’re out and about or just relaxing on your sofa you can now manage your affilinet publisher accounts from your Apple mobile device.

Intuitive overview See a visual representation of month to date performance, your most recent payment and your total partnerships.

Fast program search Search for new programs by keyword or category and filter by partnership status, program type or whether they have vouchers or product data.

Latest offers and vouchers See all the latest offers available and filter by various values including whether there is a minimum order value. There is even a handy social share option so that you can delegate offer uploads to your team.

Reports and detailed statistics See overall performance for the current month and previous months and drill-down to individual days to see further detail. Statistics can also be viewed by program and graphically.

automated setup of linked accounts Add and switch between multiple affilinet accounts.

Personalised SettingsChange your default currency and manage security options.

What birthday is affilinet celebrating this year?a) 15 years b) 10 yearsThe new affilinet Publisher app is free to download.a) Trueb) FalseWhat percentage of mobile sales are carried out through Apple iOS devices as opposed to Android devices?a) 40%b) 80%

COMPeTITIONWIN A FANTASTICWeeKeND AWAy!Simply answer the following questions then tear this page off and drop it into affilinet at stand 70. All answers can be found inside.

Which day is the affilinet panel debate on the value of performance marketing?a) Day Oneb) Day TwoLast year online sales in December were up 30% year-on-year.a) Trueb) FalseKevin Sutton, affilinet Account Director, has met the Dalai Lama.a) Trueb) False

solution so that when you’re away from the office, you can find the latest offers and vouchers, filter them and send the details directly to your team for publication. This functionality is completely unique to the affilinet Publisher App! Complete securityThe affilinet Publisher app has a secure passcode lock built-in to ensure your account is always protected. The fantastic affilinet Publisher app is available as a FREE download for the iPhone and iPad now and compatible with iOS 5.0 or later. Download it from the Apple App store today!

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Page 8 / The Insider Keep up to date with affilinet: Website: affili.net/en Blog: affilinet-inside.com Twitter: @affilinetuk

Chris Hauth @chrishauth

Before his time at affilinet Chris worked for Telefonica in Germany and as a senior consultant at Solon Management Consulting. His strategic approach is reflected in his tweets.

Auke Boersma@MrBoardsma

Former MD of affilinetNL, Auke is now an independent Commercial & Operational Consultant working on projects such as Fan Distribution with Digital Animal. Follow him for tweets about digital trends and life in the countryside.

Mary Keane-Dawson@marykeanedawson

Mary Keane-Dawson is an independent digital business consultant. At a4uexpo she is moderating our roundtable discussion and panel debate we’ve put together which will debate how, as an industry, we can unveil the true value of performance marketing. Mary tweets about happenings in the digital space.

Paul Brown@paul_d_brown

Paul’s been with affilinet for over four years and has dabbled in all areas of the business from publisher management through to strategy. His tweets reflect his passion for the digital industry and goings on in his hometown of Whitstable.

Vikki Chowney@vikkichowney

Head of Community at tmw. Vikki is a former journalist, most recently as news editor for Econsultancy. Follow Vikki for interesting trends in the digital world including social and mobile trends. Food-related tweets aren’t uncommon either.

A4U expo @a4uexpo

Seeing as you’re spending two days at A4U Expo, make sure you keep abreast of up-to-the-minute event news and live tweet what’s happening where you are. Hash tag: #a4uexpo

Why do our customers rate affilinet?

Join us for coffee on stand 70 and find out for yourself*Responses from a sample of our customers across Europe when asked “which words would you use to describe affilinet?” April 2012

Please note that to use this service you must have an active affilinet publisher account.