TRAFFIC
AN UNTAPPED POTENTIAL FOR AFFILIATES
Affi liates try to attract more traffi c before they have even considered maximising their conversion rate , which is a much easier source of extra revenue to attract , says Dave Gowans of Browser to Buyer
CONVERSION RATE OPTIMISATION ( CRO ) has become a vital part of any e-commerce business , allowing everyone from online stores to estate agents to get more sales from their traffic . But affiliate marketing has traditionally placed more focus on traffic volume to generate revenue . Researching visitors and A / B testing new pages is traditionally something that few affiliates have been actively doing .
The potential , however , is huge . Traffic is expensive , the market is competitive and an effective CRO programme can deliver at least 10-30 % more conversions with the same number of visitors — often far more .
The challenge CRO traditionally relies on gathering a lot of data about user intent and interaction , whether through analytics , qualitative data ( such as surveys of existing customers ) and user testing . New pages , which promote key differentiators for the product or service , are then tested : For affiliates , it ’ s very different :
● The market is extremely competitive and commoditised — affiliates struggle to differentiate themselves from each other
● Clicks don ’ t mean conversions — you can do everything right when sending a potential customer to an operator , but they can easily drop out before signing up , or never place a bet
● There ’ s no long-term customer relationship — and this cuts off a key source of qualitative and quantitative data
● Many sites focus on getting visitors to operators as quickly as possible — there ’ s little opportunity to influence the user
The potential for affiliates Despite these challenges , the potential for affiliates is huge . Well-researched and well-executed tests can have a huge impact on conversions . Just adding one element to a page for a leading web hosting affiliate increased clickouts by over 20 %. A change to a price comparison table for a financial comparison site increased revenue by 10 %. And one affiliate saw $ 20,000 (£ 15,000 ) per week in revenue just from A / B testing and CRO . Many sites have the traffic to run 10-20 tests per year , often more , and with results like these from individual tests , the upside is clear ( see Figure 1 ).
So how does an affiliate realise this sort of value ? It ’ s not through simple button colour testing and UX changes . Every site is unique and it ’ s vital to research and understand your users , run the right type of tests to make a difference and prioritise the right testing .
Practical testing for gaming affiliates Through years of testing with gaming , web hosting , finance and shopping affiliates as well as working with top casinos , I ’ ve identified some of the most effective types of tests that affiliate sites can run to significantly increase conversions :
● Promote features and content that are the most important to users The parts of a site that matter most to users will differ hugely depending on the type of site and source of traffic . Identifying the key motivating factors is vital . Is it review ratings , bonus size , availability of games or editorial content that really make people convert ? Affiliates need to use research tools to understand what makes users more likely to click out . These things can be made more prominent on-site and affiliates can focus their time and energy where it really makes a difference .
Figure 1 : By “ upselling ” affiliate clicks from low-paying providers to higherpaying ones , a web hosting affiliate site significantly increased revenue
iGB Affiliate Issue 65 OCT / NOV 2017
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