Published Conversion Rate Accuracy

**Andrew Starr** · 19-03-08

Regarding the merchant conversion rates which are published on AW, how accurate are they? Is it an average across ALL affiliates?

**KevinEdwards** · 19-03-08

Hi,

Conversion rates take three months of rolling data and apply standard deviation to strip out anomalies and provide a more accurate set of data.

Thanks

**Travel Pixel** · 19-03-08

I should think if there is any brand bidding going on a conversion rate could be inflated.

Dave

**KevinEdwards** · 19-03-08

Hi,

Affiliate Window has generally strict guidelines with regards brand name bidding and the relevant merchant area should identify the PPC T&Cs.

Standard deviation should to some extent strip out this skewed data should it exist.

**Andrew Starr** · 19-03-08

Thanks for the quick reply Kevin

The 'Approval Percentage' is this the % of sales which are validated or does it relat to the % of affiliates accepted on to the merchant's program.

I have searched the AW site but cannot find the answer.

**adamski** · 19-03-08

Approval percentage is the percentage of sales validated.

Adam

**Andrew Starr** · 19-03-08

Cheers Adam, just one more question - so the published conversion rate does or does not take account of declined sales?

**stulee** · 19-03-08

Hi T4xi,

I'm sure you're sensible enough not to do it anyway, but don't go betting the house on the EPC and conversion figures, without doing some smaller trials first. I have no reason to doubt the figures and I'm sure AW are completely above board with them, but you shouldn't rely too much on them to start with, would be my advice. Use them as a rough guide until you have your own data, based on how you're doing the promotion. I've just done a check on this years' figures and found I'm getting between and 1/3 and 1/10th of the quoted EPC and conversion rates. My promotions are by their nature very broad, rather than just targetting the brand or most highly profitable products, so I would expect my figures to be lowish. Others are obviously returning much higher EPCs. So there is obviously a VERY large variation between affiliates due to the various ways we promote merchants, and our varying abilities. As Kevin says, the SD used knocks off some of the extreme ends, but I'm pretty sure there must still be a broad range of results. I've similarly promoted two different merchants in the same sector and found completely the opposite results to what their relative EPC and conversion rates would suggest.

My statistical skills are exceptionally rusty but I would guess the figures for the more highly promoted merchants are more accurate than the niche ones that few affiliates touch.

The approval percentages seem to be spot on, within my experience.

Stu

PS I hope I haven't given the impression of having a downer on the stats Kevin, they're an excellent innovation. I wish all the networks had similar features.

**Travel Pixel** · 19-03-08

PS I hope I haven't given the impression of having a downer on the stats Kevin, they're an excellent innovation. I wish all the networks had similar features.

Ill second that, AW are by far the best network interface for stats.

**Andrew Starr** · 19-03-08

So I should take the figures as a rough guide to start with.
Even a rough guide is a better starting point than having no data.
I am sure I will have a better idea once I start to accumulate enough data of my own.
One of the main reasons I chose AW initially is because they show us these figures.
Thank you for the reply Stu

**stulee** · 19-03-08

Good luck with your plan.

AW are a good network for lots of other reasons too. [/end of unpaid advert]

**8601cam** · 20-03-08

Stulee makes a very valid point, obviously the performance of any affiliate on a programme varies from one to the other and in truth it's not just the bigger affiliates who get the best stats. The idea behind the AWin Index and C.A.V.E. data was to offer greater visibility to both new and existing affiliates as well as the merchant themselves. It serves to underline the importance of the merchant's part in the process and has enabled us to justify changes that will positively impact on a programmes conversion.

As Kevin points out, we have many controls to ensure the data is not skewed by unethical practices such as spyware and restricted keyword activity and I would go so far as to say we enforce this more than most.

We are constantly looking to offer the greatest level of visibility for affiliates and merchants and aim to make some subtle adjustments to the AWin Index algorithm in future in order to maintain it as quick reference to a programmes performance.

Kind Regards

Mark

**KevinEdwards** · 20-03-08

Hi,

Thanks for your comments.

Having joined from another network about 18 months ago it surprised me that Affiliate Window didn't champion the availability of this data more - without a doubt we offer the greatest transparency on performance data in the marketplace (by a stretch), all available to every affiliate regardless of whether you're signed to the programme or not.

That said you should use the information as a guide - there are no performance guarantees.

We do our best to ensure the figures represent an 'average of the average' but would always recommend you contact the relevant contact at Affiliate Window for further information on any programme you're interested in promoting

Thanks,