Hi guys,
We all know that the last-click referrer debate has been going on for quite a while (
example post), and that the current "
best practise" is to remove ANY commissions for sales (based on last-click referrer) which have been allocated to another online source other than Affiliates.
I have been working with 24Studio, Affiliate Window and Commission Junction over the last month to enable us to step outside of the box a little with regard to the above.
History :
The 24Studio affiliate program has been facing an increasing duplication rate on their sales as the program has been increasing its volume in the last couple of months. Some of the performers on the program raised their concerns about this, and I thought it prudent to address the problem before it became any more extreme and threatened your confidence in the program (as has happened so may times before with big-name brands!)
Having completed some tests using our third-party tracking software, we have identified that due to strong PPC brand activity, a large portion of the duplication (in recent months) is based on customers being cookied by affiliates, but having the sale completed at a later date when the customer searches for the brand (PPC) – resulting in the affiliate losing the sale.
Technically speaking, form a best-practise point of view - the scenario above is (arguably) completely acceptable, but having discussed this with the client to highlight the affiliates point of view -
we have agreed to pay a % on these sales for the next 3 months as a test.
We believe that the affiliates are a valuable part of 24studio's marketing mix, and we have used the third-party tracking and the payment system below to help prove this.
How it works :
All standard last-click referrer sales tracked to the affiliates are paid on a 6% commission
(standard payment system)
Additionally, when a customer clicks through an affiliate-ad, and goes to the 24Studio site, then leaves the site only to return within 30 days via the PPC brand activity - affiliates will be paid a 3% commission.
The upshot for affiliates :
The upshot of all this is that affiliates on the 24Studio program for the next 3 months will be paid commission on all sales where they have had an tangible involvement! If you have referred a customer from your site, you will be paid commission if the customer returns using brand search!
I know that this is not the usual run of events for this type of situation, but we wanted to acknowledge that the affiliates are an important part of the marketing factor for 24Studio, and that IF an affiliate refers a customer - and they come looking for the brand within the cookie period - the affiliates should reap some of the rewards.
We are testing this for the next 3 months so that we have some robust statistics for the duplication rates of both
brand and
non-brand, and we'll reassess the situation in February '08
Hope I've explained this well enough!
Please let me know if you have any questions or comments.
Thanks again for all the hard work.
Sean
) - is that we understand that to get a customer to actively search for the brand online (and to have been cookied by the affiliates previously) draws us a map of the customer journey, and highlights that the affiliate has had an involvement in the sale. The 3% commission payment reflects this - the fact that the affiliate has had a hand in the sale, but hasn't necessarily clinched the deal on their own 
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