Launch of the IAB Affiliate Council's Ethical Merchant Charter

[mattb811]

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We are pleased to be able to launch the following document, the IAB Affiliate Council's Ethical Merchant Charter.

Affiliate marketing has established itself as a key part of the digital marketing mix. Working with merchants, networks, publishers and agencies the IAB through the Affiliate Marketing Council (AMC) has worked to ensure that this industry continues to grown and that necessary standards and best practice are in place to facilitate this growth. At the heart of the industry is transparency and the IAB’s Affiliate Marketing Council is committed to improving transparency across the affiliate industry.

Publishers are at the heart of the affiliate model and do a marvelous job driving traffic to the merchants and brands whose programmes they work on. Often sole traders or small firms, publishers are reliant on the commissions earned as their primary income. As such the AMC wishes to highlight some basic best practice aimed at ensuring publishers are treated fairly and ethically, in the same way as other business partners.

The recent eConsultancy Affiliate Buyers Guide highlighted how affiliates feel that there is not enough transparency between themselves and merchants, and improving this would make them more likely to promote that merchant above competitors. We feel that closer relationships should be sought by both sides and being as open as possible about how you operate will engender this.

Below are some guidelines which seek to ensure the publisher has clearer information on the terms and conditions of the merchants business and programmes. Also we have provided explanations on why we feel this is important and how it will help you. Please bear in mind that not all of these categories will be relevant to you so please speak to your agency or network to clarify.

Why could sales get deleted?

We feel that affiliates have the right to understand why sales that they drive may subsequently be rejected. Reasons will clearly vary from merchant to merchant but here are a few examples. This is not a comprehensive list, but should be used as a guide.

• Failed credit check
• Sale cancelled by customer
• Item returned
• Item out of stock
• Duplicated order
• Breach of campaign terms and conditions

Deduplication

Many merchants will deduplicate between affiliate networks and/or other online sales channels, eg PPC, SEO, display, direct partnerships. Providing information to affiliates on which channels you deduplicate against and the logic that is involved (eg last click wins) is a good idea as it enables affiliates to optimise their campaigns accordingly.

What type of affiliates will you work with?

Giving affiliates an idea of the types of affiliates that you work with enables them to focus their efforts and creates clear and visible rules.

• Brand bidding – do you allow affiliates to bid on your brand terms? Is this a closed group or open to all affiliates?
• Voucher code sites – do you allow your campaign to be promoted on voucher code websites? Do you actively provide voucher codes for use in the affiliate space?
• Cashback sites – do you permit your campaign to be promoted on cashback and/or incentive sites? If so, can you provide a commitment to dealing with any missing transactions that occur?
• Software applications – do you allow your campaign to be promoted by affiliates using consumer downloaded software applications?

What do merchants pay for?

Do affiliates earn commission on all products on the site, and is commission paid on the total inclusive of additional costs such as VAT and delivery?

Notice periods

The merchant agrees, wherever possible, to provide affiliates with reasonable notice period on any significant changes to the campaign. Examples of significant changes include, but are not limited to, commission changes of more than 25%, alterations in deduplication criteria and campaign closure.

[Top banana]

Hi Matt,

Thanks for the info.

The "Recommended notice periods" section seems to be a bit light. It simply says "to provide affiliates with reasonable notice period". What is reasonible? I think this needs to be a lot clearer.

[mattb811]

This was discussed at length and it was decided that it is far too broad a subject to start getting in to in more depth.

There are so many factors that notice needs to be given for, eg. commission changes, creative changes, voucher codes, program closure etc, and so many variables within them that we found it impossible to agree on what should be stated.

Therefore we decided just to go for a catch-all statement that can be viewed by merchants to give them an indication that they should treat their affiliates fairly by offering as much notice as possible for any chnges planned.

It is important to note that these are only guidelines, and most network contracts with merchants should include regulations on notice periods given to the network and to the affiliates by merchants.

[dougs]

Awesome stuff Matt

I know it is early days, but a great idea.

Well done again.

Doug

[lizdav]

I would like to come in on this because I have been affected quite markedly this Christmas by one retailer suddenly making a product non-commissionable overnight, reducing my (significant) sales by half at a stroke ... and as inferred, without any notice whasoever.

I was furious and remain very disappointed because this very narrow campaign was 6 months in the planning and promotion started by me back in June of this year to culminate with my big payday.

The Merchant had their reasons ... the product was so successful that there was some eBay abuse (none by me), but I don't see why affiliates should be penalised.

From this, you can also guess that there was no offer of compensatory commission forthcoming.

So in terms of reasonable notice, you betcha that needs tightening up.