The document discusses trends in affiliate marketing and attribution from a network's perspective. It provides data on average click-through rates, conversion rates, order values, and time from click to sale. The data shows most affiliate referrals occur when customers are researching products. It also shows mobile sales account for 16.4% of affiliate sales. Holiday metrics like click-through rates and conversion rates increase, and banner ads become the most popular affiliate tool. Attribution data finds influencers account for most referrals, introducers the least, and affiliates are often involved at multiple points in a customer's journey.

1. trends in affiliate
marketing & attribution
from a network’s perspective

2. chad waite
(hey, that’s me!)
cwaite@avantlink.com
@ChadW8

3. so, what are we
doing here?

4. what can you
expect?

5. Typical Averages

6. 3.75%
Average Click-Through Rate
@ChadW
8

7. 2.46%
Average Conversion Rate
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8. $129.19
Average Order Value
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9. 58 hours
12 minutes
Average “Click To Sale Time”
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10. This time gap shows most affiliate
referrals made when a customer
is researching a product or
deciding whether to buy or not.
See “Influencer” referrals in AvantMetrics.
What Does This Mean?
@ChadW
8

11. 16.4%
Mobile Sale %
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12. Whoa!
Nearly 1 of 6 affiliate sales completed from a mobile device.
Remember, in the affiliate world a responsive site with the
same URL is the better choice than a “m. mobile” URL.
What Does This Mean?
@ChadW
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13. $106.60
Mobile Sale AOV
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14. 56 hours
36 minutes
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Mobile Sale “Click To Sale” Time

15. Slightly less time from click to sale than non-mobile
affiliate links, but still a significant gap.
Shows that many affiliate referrals take place well
within the middle of a path-to-purchase.
See “Influencer” referrals in AvantMetrics.
What Does This Mean?
@ChadW
8

16. 6-7 pm
(based on CTR vs conversion rate)
Most Productive Hour For Sales
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17. 9-10 am
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Most Productive Hour For Clicks

18. Hints to the idea that many customers look at
products near the beginning of a work day and
decide to make the purchase once at home.
What Does This Mean?
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19. 2-3 am
(based on CTR vs conversion rate)
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Least Productive Hour For Sales

20. 3-4 am
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Least Productive Hour For Clicks

21. Pro tip: Don’t spend lots of time checking your
program’s stats from 2-4 in the morning.
What Does This Mean?
@ChadW
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22. Highest Adoption & Conversion Rate:
Custom Links, 44% of sales
(8% higher than Banner Ads)
Dynamic, Non-datafeed Tools:
Roughly 8% of sales
Datafeeds + Datafeed Driven Tools:
Roughly 12% of sales
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Most Popular Tools Based On Sales

23. Majority of affiliate sales are driven from
relevant deep links in content.
While banner ads are still popular, more
affiliates are beginning to adopt dynamic,
product level tools driven by datafeeds.
What Does This Mean?
@ChadW
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24. Holiday Variations
(timeframe: Nov. 15 - Dec. 23)

25. 247% Avg Increase In Sales
Compared August sales data vs. December
sales data for top 100 merchants.
Sales Increase
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26. Q4 brings in a massive boost for most online
retailers. We know this.
But how does this affect the numbers?
Let’s take a look.
What Does This Mean?
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27. 4.49%
Average Click-Through Rate
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28. 3.64%
Average Conversion Rate
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29. Click through rates are up nearly 30%.
Conversion rates are up nearly 50%.
What Does This Mean?
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30. $127.86
Average Order Value
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31. 56 hours
38 minutes
Average “Click To Sale Time”
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32. 55 hours
27 minutes
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Mobile Sale “Click To Sale” Time

33. Holiday last click to sale times for regular and
mobile sales are nearly identical to non-holiday
times.
What Does This Mean?
@ChadW
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34. 16.9%
Mobile Sale %
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35. Interestingly enough, mobile usage doesn’t
fluctuate significantly during the holiday season.
Still a high number, however, with 1 of 6 sales
completed through a mobile device.
What Does This Mean?
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36. $106.55
Mobile Sale AOV
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37. Both regular sale AOV and mobile sale AOV stay
almost exactly identical through the holidays
compared to all other times of the year.
What Does This Mean?
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38. Highest Adoption & Conversion Rate:
Banner Ads, 51% of sales
(23% higher than Custom Links!!)
Dynamic, Non-datafeed Tools:
Roughly 11% of sales
Datafeeds + Datafeed Driven Tools:
Roughly 9% of sales
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Most Popular Tools Based On Sales

39. Affiliates overwhelmingly rely on up-to-date
banner ads during the holiday seasons to
promote relevant sales and promotions.
We find that smaller ad lists that are
regularly dynamically updated
experience the highest adoption and
conversion rates.
What Does This Mean?
@ChadW
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40. The data clearly shows that most holiday metrics
stay the same as non-holiday metrics, with the
clear exceptions of # of sales and tools used.
Takeaway: Focus on solid, up-to-date creative for
banner ads during Q4. Small ad lists with
consistent dynamic updates works best!
Holiday Wrap-up
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41. Attribution Stats

42. AvantMetrics.com
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43. Basics:
Affiliates are categorized into different referral groups
depending on where their referrals came into play
in a customer’s path-to-purchase clickstream:
- Introducers
- Influencers
- Checkout Influencers
Referral Groups
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44. Basics: @ChadW
Referral Groups
8
Introducers Influencers Checkout
Influencers

45. The first time a visitor has
landed on a merchant’s site,
referred by an affiliate link.
Introducer
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Introducers

46. Influencers
Referrals made after the visitor’s
initial visit and up until the
checkout process is started.
Influencer
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47. Checkout
Influencers
Referral made by an affiliate
after a customer has already
entered the checkout process.
Checkout Influencer
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48. The final channel (any channel)
to make a referral before a
customer’s finalizes their purchase.
Closer
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49. 8%
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# Of Sales With Multiple Aff. Referrals

50. Nearly one in ten sales has multiple affiliate
referrals, making the “last click wins” model an
outdated way of compensation.
What Does This Mean?
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51. Influencer
61%
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Group With The Highest Referral Rate

52. The vast majority of affiliate referrals help the
customer make the decision to move ahead
with a purchase.
What Does This Mean?
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53. Introducer
15%
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Group With The Lowest Referral Rate

54. The old idea of every affiliate referral being
the first (and only channel) to introduce a
new customer to a brand is clearly dead and
has been so for a long time.
What Does This Mean?
@ChadW
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55. Checkout Influencer
24%
That Leaves…
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56. The idea that coupon and shopping
affiliates only send referrals after a
customer has entered the click stream is
challenged by this number.
What Does This Mean?
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57. $109.41
AOV / Group: Introducer
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58. $151.64
AOV / Group: Influencer
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59. We routinely see that affiliate referrals that
help a customer make a decision to buy a
product result in substantially higher AOVs.
What Does This Mean?
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60. $88.40
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AOV / Group: Checkout Influencer

61. 4.5%
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Average % Of Sales Deduplicated

62. Programs that run in multiple network see
nearly 1 out of every 20 sales involved
affiliate referrals from both networks.
Think about that overlap and the time and
work it takes to manually deduplicate those
sales. Is having a program in multiple
networks worth it? If so, do you have
automated deduplication in place?
What Does This Mean?
@ChadW
8

63. AvantMetrics presents clear data to show that:
- Assumptions on coupon/sales driven sites are often incorrect.
- Multiple affiliates are involved in a significant number of sales made.
- The value of affiliates as means to help a customer make a decision to
purchase.
- Nearly 1 in 20 sales require commission deduplication
Attribution Wrap-up
@ChadW
8

64. @ChadW
8
Questions? Feel free to email me at cwaite@avantlink.com

65. chad waite
(hey, that’s me!)
cwaite@avantlink.com
@ChadW8

66. trends in affiliate
marketing & attribution
from a network’s perspective