Affiliate Multi-attribution Model Discussed
July 17th, 2009That the ’last click wins’ model that affiliate marketing is premised on continues to prevail underlines the inherent problems the industry faces in finding a credible alternative.
As affiliate marketing becomes more complex so industry players have been debating whether a multi-attribution model, that is apportioning parts of one overall commission amount to the affiliates involved in that sale, would better reward all touchpoints.
In theory this makes this sense. Understand the consumer’s path that leads them to the ‘buy now’ button and reward retrospectively for the multiple marketing efforts that influenced and guided their buying decision.
But delve a little deeper and a multi attribution model throws up more questions and subjective dilemmas than there are answers to.
An advertiser may find that two or three affiliates may be involved in a typical sale. Do you apportion the commission accordingly (by halving or dividing by three in this case) or do you weight it subject to a possibly arbitrary scoring system that attributes a ‘value’ to individual affiliates? What would then be the basis for this system; individual affiliate performance such as new customer acquisition numbers, average basket amounts, frequency of purchase?
From an affiliate’s perspective there are obvious concerns. If you run a cashback, loyalty or reward site and need to publish a commission rate what do you advertise when you don’t potentially know what you’re getting? What about affiliates working in the paid search space who need a guaranteed rate of return so they can account for their click costs and work their campaigns profitably?
By all means try to understand what value your individual affiliates contribute at various stages to your sales but rather than talk about dividing a commission according to an arbitrary click measurement why not just try to appreciate the value of each of your affiliates; both the volume drivers and by affiliate categorisation?
As multi-attribution continues to pose more questions than it answers many advertisers are getting on with the business of running their campaigns. The savvier are taking a step back, understanding the wider picture and apportioning commission rates that reflect the perceived or actual ‘value’ of their different affiliate types.
And ultimately that’s what performance based marketing is all about.
July 22nd, 2009 at 10:28 pm
I must admit the first time I saw this discussed, I thought how on earth would the majority of merchants actually implement something like that and ‘police’ it.
It feels like it might just introduce a level of beaurocracy / committees / other bodies to keep control over it, set standards for different ‘contributions’ etc. etc.
Nice thing always has been about affiliate marketing is that it has a pretty flat, ‘quick’ management structure – if thats the right term for it.
Its practically much easier to change commissions.
July 24th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
I have always been against changing from the last click model to sharing out commissions to all those been touched on route to purchase. Why? At the end of the day it is simple to administer and does push affiliates to offer more information such as product reviews, coupons, price comparisons etc…
The companies that push the change away from the last click model are often large companies with huge traffic but very little content to help the potential customer purchase the product or service.
However, the potential upside for affiliates if the multi attribution model is adopted is where consumers see a brand and then search for the brand on say google, click on an adword ad and our cookie is overwritten. This multi-attribution model could help compensate for huge losses seen in the past.
So perhaps I might lean towards the new approach after all, but it would mean a change in my strategy from targeted traffic to grab all you can, even if not immediately relevant
August 8th, 2009 at 8:58 pm
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September 5th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
Great blog, keep up the good work Thank you for all the information…and all in one place!