Guardian Protects Consumers From Misleading Affiliate Marketing

Empello has taken the wraps off its new Guardian technology, which puts the enforcement of affiliate marketing compliance into the hands of the consumer.

Most publishers earn revenue by keeping to the best practice guidelines outlined by the IAB’s affiliate marketing council, but there are a minority that seek to flaunt these rules to maximise their own financial gain.

Affiliate networks have for the most part removed these publishers for defying terms of service documentation. Yet some have been hesitant to enforce this action, and it is this subset that Empello is targeting with the release of Guardian.

Analysis automation

Guardian is an automated robot that analyses websites containing specific adverts and promotions. For each site it tracks ad links and captures a series of screenshots as well as every single URL from the beginning to the end of the consumer journey.

Clients are taking more of an interest in the channels they are using to market their products and affiliate marketing has come under increased scrutiny, according to Jeremy Flynn, director at Empello.

“We have a great and growing sector that could potentially be damaged by a few bad affiliate marketing apples. Our new Guardian technology allows us to find and remove those bad apples,” he said. 

“Now our clients can continue to grow their market with affiliate marketing in confidence.”

An end to dead codes?

Some publishers have been known to conduct business by publicising false or expired voucher codes, with the idea of being the last to drop a cookie before a customer visits a site. Guardian is one way consumers can avoid this tactic.

By emulating a human that uses a real mobile, tablet or desktop device in a specific country on either Wi-Fi or a 3G/4G network, Guardian can scan thousands of digital marketing placements every day.

Much of Guardian is automated, but there is also a human element where new or changed sites are reviewed by Empello. The analysis produced is then processed by people who check for the existence of non-compliance or other issues.