As the year comes to an end, we look at the most popular pieces of content on PerformanceIN in a series of top 10 ‘traffic drivers’.
Starting with the affiliate category, we have brought together some of the most impactful news stories and features on what has happened in affiliate marketing in 2016.
1. Matt Bailey: The Great Voucher Code Swindle
One of the most popular stories of this year came from Matt Bailey. In his ever-popular column, FusePump’s business director shared his concerns surrounding voucher code sites and their lowering of standards as well as retailers’ lack of understanding when it comes to knowing what they pay for when they work with affiliates.
2. Why Affiliate Marketing Needs to Go Programmatic
Securing its place in the performance marketing world, programmatic has been gaining momentum and transforming the industry. It has become so deeply connected with the space that Elliot Myers of performance agency Maxus suggested that only by adapting programmatic can another channel – affiliate marketing – reach its full potential and ensure a sustainable future.
3. Robert Glazer: Why the Performance Fee Model Is On Its Way to Extinction
Robert Glazer did not sugarcoat his opinion when he predicted a short lifespan for the traditional 20-30% affiliate network performance fee model. In this change, he recognised plenty of opportunities for the industry, if its players can accommodate what the advertisers need.
4. Quidco’s Site Crash Indicative of Performance’s Place on Black Friday
The pressure of ‘cyber weekend’ this year was high and Black Friday saw Quidco’s site down for the whole of it. It’s plausible that on a day where £1.3 billion is expected to be spent in Britain – 70% of this coming from e-commerce – there would have been a crowd of people heading to the site almost on instinct alone.
5. Affiliate Marketing is Rocketing in the United States
One of the most popular articles this year looked at the state of play for the affiliate channel in the States. Affiliate has grown to become an essential part of the US online marketing mix, but it has not yet reached a stable plateau among murmurings of publishers and networks needing to better prove its worth.
6. What Happened to the Affiliate Marketing ‘Community’?
Affilinet’s Stephanie Lester sparked interest among our readers with her article on the changes shaking the industry. Although she found affiliate marketing to have lost its community feel, she believed this could have its advantages.
7. Should Affiliate Advertisers Pay for Existing Customers?
The debate on whether brands should offer 0% commission for existing customers isn’t new, but it always attracts attention and debate. Sean Sewell revisited the issue in an attempt to find the perfect solution for all involved.
8. Three Key Learnings for New Affiliate Marketing Managers
Chris Bass boiled down his experience in affiliate marketing into three key learnings all newbies in the space should learn early in their career.
9. Matthew Wood: Is Ethical Affiliate Marketing at Risk of Being Usurped?
PerformanceIN founder Matthew Wood has seen it all in affiliate marketing. In a very special guest piece, he revealed his concerns around some of the changes surrounding incentivisation, commission and conversion strategies, which are changing the way the industry operates.
10. Luxury Brands and How They Came Around to Affiliate Marketing
Luxury brands were not the first in line to adopt affiliate marketing. Analysing the situation, Stephen Hoang noticed that as the space diversified, matured and addressed some of their needs, luxury brands saw the opportunity in the value affiliate can bring them.