As digital marketing continues to grow in popularity, fraudsters and bots likewise continue to lurk in the background, creating new, more innovative ways to exploit marketers and their ad spend. Although avoiding fraudulent activity altogether seems impossible, there is a digital channel that can aid marketers in significantly lowering their risk of fraud; that channel is performance marketing.
How does it work?
Unlike traditional digital marketing channels, performance marketing allows marketers to solely pay for new customers on a cost-per-acquisition basis. By exclusively paying once a legitimate new user is acquired or sale is made, networks and partners can only remain profitable by driving authentic, safe traffic. This elevated degree of accountability on partners is one of a marketer’s greatest levels of protection against fraud.
In the beginning (dating back to the 90s) ad fraud would often go undetected, but these days it’s a different story – its impact on the world of digital marketing has been felt far and wide. Even industry giants such as Google have felt the weight of fraud’s consequences ring throughout their networks. In 2013, over $6bn in ad spend was stolen from advertisers within the U.S. alone. It was estimated that advertisers globally would lose a total of $42bn to ad fraud from 2019 to 2023. So, how can marketers regain control over their ad spend? One way is to ensure that their network or agency partner has expertise in, and a commitment to, fraud prevention.
At Perform[cb], we not only look to provide our marketers with unparalleled brand assurance and proactive compliance, but to combat fraud as a whole across our industry.
In an effort to equip digital marketers with better compliance resources, our industry-leading in-house compliance team has developed Perform[cb]’s Guide to Compliance and Fraud in Performance Marketing where we provide a transparent view into the fraud marketers are up against and the real-life measures we employ to combat it.
This guide is a comprehensive overview of the fraud-types we face today, the statistics surrounding them, and exclusive case studies for a real-life look into how fraud is caught and eradicated. Check it out now!