If you’ve ever had the perfect hamburger, you know there’s a desired meat-to-bun ratio. Likewise, your affiliate program should have a desired ratio of new and returning customers.
What percentage of customers coming through your affiliate program should be incremental and is there value in returning customers?
In the hamburger example, returning customers are like the bun, necessary, but not the star of the show.
What is the ideal mix of new and returning customers?
It depends on company goals. Many programs focus on driving new, incremental revenue through the affiliate channel, so let’s focus on that.
How many new customers are acquired by affiliate marketing channels is directly related to the levels of optimization that are happening with your affiliates.
Based on the retail programs JEBCommerce manages, these are very general new customer benchmarks:
- Coupon affiliates send about 50% new customers
- Deal affiliates can send up to 75% new customers
- Other segments (sub-affiliate networks, niche content / blogs) tend to be lower than 50%.
Difference Between Low and High NTF
Imagine you are a potential customer of Brand A. You are researching products that Brand A sells. A common mistake we see among retail companies is no optimization happening due to lack of relationships, no budget, etc. This leads to super low new-to-file (NTF) percentages,
The effort given by an affiliate is proportional to the amount they get paid. Shocking, I know. So the affiliate is not placing Brand A in prime real estate locations onsite and the potential customer has to search directly for Brand A in order to find them on their favorite coupon or deal site. This will, understandably, generate very low NTF percentages.
In scenario 2, the potential customer is researching the products on their favorite affiliate site, and they come across Brand A on the home page, category page, in an email, on social media, etc.
The chances are MUCH higher that Brand A is going to acquire a new customer, assuming the offer is compelling enough to get the click / conversion.
Now, there are ways to secure the same high new to file placements if you aren’t in the position to pay upfront.
Here are JEBCommerce insider tips to secure new customer acquisition with top affiliate placements:
- Relationships
- Testing discount
- Short-term commission increase
- Exclusive / Semi-exclusive offer
- Vanity code for big sale
- TM+ bidding rights
- Hybrid Flat Fee / Commission increase
Let’s review each of these.
Strong Affiliate Relationships
Relationships matter! When you work with affiliates on a regular basis and form a solid relationship, your emails, phone calls, and blimp messages are more likely to be answered.
We work with the people that we like.
Often, when working regularly with affiliates, they are more willing to add you to a placement that hasn’t been sold that month. Or, maybe willing to try a few placements out at a reduced rate, in order to test. They want to have long-term relationships with their brand partners and are willing to prove their worth.
Short-term Commission Rates
Short-term commission rates can be used in exchange for prime real estate when there is a revenue track record.
Basically, if you can back into a similar payout as they are asking for flat fee payments, you can offer increased commission rates for a short period of time, as a way to minimize the risk of paying for something upfront.
Now, if you are already doing really well with an affiliate, this could end up being more expensive than the media kit price. Always do your diligence when considering which payment method to choose with your affiliate partners.
Exclusive Offers
Exclusive (or semi-exclusive) offers can also be useful to affiliates. Having a branded code displayed on site is a great way to increase conversion rates, and show that relate to potential customers.
If the offer is compelling enough, many affiliates are willing to give it more exposure without having to pay the full price.
Vanity Codes
Vanity codes for a big offer can also be used in some cases. Though the offer is the same as what everyone else sees, the code is branded for the affiliate.
This can increase conversion rates by 15-20% and affiliates see value in this. When done properly, there is little to no risk in increasing the brand search costs.
TM+ Bidding Rights
TM+ bidding rights are often given by brands that see value in adding a 3rd party voice to search results pages or want to remove competitors or non-relevant results.
When managed properly, there is little to no risk in increasing the brand search costs.
In fact, we have seen this type of relationship actually decrease the brand’s paid search costs!
The idea here is that affiliates are allowed to spend their own money on [BRAND] plus “coupon” or similar terms.
They only get paid based on conversions, so they are VERY likely to optimize quickly to see a positive return on their investment.
As affiliates are very good at this, and often have higher quality scores than the brand itself, and are willing to provide thousands of dollars in free placements each month for the rights to participate.
Hybrid Flat Fee
Hybrid flat fee/commission increase placements are just that. You can reduce the amount of flat fees spent upfront by adding a few points to the commission rate for a short period of time to make up the difference.
By using a combination of these methods, you can start securing the prime real estate necessary to get in front of the millions of visitors that these popular sites see every day.
Without utilizing strategies to increase new customer acquisition, you are doomed to only see a repeat, channel cannibalizing customers.
Returning Customer Value
We have reviewed the methods for acquiring new customers, but what about returning customers? Is there value here?
The answer is… it depends. Likely, you aren’t interested in returning customers that are being touched by other channels first.
Identifying affiliates in this path and working with them to reduce this activity is important. It will be based on internal data collected and require a close working relationship with an affiliate management team to identify and optimize.
However, there is value in re-acquiring customers through the affiliate channel that aren’t being touched by other channels. The methods above are going to assist in re-acquiring customers as well by offering more reasons to convert.
Whether it’s by offering a free shipping coupon, cash back, or other reward, consumers are all looking for discounts. By utilizing technology available at most affiliate networks, you can incentivize, or completely stop paying, for behaviors that contribute to generating a healthy affiliate program.
Schedule a quick 15 min call at a time that works best for you to learn more about driving high NTF and quality return customers!
