Marketers are drawn to the affiliate channel to gain access to emerging technology, research shows

Fortunately, that perception is changing. A Forrester Survey recently commissioned by Awin from senior marketers in the US, UK, France and Germany revealed that they see the affiliate’s primary role as supporting them in accessing emerging technologies that enhance their own marketing capabilities.

How has this shift in perception occurred and why?

Well, I’d say the introduction of a relatively new type of affiliate is largely responsible.

What are affiliate technology partners?

Historically, the affiliate channel was primarily an arbitrage channel. Affiliates build their own audiences which they then send as traffic to relevant advertiser websites for transactions, for which they then earn a commission. It’s an effective marketing model that continues to thrive today.

But the introduction of what we call “technology partners” has transformed that model and the perceived value of the affiliate channel for marketers. These partners do not build or own their own audiences. Instead, they offer advanced e-commerce technologies that can be deployed on advertisers’ websites to improve the customer experience there.

Consider technology that can help optimize conversions or increase order value through intelligent product bundling. Or use AI to personalize discounts or resolve customer queries with branded chatbots. Or even automate up-selling opportunities or host livestream shopping videos on your own ecommerce platform.

These are not new technologies in themselves, but the speed with which you can deploy them is. The availability of these partners through a platform like Awin allows advertisers to activate such technologies at the touch of a button. Their integration via Awin’s own tag on the advertiser site means there is a ready-made ‘app store’ of technology partners that can instantly add new marketing capabilities to any e-commerce site.

This is revolutionary for a number of reasons:

Speed ​​of innovation

Innovation takes time, but with this tactic you can simply choose the technology you want and activate it within hours. If it works, scale it. If not, switch it off and try another partner.

Cost and resource efficiency

The typical method of adding new technology to a website usually involves a ‘build vs buy’ approach. Either way, it is capital and resource intensive. But with connected technology partners, you can deploy technology without the upfront costs or development hassles. Most of them operate on a performance-based commercial model, meaning you only pay them if they help generate a sale for you.

Safe and secure deployment

Each partner is pre-vetted and infosec assessed by Awin’s internal team to ensure full compliance, eliminating the need for that aspect of integration.

Lowering the barriers to entry

New e-commerce technology shouldn’t just be the preserve of only the largest e-commerce brands that can afford to develop or adopt it. Affiliate platforms democratize these technical solutions for a much broader group of companies, including many micro-SMEs.

Galloway’s Clock Model and the Evolving Affiliate Channel

With more than 80 of these technology partners currently available through Awin, and more than 60 of them embedded in Awin’s own tag, this type of partnership is rapidly growing in popularity among advertisers.

Last year, more than $500 million in sales revenue was generated by these partners alone on the Awin platform.

But beyond the impressive numbers, these partners are reshaping what affiliate marketing means and how it contributes to the traditional sales funnel.

At Awin we have Scott Galloway’s ‘Clock model’ to express this shift. The NYU marketing professor uses a dial broken down into three phases to illustrate how marketing interacts with consumers. ‘Pre-purchase’ consists of conventional advertising efforts that make consumers aware of your product and generate interest. The ‘purchase’ phase is the first direct contact with that consumer, on your website or in your store. And then “post-purchase” is anything that happens after the sale has occurred, i.e. your loyalty program, CRM, or other retention tactics.

This concept is surprisingly consistent with how the role of affiliates has changed with the introduction of technology partners. While the understanding was that an affiliate’s role was to send their traffic to an advertiser’s site (‘pre-purchase’), these new partners can now be used to help optimize that traffic and make it much more likely to convert (‘purchase’).

And there are even other technology partners who are now supporting advertisers with their post-purchase experience as well. Social referral solutions like Soreto can encourage your customers to promote your brand online to their own friends and colleagues. While brand partnership solutions such as Tyviso, BrandSwap and Propello open up retail media opportunities where complementary brands (think an online travel agency and a swimwear retailer) can work together to offer one’s customers a relevant promotion from the other.

If you take a step back for a moment, you can see how it is now possible for a brand to build an affiliate program with diverse partners that can meet customer needs. Whether they are looking for inspiration or advice while surfing online. Or perhaps they’re looking for help while navigating a catalog of products on a retailer’s site. And even after they’ve made a transaction, they may be looking for that missing item to complete their store. Affiliate partners help every step of the way.

Explore our range of technology partners and see what they can do

To take a closer look at the variety of technology partners now available through Awin, browse our directory and discover the wide range of innovations they can add to your own marketing tactics.

By Martyna Hobson, tech partner consultant at Awin