COVID-19 year fueled affiliate marketing growth, with lasting effects.
The rise of e-commerce has brought people online and buying products from a range of brands. It also created a new class of e-commerce shoppers.
Research from Awin’s 2021 Affiliate Marketing Report reveals an interesting fact: These new consumers rely on affiliates to guide them to purchase. In early 2020, one in four consumers new to a brand purchased a product through an affiliate link.
By April 2020, that number had soared to 37%, and has remained above 30% since then.
The decline of traditional advertising that drives business , combined with the rise of social media, has given life to affiliate marketers. But how do you take advantage of this opportunity?
This beginner’s guide will walk you through how to set up and manage an affiliate marketing program for your online website to increase sales .
What is an affiliate marketing program?
Affiliate marketing is an incentive-based mechanism that encourages partners to promote your products in exchange for a commission.
Customers, advocates, or industry marketers sign up for your affiliate program and direct visitors to your online store through their featured referral link, earning them a commission on any orders you result in as a result of your marketer’s promotion .
Affiliate marketing programs pay out a fixed amount or a percentage of gross sales, but rewards can also be free or discounted products. This is a win-win for both parties. For example, Target offers affiliates an 8% commission on qualifying purchases made through affiliate links .
Affiliate marketing strategies are used in both business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) marketing campaigns, with more than 80% of brands utilizing affiliate programs to promote their products. The latest figures from IAB UK also show that the top two industries implementing affiliate programs are retail and travel.
Affiliate programs continue to be a cost-effective and versatile way to find new customers and help a wide range of marketers , including bloggers, publishers, retailers, and rewards sites, make money online.
What is the purpose of the affiliate program?
The latest figures from Statista predict that affiliate marketing spending will reach $8.2 billion by 2022, up from $5.4 billion in 2017. Marketers surveyed by IAB UK agree that affiliate marketing performs very well in terms of customer acquisition and ROI compared to other activities, ranking 7.83 and 7.6 out of 10 respectively.
