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Effective Voucher Code Implementation
A4uexpo London 2008
15th October
Panel Participants
• Richard Clark • Marketing Manager, DSG International PLC
• Chris Frost • Director, ColdSnail
• Duncan Jennings • Founder, Vouchercodes.co.uk
• James Little • Head of Affiliate Development, Affiliate Future
Panel Moderator
Hero Grigoraki • Client Services Manager, Webgains Ltd
What are vouchers important for? Where are they used?
•New customer acquisition•Customer retention – reactivation – reward•Shifting stock (tactical marketing)•Campaign response measurement•Credit crunch upon us – more customers actively looking to save money
Vouchers can be advertised offline to be used onlineVouchers can be advertised online to be used offline (in store) very limited take up in the UK, highly popular in the USUsually vouchers are used by retailers, however we have seen service providers offering them as well. Sole sector not able to benefit from vouchers is Finance, due to FSA restrictions.
Some merchants choose not to distribute vouchers at all. Reasons:•Not wishing to approach “bargain hunting” customers•Wishing to be perceived as full price or exclusive merchant•Brand perception – business approach
Also, certain merchants exclude voucher affiliates from joining their programs. For most merchants, vouchers are an important tool and voucher affiliates are an important part of their affiliate mix.
With the economy slowing and prices rising, everyone is on the lookout for a bargain. Vouchers have become a popular way of promoting discounts, particularly around Christmas time. In fact, they have become so popular that price sensitive shoppers are
looking for them in increasing numbers.
Robin Goad – Research Director, Hitwise
“Online vouchers prove popular in bargain-hungry Britain”
Shoppers are going crazy for voucher codes
Who are the voucher sites? Which affiliates use voucher codes and how?•Voucher specialist sites
•Content sites
•Price comparison
•Email marketing
•Cashback/Loyalty sites
•User generated content
•Even PPC affiliates can use vouchers effectively
There is no such thing as “voucher affiliates” – vouchers can be used effectively by all types of affiliates. Moreover, no affiliate restricts activity to one type of marketing. Categorisation becomes difficult.
What issues arise from the use of voucher codes?
Merchant issues
Affecting their overall marketing/business
• Margin retention
• Brand perception
• Incorrect redemption due to loose Ts & Cs / tech implementation
• Channel overlap
• Wide distribution – vouchers going viral
• Customers looking for voucher at a late stage of the purchase cycle (during checkout)
• Lifetime value of voucher customers
• Customer complaints/harmful brand impact when a voucher is not activated due to usage
restrictions
Affecting their affiliate program
• Value of voucher affiliates
• Big admin task to create & maintain bespoke and generic codes and monitor &
analyse performance
• Inaccurate promotion of vouchers/Ts & Cs
• Affiliates promoting codes intended for different channels
• Use of exclusive codes given to other affiliates
Affiliate issues
• Time strains – affiliates can’t amend promotions/promote new vouchers as fast as
needed
• Cookie overwrite from voucher sites as the last referrer – lost commission for content
sites – more analysis needed on a per merchant basis
• Short term promotions are difficult to get good results from
• “click to reveal vouchers” when no vouchers exist – cookie stuffing
• Increased competition as more affiliates jump onboard the voucher train and ready
made tech solutions become available
Tackle the issues
MerchantsOverall strategy
• Give clear and specific Ts & Cs
• Improve technical backend to minimise issues with them and which customer can
use which code
• Analyse the sales and customers to define how they interact with your site and their
lifetime value
• Use vouchers for short term campaigns, whose effectiveness is easier to measure,
prior to releasing a full scale long term campaign
Affiliate strategy
• Specify the commission for voucher sales – not voucher sites/affiliates
• Give clear Ts & Cs for voucher use within the affiliate channel
• Specify which codes can and cannot be used by affiliates
• Codes distributed through internal CRM should not be banned for affiliates – simply
reduce the commission for those sales
• Possibly work with selected voucher affiliates
• Monitor what vouchers are in use and being promoted by affiliates, in conjunction with
your network
• Provide affiliates with longer running promotions
• Analyse the sales and customers to define how they interact with your site and their
lifetime value
• Provide exclusive offers, rather than replicate a single offer branded differently,
wherever possible
Tackle the issues
Affiliates
• Respect exclusivity – do not promote what is not given to you or is not a generic
promotion
• Community sites: accept responsibility to monitor and vet what your users are
uploading
• Respect Ts & Cs and expiry dates: take them down or mark as expired
• Promote vouchers accurately to minimise customer enquiries
• Ask for exclusive codes when you plan on making good use of them and once you have
shown the merchant the value you can add. Provide presentations on the available
marketing opportunities you offer, showcasing to the merchant the benefit of working
with you
• “Click to reveal”: Use only when there are actually offers available
Best practices/advice
• Have clear objectives on what you are looking to achieve through your affiliate
program and how affiliates fit within your advertising & marketing channels, as well as
your overall business strategy. Define cost of sale for affiliate channel, rather than
allocate marketing budget
• Talk with your network – they will be able to advise you on what technical solutions
they offer and what they would advise you to do specifically for your program with
regard to voucher affiliates
• Talk with your affiliates – understanding their PoV and needs is vital
• Monitor your competitors: are they working with voucher affiliates? How? What
restrictions are they imposing?
• Take action – if affiliates don’t comply with your guidelines, they must face the
consequences
Innovation – The future of voucher codes
• Voucher sites are now easy to create – however correct maintenance is the differentiator and success indicator
• More control to merchants and networks over what is displayed.
• More transparency and monitoring on how and where vouchers are promoted
• Networks have made voucher distribution easier, through blogs, forum posts and
dedicated CSV & XML feeds
• Tech solutions for tracking voucher sales, allocating different commissions,
reporting voucher sales and analysing voucher performance within the affiliate
channel have been made available by the majority of networks
• Offline promotions can now be tracked online
• Customers can receive codes on their mobile phones, therefore pushing affiliate
marketing into mobile advertising
• Merchants are changing their sites to better handle, display and allocate vouchers
Voucher sites are a powerful segment of the affiliate arena which, when used correctly, can help achieve outstanding marketing results. Voucher sites should be considered for inclusion in the affiliate partner mix, either at the planning
stage or during execution for optimal program performance.
Over to you!
Questions?