AWIN Beginners Guide For Brands

This guide is designed to assist brands in launching, scaling, and optimising their Affiliate Marketing Program using the AWIN Affiliate Marketing Network.

To access the complete 22-video series guide, you can watch it on YouTube in video format or read along and view the videos below.

YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@TAMACONSULTING/videos

I’m Elliot Myers, and I’ll be your teacher today. I’m an Affiliate Marketing Consultant and run a specialist Affiliate Marketing consultancy called The Affiliate Marketing Advisor. I’m on a mission to make Affiliate Marketing valuable for every business.

Let’s begin with a review of AWIN.

AWIN Review For Brands

Brands Should Use AWIN

I recommend AWIN for two reasons: low pricing and an intuitive interface. Pricing starts at £75 per month in the UK or $50 in the US. The interface is intuitive and ideal for people with low or no experience using Affiliate Marketing platforms.

AWIN have three pricing tiers. Most brands can scale on the entry-level Access tier. 

AWIN Access costs £75 per month in the UK and $50 per month in the US. Pricing for other regions is comparable. 

AWIN Fees

Access has a tracking fee, which is a fee on revenue of around 2.5%, so for every £100 your business makes, AWIN charges a £2.50 fee. The tracking fee will be applicable on Accelerate and Advanced; however, you may be able to negotiate a lower percentage.

AWIN Access has a 90-day notice period, making it a low-risk commitment.

AWIN Access is self-service, meaning you will need to understand how to scale an Affiliate Marketing program to get the most out of it; the other videos in this series will help you do that.

AWIN Accelerate and AWIN Advanced are the next tiers; pricing is not public; however, we estimate Accelerate starts at £199 per month and Advance at 3399. These tiers are for brands that want: Automation, an Account Management team, API Integrations and other advanced types of support. 

AWIN Interface And Integration

The ease of use of AWIN is its greatest advantage. AWIN also allows brands to make key changes immediately without contacting customer services.

Integration is a good experience; AWIN has many plugins with Ecommerce platforms such as Shopify. 

Finding valuable Affiliates is easy, and the same can be said for reporting and extracting data; these three key areas are very well-made and easy to utilise. 

Affordability and a good user experience for beginners make AWIN easy to recommend if you want to launch an Affiliate Marketing program. 

How To Negotiate Your AWIN Contract

When negotiating your AWIN contract, here are key areas to consider.

Auto-Validation – This is a period before any sale is automatically paid a commission; if your return period is 30 days, you may want to set 40; your return period plus ten days is good practice so you can check and ensure no refunded sales are paid commissions

Cookie Window – This is a period whereby AWIN tracking will record a sale; 30 days are standard; you may want a shorter or longer period depending on how customers behave.

Minimum Commission – This is the minimum commission rate you can set. Generally, 1% is advised; if you say set it to 10% and want to reduce it, you can’t

Default Commission Rate Reduction – Capped at 20%, this means if the default rate is 10%, you can reduce it to 8%; you have to wait up to 30 days to make further reductions, and there is no increase limit.

Exclusivity Clause – Only AWIN can act as your Affiliate Network for a country, check and limit any global restrictions, and negotiate exemptions for similar SaaS platforms.

One program per country – It is best practice for a single Affiliate program to serve a country rather than one program serving a continent or the entire world.

Multi-Country discount – If you launch multiple programs with AWIN, leverage this for a discount

Payment Terms – Confirm that you can work to AWINs terms or seek an amendment.

Performance – Leverage, clicks, average order value and sale conversion – You can use these stats to petition AWIN for discounts. They will likely offer something if they feel your brand is a good opportunity.

How To Integrate Your Website With AWIN

Use An App

I recommend using an app to integrate your website with AWIN; they have several apps across most major e-commerce platforms.

If you require direct integration, the AWIN integration team can help. 

AWIN have a wiki called the AWIN Wiki; it has extensive documentation if you need assistance with integration work and includes specific guides for app integrations such as Shopify.

General Advice:

Never include sales tax & delivery fees as a part of the transaction; only pay commissions for the goods in the basket.

Dedupe if you have another saas or network to avoid paying two commissions for the sale transaction.

Dedupe vs other channels, be mindful of fairness; you can work with AWIN on a suitable means of deduplication against other channels.

Set up Google UTM tracking so AWIN data flows correctly into Google Analytics.

Set a sensible auto-validation period; for example, if your returns period is 30 days, setting 40 days gives you nine days to check for refunds and decline commissions.

Set a sensible cookie window, typically 30 days work for retail; if you’re an airline or jewellery brand, you will set a longer period that suits purchase behaviour.

Set a default commission based on margin & competitors; you can set custom commission rates for specific partners later; this is your headline rate and, as such, make it stand out to drive interest in your program from affiliates.

How To Set UP A New AWIN Program

Account Section

When you first log into AWIN, navigate to the account tab and select overview. When you do that, there’ll be a checklist of things that AWIN asks you to do before your program can be set live.
One of those things is to upload a logo. You if you navigate toward the top left, you’ll see a grey box you can click on and further information about the size and format of the logo you need.

The logo should be JPG, GIF or PNG Format and no larger than 4 MB. The next two things you want to do on that page are to update the summary and the overview text boxes.

I have a template you can modify.

Summary Template:

• If you’re looking for the next big opportunity in fashion, look no further; apply to join our program today; we’re especially looking for influencers, bloggers, vloggers and creators that we can support with generous payments and samples.

Overview Template:

Our brand has been a great staple in fashion for decades. Our collections feature timeless pieces; you can find a style for any occasion.

Our partners are valued as part of our family, and we always ensure that they’re rewarded for their work with excellent commissions.

Working with us isn’t like working with other fashion brands; we treat our partners as part of our family, and every partner is supported, rewarded and valued as a part of our program.

Our mission is for each partner to make excellent commissions working with us while creating brand awareness and sales. Win, win. 

We offer:

• Generous commission rates
• Support with content and talking points
• High-converting website and great customer experience

We’re particularly interested in:

• Partners that can create content that can help rank us on popular search queries
• Partners that care about our brand and want to work closely with us to achieve mutual success
• Partners that may already have relevant content that ranks well and are willing to feature our brand

If this is you, reach out to discuss our special program to help you grow in a fair way with access to a cash budget, samples and commission increases.

Notice to all Partners

• Do not bid on our terms under any circumstances without prior consent
• Do not market or promote our brand without making contact with us first to discuss your plans
• Do not work with us through a subnetwork; we prefer you to work with us directly; if you insist on the use of a subnetwork, let us know in advance

To find out how we can work together in a mutually beneficial way, get in touch with:

XYZ@XYZ.com

 Fast Facts

• 30-Day Cookie
• High AOV
• 30-day returns window
• Fast payments
• Excellent response rate and support

End.

Documents Tab

The next thing to do is to navigate to the documents tab. I recommend creating a few slides that explain who your brand is, how to promote your brand and the exciting things that affiliates can gain from working with your brand. Many brands don’t do this, so it helps your brand stand out when drawing the attention of high-quality affiliates.

Your slides could consist of the following:

1. Overview of your brand
2. What your brand offers Affiliate partners
3. How Partners should approach promoting your brand
4. Contact details of the persons that can support partners

The next thing is the general terms, and I have a template for you to utilise below.

AWIN General Terms Template:

Author:

date last modified:

point of contact for questions:

Warn partners that any breach of the terms may result in the decline of all of their commissions and see them removed from the program.

All ad copy, images and marketing must be signed off by the brand prior to publishing. Partners must make contact with an Account Manager weekly.

No partner is permitted to promote any promotion, discount or other incentive without consent or where an Account Manager has given permission.

Partners must take it upon themselves to comply with any relevant regulations and guidance from regulatory bodies.

Partners should make their audience aware that their content is monetised, and they may receive a commission payment if a customer makes a purchase.

Partners must not use bots, website scrapers, malicious software, illegal methods of any kind and scams to generate engagement.

Commissions are only payable on legitimate transactions. Wholesale purchases may be eligible for commission payments. 

Partners must negatively match against brand terms in any paid search activity. Programmatic and paid activity of any kind must be with consent. 

Partners agree to present the brand in a positive manner where reasonable. Any negative content must be shown to an Account Manager prior to publication. 

Partners may not allow members of the public to contribute discount codes or any other promotions to their website(s).

Partners should update images and ad copy to the latest version no later than seven days after they are communicated. 

End.

Transactions Section

Next is the Transactions section. You can select no for the first four options and no for the rest. If you disagree with this advice, you can select the options as you see fit. The most important thing here is that you do not state; that you pay commissions on anything other than the goods in the basket.

Brand guidelines

If you already have them, add them to this section, or use the template below.

AWIN Brand Guideline Template:

To ensure our logo is presented in its best light on your documents, you can find all the information you need to use our logo correctly below. We’re happy for you to download and use our logo as specified below, but please be sure to follow our guidelines:

LOGOTYPE & HOW TO USE

This is the only logotype permitted for use by any third parties

The logotype can be shown as black on white or white on black

In all usage options, the Company Name must be legible at ALL times. The logotype is used in black or reversed in white. This makes reproduction clear when used in standard litho/digital print, and should be useable with various materials and media.

It is possible to use the logotype over imagery, but this will depend on the image and the background complexity.

Click to download the Logo:

Example URL Link

LOGOTYPE DOS AND DON’TS

In all circumstances, please observe the following to maintain the integrity and appearance of the logotypes.

THE LOGOTYPES:

• X DO NOT use the logotype over the top of imagery unless there is an area of clear white that observes the exclusion zone(s).
• X DO NOT resize elements of the logotype(s).
• X DO NOT change the appearance of any logotype by distorting the whole logotype OR its individual elements.
• X DO NOT retype any part of the logotype(s).
• X DO NOT change the typefaces for any part of the logotype(s).
• X DO NOT use the Roman Originals logotype with ANY third-party advertising promotions.

The logotype must always be shown in its entirety and as specified in the above guidelines.

End.

Commission Section

For the Commission’s section, no changes are usually required.

The only thing you need to understand is your default commission rate can only be decreased by 20% every 30 days. There is no upper limit on rate increases.

Publisher Section

The Publisher section is at your discretion. I recommend being open to all partner types; if utilised correctly, they can add value. Ensure you understand what a partner type does before selecting yes or no.

Deduplication Section

Deduplication is something you’d have set up during the technical integration, and this section is to inform partners of your choices.

Commissions Tab

There will be a tab called Commissions. You can leave a message like this: Our maximum commission rate is available for partners that are responsive and have ideas on helping us reach relevant audiences; get in touch, and we can discuss a rate increase.

We will now go through the rest of the options in the Account section of AWIN.

Contact Details – Set a main contact person.

Partnership Settings – In the first tab, give a brief overview of how partners should promote your brand. In the second tab, ask partners to make contact with you. I ask partners to make contact in both tabs, as speaking to them before they begin any promotional work is essential.

Tracking Settings – You can review Google UTM settings, the auto-validation period and other tracking-related matters.

Sector Categorisation – Set three relevant sectors for your brand and a primary sector that is the most relevant.

Account Users – Control the information partners see about persons on the account. I recommend letting partners see a name and email address.

Account Permission – Control what users can see and do on AWIN.Contact Permissions – Link to Account users, control what partners can see about Account users.

Invite User – Invite a new user and set a level of permission.

Toolbox

My Creatives – You should add 5 to 10 IAB Standard-sized banners to AWIN via Toolbox, My Creatives. For example, in the format GIF, JPG or PNG: 970×90, 728×90, 180×150, 300×250 and 160×600. Next, click the HTML tab and add a text link to your homepage.

Staying in Toolbox, go to Product Feed.

Product Feed – If you sell products of any kind, uploading a product feed to AWIN is highly recommended.

Lastly, in Toolbox, head to My Offers.

My Offers – Upload any relevant promotions of voucher codes. This part is optional, and if you do not have offers or voucher codes, you do not need to enter anything. 

How To Use AWIN

30-Minute Comprehensive Video Guide.

12-Minute shorter form guide.

The written guide below is based on the 12-minute, how to use AWIN for brands video. The guide covers key AWIN areas that you should use daily.

Older versions of AWIN log you into the dashboard, and newer versions log you into the publisher directory.

Dashboard

We start with the dashboard, which gives you an overview of performance and a useful to-do list where you can quickly review new Affiliate applications and more.

Publisher Section

In the publisher management section, toggle the left-hand side to partners joined to your program. You can extract the list and build an email list to contact your partners easily; I strongly recommend direct emailing partners if you want to contact them.

In the publisher tags section, you can use whichever tags make sense for your brand; grouping means you can easily pull reports on groups.

Commission Section

The Commission Management section lets you adjust your default commissions and set different commission rates for new and returning customers or whatever groups you have set up.

The Publisher Commission rates section allows you to set bespoke rates per partner or group.

The timeline shows you the history of commission rates per partner.

Commission by basket value lets you pay a rate based on customer spend.

Toolbox section

The Link Builder can create custom links for specific partners and shorten the URL.

The offers section allows partners to pull promotions and voucher codes you upload.

Reports section

I recommend using the publisher performance report, to power your external reports; you can extract data about partners daily to create pivot tables.

Only the performance over time report can break down all program performance by day in an easy format to convert into a pivot table.

How To Recruit Affiliates Using AWIN

Navigate to publishers and then to the directory.

If you have a new version of AWIN, you’ll land on a page with various recruitment tips; if you’re on an older version, you’ll land on a page with recommended partners.

When you get to the directory, I suggest using single words when searching for partners and toggling by accepted memberships; the more memberships mean, the more brands a partner works with.

Message each partner with a unique message stating why you want to work with them; this will greatly increase their chances of accepting your invitation. 

You can change the filtering on the left-hand side to search by country and different sectors, which will change the search results.

Next is the opportunity market place where publishers advertise different types of media and brands can engage with them to broker deals and set up new partnerships; check this at least weekly and use the filters to better cater to your needs and budget.

How To Onboard New Affiliates And Influencers To AWIN

If a partner you find is not on AWIN, you can get them on AWIN by encouraging them to sign up.

Visit the main AWIN website, and to the top right, there be an option to sign up.

The signup page should have the option to join through a form or Instagram.

The key thing to tell partners is AWIN requires a credit check to detect fraudsters; this comes with a small cost which is given back to them, it is not a signup fee, and it is mandatory.

In limited circumstances, AWIN may give some brands bypass codes if they onboard many partners consistently. However, I recommend telling the partner signing up to ignore this and proceed with the credit check; the monies are returned to them. 

Once the partner is checked and accepted to AWIN, get their 6-digit ID, find them through the directory and invite them to your program.

A List Of The Best Affiliates On AWIN

Affiliates should be divided into three groups.

Non-Incentive – The partner does not require an offer to market your brand.

Incentive – The partner requires an offer to market your brand.

Technology – The partner requires an integration to work with your brand.

Recommendations will be made for each group. You can find the partners mentioned in the AWIN Directory.

Non-Incentive

• Skimlinks help press & editorial sites monetise their content. They open your brand up to a vast amount of publications. Ask them to block voucher sites and only utilise them for content partnerships
• Kelkoo own several shopping sites and can also run non-compete Google Shopping ads
• Reach PLC own several major newspaper websites
• The Telegraph is a major press publication
• Klarna have a dedicated shopping portal 
• Shareight run Google Shopping ads
• Timeout is a major publication
• Yahoo, one of the most visited websites on the internet
• Linkby allow you to buy press & editorial coverage on a cost-per-click basis
• Finder is a major shopping and advice website
• Lyst is one the largest online shopping aggregation sites and also runs Google shopping ads
• Hearst owns some of the largest online publications in the world
• Future Publishing, similar to Hearst, owns a lot of major publications
• Redbrain is one of the Google Shopping partners in Affiliates
• Forbes is a major global publisher

Incentive

• Quidco is a major cashback website with millions of members
• Studentbeans service 40 countries with student discounts and have millions of members
• Savoo are a massive voucher website
• Ebates (Rakuten), are one the world’s largest cashback websites 
• Prodege own several popular voucher websites
• Topcashback have millions of members & is a major cashback site
• Collinson is one the largest points and card-based offer Affiliates in the world
• Global Savings Group, GSG, are a major international voucher site 
• Incentive Network is one of the largest employee reward sites in the world
• Brads Deals is a major offer website
• Honey, bought by Paypal for $4BN, is a giant international cashback site
• Retailmenot are a large international voucher site
• Bluelightcard are a major key worker discount website
• Reward Gateway are a massive employee discount site
• Karma is a large shopping website

Technology

• Soreto is a Refer a friend solution
• Upsellit is a conversion rate optimisation solution
• Revlifter features multiple solutions focused on upselling, basket abandonment and more
• Brandswap is a retail media solution that allows plug-and-play B2B partnerships
• Uniqodo is an advanced bespoke voucher code compliance solution
• Intent.ly is a basket abandonment solution

How To Work With Affiliates On AWIN

The three Affiliate Groups we advise on were mentioned above, and here is how you’d engage with them to build your program.

A reminder of the groups:

• Non-Incentive: The partner does not require an offer to market your brand
• Incentive: The partner requires an offer to market your brand
• Technology: The partner requires an integration to work with your brand

All three groups can help when used correctly:

• All brands can choose how they utilise all three types to drive good outcomes
• I recommend utilising all three, as when deployed in the right way, they can all add value

An example of utilising all three types to drive value is:

• Using Skimlinks to work with press and editorial partners to create reviews & features
• Using Shareight to drive shoppers to your site through Google Shopping ads
• Using Lyst to feature your brand on their shopping platform
• Leveraging Quidco to drive higher spending through cashback tiers
• Using Bluelightcard to attract and reward key workers & other special groups
• Using Upsellit to reduce basket abandonment & increase sale conversion rates

To get the most out of each partner type, try these techniques:

• Non-Incentive
  • Offer generous commissions based on your margins; 15% is a good place to start.
  • Always give them a reason to be excited and something to talk about
• Incentive
  • Leverage incentives to drive high spending or achieve another strategic objective
  • They don’t need as high a commission as non-incentives; 5% is a good place to start.
  • Negotiate additional placements on their website in exchange for a higher commission.
• Technology
  • Don’t be cautious to test this partner type; focus on a problem a partner can solve
  • I suggest a fixed fee so you have certainty of cost or a 4% or lower commission rate.
  • Book a regular, fortnightly call to discuss optimisation options & lessons.

How To Set Commission Rates On AWIN

Small brands should opt for aggressive rates that make each commission a noticeable win for Affiliates because larger competitors allow Affiliates to scale commissions to a greater amount. However, they tend to have low commission rates, so competing with a higher rate can win greater interest in a smaller brand, as scaling higher commission amounts is an appealing proposition for Affiliates.

Medium-sized brands should remain competitive and opt for rates that give Affiliates a reason to care; brands should query their partners on the rate range they prefer to ensure they remain engaged and invested. 

Larger brands should always be more attractive than smaller competitors so long as their partners can earn lucrative commissions, even at lower rates. However, they should always listen to their partners and not bully them with unreasonable rate decreases.

Overall, there are no standard rates; each business should assess competitors, Affiliate feedback and their margins and determine what attractive rates look like

How B2B And Retail Media Can Help Your Brand Grow Sales

Retail Media is a B2B partnership whereby brands mutually promote each other, or a brand pays to market to the customers of another brand. AWIN is pioneering Retail Media, and it is an excellent channel for your brand to explore and achieve scale. 

Brand Swap is one way to launch Retail Media partnerships; they are partnered with AWIN; you can access them there by going to Toolbox and then Advertiser Mastertag. 

It is a simple plug-and-play solution with little to no integration work. They allow you to charge brands to access your customers in a mutually acceptable way or for you to access another brand’s customers. You and the other brand will mutually decide how the partnership and marketing will work. 

AWIN also facilitate direct partnerships between brands; brands can become Affiliates and apply to work with brands and then negotiate a commission rate and marketing options.

Retail Media should not be ignored; at the least, it is worth exploring; brands that have made it work have created massive value. 

Commission-Only Affiliate Marketing Approach For Brands

How To Budget For Your New Affiliate Marketing Program

To budget for this model, first, decide on your commission structure and set a target amount of sales. You should then have the commercial information required to create a budget. 

The commission-only approach, by default, means that the marketing cost to acquire a sale is fully recovered when a sale occurs.

There is, therefore, no reason to cap commission-only spending. Your budget is a guide; it should not dictate spending. 

The only way to stop spending on a commission-only model is to suspend your partners; the cost of doing this is that they may refuse to work with you again, and you can kill your program rather than pause it. 

Winning Buy-in From Affiliates Using Commission

Samples are critical to winning editorial and press coverage on a commission-only basis.

You should also always give Affiliates something to be excited and talk about; it gives them reasons to make content that will earn them money.

Be generous with commission rate increases in exchange for additional media coverage.

Put yourself in the partner’s shoes; what would make them want to work with your brand?

Commission-Only Advantages

• The commission-only model allows for tight control of costs and massive scale if partners engage and proactively make content.

Commission-Only Negatives

• The biggest negative is the challenge of making partners care about your brand in the first place; cash provides a tangible reason to care, and the commission-only model depends on the ability to excite a partner about potential earnings that may never materialise. 

Advice

To help partners care about your brand, be generous with samples and commission rates; they are your best levers to pull and win favour.

A compelling pitch and personal approach will help. I advise against mass, automated messaging of prospective partners; instead, show each partner you have taken the time to review their content and use it as part of your pitch.

Finally, you must be proactive with a commission-only approach, constantly talking to prospective and live partners, offering talking points, testing different commission rates and overall being hands-on with your Affiliate Program.

How To Use Tenancy (Fixed Fees) To Create Value From Affiliates

Let’s take a practical approach.

Tenancy is Affiliate Marketing jargon for a fixed cash sum, paid to a partner in advance for a specific piece of media.

Tenancy should seek to solve a quantifiable problem.

For example, if an Affiliate Program averages 100,000 clicks per month, and there is a desire to scale to 150,000, tenancy could be used to drive an incremental 50,000 clicks per month.

First, start with building a calculator like the one below:

Data from the partner:

• Forecast Impressions
• Forecast Click Rate

If the media is email based:

• Database size
• Open rate
• Click Thorugh Rate

Internal data:

• Forecast Clicks
• Forecast Website Conversion Rate
• Forecast Average Order Value
• Forecast Sales
• Forecast Cost Per Sale
• Forecast Revenue
• Forecast Commission
• Forecast AWIN Fee
• Forecast Spend
• Forecast ROAS

Tenancy should not be purchased without understanding the following:

• A forecast for each piece of media
• What exactly each piece of media is, where will it appear, for how long, with what imagery and ad copy and what audience is being targeted
• Some form of a case study or rationale from the partner selling the media as to why it is likely to help achieve the objective that was set for tenancy investment

While tenancy media is running, monitor performance daily. When it is finished, find a comparable trading period to determine if an uplift has been achieved. Seek performance data from the partner.

Tenancy works when it is planned and tracked properly. It fails when one or both of those things do not happen.

If tenancy doesn’t work out, ask the partner for added value or a discount for any future investment.

How Affiliate Marketing Can Help B2B Brands

AWIN has a good base of email partners lists of business people that can be contacted, along with blogs and other content sites that are visited by business audiences.

Cost per lead, qualified leads, appointments and sales are all payment models that can be set up.

AWIN can facilitate call tracking to reward partners for driving audiences to call your business.

Websites that cater to business people may act as Affiliates, and some already do; it is worth confirming with AWIN that they can serve your needs and test and see how well you can scale Affiliates.

How To Set Targets And Timelines For Your Affiliate Marketing Program

Success should consist of four areas:

Generally, it takes 6-12 months to determine the value of an Affiliate Program; with that said, the key to success is having engaged partners that can market your brand to an engaged and relevant audience; it is difficult to understand a point in time when a program has hit a peak as a new partnership may drive massive scale.

Recommended Timelines:

• Month 1 set up and launch
• Months 2-6 recruitment 
• Months 7-12 scaling top performers 
• From month 13 onwards, recruitment, testing, learning and optimising

Good outcomes are mostly down to:

• Recruiting partners that can drive demand from audiences where demand didn’t exist
• Working with partners that can reach your target audience
• Using incentives to achieve upselling and cross-selling
• 100% of partners on your program being sale active
• Working with a diverse mix of partners
• A focus on quality partners

Poor outcomes are mostly down to:

• Lacking the knowledge to make decisions that lead to good outcomes
• A hands-off or non-proactive approach to program management
• Blaming partners for undesirable results
• Poor auditing of partner activity 
• Poor understanding of the channel

How To Grow Your Affiliate Marketing Program

Top tips for new and struggling Affiliate Marketing programs to achieve growth.

The most fundamental thing to do is to work with the right partners and have them create relevant, engaging content that can reach and motivate a relevant audience to make a purchase

Utilise all of the different Affiliate types; there are over 20 categories of Affiliates; if the partners you currently work with aren’t working, you should expand.

Explore if technology solutions can solve problems such as basket abandonment, increasing customer spending, etc.

Explore Retail Media as a new means of acquiring customers or creating a new revenue stream for your brand.

Focus on getting all the partners on the program sale active; if they aren’t making sales monthly, they may not be worth having on your program.

Lastly, partners that are not responsive are not worth participating in your program.

Case Study – $0 To $18M In Three Years

We launched an Affiliate Program for a global retailer in 2020 and, over 3 years, scaled sales to $18M, and website visits to 2.6M while achieving a $6 return on ad spend. Our approach utilised a diverse mix of partners focusing on editorial and press coverage, leading to favourable search rankings through content partners on high-value search queries. 

Over three years, we secured over 200 articles from press and editorial partners on a commission-only basis; we took the following approach to accomplish this:

• Relentlessly pitched the brand to content partners 
• Contacted multiple people with personalised pitches
• Used unique messages, avoiding a mass, automated approach to comms
• Commission rates on offer were more than 15%
• We always offered samples & were generous with gifts
• We spoke to partners daily about talking points to support constant content creation

Case Study – £4M to £20M In Two Years

When we took control of this retailer’s program, they were nearly 100% dependent on voucher code partners for sales, with a single voucher partner counting for 50% of all sales. Revenue at the time was £4M per annum.

We diversified the partner mix, moved away from deep discounting toward upselling and focused on the recruitment and engagement of non-incentive Affiliates; over the course of two years, this led to £20M in sales and voucher partners becoming significantly less important to the sales mix.

Specific things we did to drive growth and partner diversity include:

• Utilising Google Shopping partners
• Utilising technology partners to solve conversion and upselling challenges
• Recruiting review and advice partners that can reach new audiences
• Removing idle and non-engaged partners
• Focusing on all partners becoming sales active

Case Study – Building A Community With Content Affiliates And Returning A Program To Growth

The retailer had experienced five years of sales decline, and a majority of sales came from a single partner.

We focused on content partnerships to win reviews and other coverage on a commission basis that helped return the program to growth while diversifying the sales mix and dramatically increasing the number of partners that proactively support the retailer with content.

We recruited new or got current content creators to care about and cover the brand on a commission-only basis.

The result is a program that no longer depends on a single incentive partner for most sales; several partners contribute to sales, and growth compared to 2022 is set to double over 2023.

Case Study – 1500% Sales Growth Over Two Years

This case study covers a  retailer that spent four years managing their program and only achieved £2K in sales in a single year; on taking over, we managed over £100K in sales in our first year and an even better result in year two.

To scale the program, we did the following:

• We got existing idle partners to care for and become sale active
• We recruited new partners that could reach relevant audiences
• We spoke to partners daily and gave them constant talking points to help them proactively create content
• We changed incentives to upsell and therefore drove higher margin sales while guarding against a discounting image 
• Ultimately, we got partners to care about the brand, which above all, was the most important thing to drive growth

How Invoicing Works For Brands On The AWIN Affiliate Network

AWIN invoicing is mostly determined by how many sales you approve to be paid a commission. You typically decline commissions for refunds and approve non-refunded sales so that the Affiliate receives a commission payment.

Invoicing periods are the 1st to the 15th and the 16th to the 31st. AWIN looks at sales and bonuses approved during these periods and raises an invoice a few days later to cover the period in question

Your AWIN invoice will be made up of any fixed fees you have agreed to pay AWIN, the commissions you have approved to be paid to your partners and the AWIN fee charged as a percentage fee on either revenue or commissions.

Your invoicing will be mostly down to the volume of approved commissions, as the volume ebbs and flows and will your invoices.

Practical Example

• For example, a brand has a 30-day return window and a 40-day auto-validation period
• A sale occurs on day 1
• The sale is checked for refunds on day 31 
• The sale is declined, or the sale is approved
• Approved sales are the key factor that determines the cost of an invoice; as approved sales volumes increase or decrease, as will the amount invoiced, you, should not expect consistent invoice amounts unless approved sales amounts are consistent 
• For sales approved between the 1st – 15th, AWIN will invoice around the 16th – 20th; if approved from 16th – 30th, AWIN invoice around the 1st – 5th when checking invoices using the AWIN platform, toggle to validation date, invoices only correspond to validation date
• The invoice will be for sales and bonuses approved for the period 1st-15th or 16th-31st
• If the invoice is on 30-day terms, then since a sale was made and cash flowed into the business, there are at least 60 days to pay, meaning affiliate costs lag two months behind when sales occured
• This is important for finance teams and anyone involved in invoicing as if the program drives a lot of sales and therefore cost in, say November, the invoicing may not reflect that until February
• There should be constant communication between the affiliate lead(s) and budgeting lead(s) on forecast cost based on expected returns vs approved sales and actual cost when validations are actioned.
• Communication between parties will ensure there are no surprises.

How To Pay Affiliates On AWIN With The Sale Validation Process