Unique Voucher Codes For Affiliates
posted in Affiliate Marketing |
Voucher Codes & Discount Coupons, seem to be all the craze at the moment & ubiquitous. I have no real criticism of them “overall” and there are a number of quality sites by respected affiliates around. I feel voucher codes are probably more beneficial for the consumer than cashback sites, whereby the saving is instantaneous and at source. With cashback sites the consumer has to reach a minimum threshold before seeing their returns or even prepay for membership. For the cashback affiliate, I can only guess it can be an “mare” for them dealing with enquires for non tracked sales, both false & genuine, maybe even those customers using the voucher code from another site & “accidently” clicking on a link from there, when the consumer was also a member of the cashback site and they then proceed to attempt & claim back from there as well to recoup a double saving. As for handling all those cheques, urgh no thanks.
Perhaps there is room for a hybrid cashback / voucher code site, even an aggregator, which could be massive savings for the consumer (who will benefit from both cashback & savings from the voucher code). Those who currently have cashback sites maybe better positioned for this.The question is then posed, what incremental sales has this brought? Would they have purchased anyway? Or was this the trigger or catalyst to switch them from window shopper to actual customer.
The current advantage cashback sites may have at the moment is a wider selection of merchants to utilise / pull from, though I guess it’s only a matter of time before the number of voucher / discount codes can be comparative. Just check you affiliate inbox, a good proportion are titled with discount code related headings.
Being a couch potato, and slow off the blocks to incorporating voucher codes this time around, I am looking forward to seeing what all encompassing (all networks) white lable / updated api feeds will be available for voucher codes soon, I certainly hope so.
The Need For Unique Voucher Codes
However, I still feel that each code distributed should to unique any individual affiliate. ie appending a prefix or suffix to the discount code with the affiliates ID or a network / affiliate ID combo. So if the voucher code was XYZ, the network (abbreviated) ABC and the affiliate ID 123, then it would something like ABC123XYZ.
With the aforementioned, hopefully this may create a slightly more level playing field, plus open up more marketing opportunities, which I ‘ll come on to later.
This way we can trace who had the last cookie (and even the preceding cookie) and who’s voucher code was used, thus gaining a slightly better overview, with an insight into the understanding of customer / consumer habits.
Should voucher codes given precedence over cookies? That’s a difficult one, at the moment I guess I might lean towards saying no this shouldn’t be permitted until something towards a more ideal solution is found. Maybe rewarding along the lines of the incremental elements of the sales journey /path. i.e. last cookie & unique affiliate code share the commission. (though I cannot see this coming anytime soon) The disadvantage though with any scheme where the omnipresent voucher code gets part or whole of the commission, suggests that all affiliates should then adopt, embrace & incorporate them (voucher codes) into their own sites to minimise leakage or loss. This is not a complaint in doing so, but maybe just moving & adjusting with the times & current climate.
Perhaps we should distinguish between unique voucher codes set for an individual affiliate & generic codes, for which at the moment we have a mix in circulation. I would prefer everybody had a unique code along the lines of the suggested more transparent format above. How practical would this be to implement?
Another advantage of “unique” voucher codes, is that customers / consumers might post them on other sites and forums, send by email to friends or if printable, pass them around. Thus it will be like having free viral advertising / marketing “allowing affiliate marketing to move offline.” What better than swarms of consumers posting your unique code to other customers and the voucher affiliate wins wholly or part of the commission?
“There would be nothing stopping you producing a catalogue which contained voucher codes and distributing it for instance or billboards, posters, stickers etc”
I guess there are a few voucher codes floating about whereby the saving is offset against the the affiliates commission, perhaps there is something here too as a better alternative to cashback sites, that’s if the merchant site’s can cater for it. The trend suggests that most merchants may need to incorporate voucher code boxes, just to remain competitive.
Please note I have no idea on the scale of this at the moment, and how much of a problem it is & if it is, but I would be keen to discuss further the advantages of having a voucher code site versus a cashback site. When will it be move over cashback sites & bring on the voucher code sites.
A Message To Affiliate Window & Shop Window
Please, introduce a few extra columns in the shopwindow feed with details on any voucher codes like the start & expiry dates, brief description, voucher code number. It might increase conversions.
