May 6, 2024
Affiliate Marketing and Coupon Sites: Myths Surrounding Incremental Growth
Why coupon sites CAN drive revenue growth in the affiliate channel
Are coupon sites ineffective in the affiliate channel, particularly when it comes to incremental value?
Absolutely not—so let’s stop spreading that myth around the affiliate marketing rumor mill.
It’s true, coupon sites have historically been stereotyped as merely “transactional,” often criticized for failing to bring incremental value to your business. However, this perspective ignores the nuanced capabilities of modern affiliate marketing management strategies—specifically, affiliate marketing technology and tools combined with industry expertise.
Incrementality Starts with Data
Where does the coupon site myth come from? In all of affiliate marketing, there have been challenges in respect to incrementality. That’s just been the nature of the industry.
Specific to coupon sites, I hear statements like, “These guys are just hijacking sales,” or “These guys are not incremental.” As a result, brands do much less with coupon sites—or nothing at all. It’s unfortunate that such a decision is based on what a brand believes to be a universal truth, instead of being open to coupon sites as a rich revenue stream.
One missing piece of the conversation is just how critical data is in guiding decision-making surrounding coupon sites. I always say to current and prospective clients, “Let’s start with the data,” but we also know that what we see in those numbers is very client specific. Meaning, the vertical in which they operate, their audience, their publisher partnerships. Sure, a coupon site might have a low incrementality score, but there are the Honeys of the world that could be much more incremental.
How does PartnerCentric arrive at determining what’s best for each individual client? FUSE Incrementality™ plays a significant role, alongside advanced affiliate marketing expertise.
FUSE Incrementality™: Your North Star in the Affiliate Channel
With FUSE Incrementality™, we’re able to have much more meaningful conversations with clients or prospects who come to us, minds made up, and say:
- “I’ve done affiliate marketing before, in another business, and this doesn’t work.”
- “I’ve been in the affiliate space for 20 years, and I know I don’t want to work with this category.”
- “I’ve never done affiliate marketing before, but I hear these rumblings about coupon sites and I don’t want to get messed up in that.”
That’s when my team and I can present these brands with the objective data, so we can have a collaborative discussion about what they want to do with that data. Having access to the data makes what we do more of a level playing field, compared to a pre-FUSE Incrementality™ existence.
For example, in the past I’d say to resistant clients, “I know you had that experience while you were at Company ABC, but now you’re with Company XYZ and you might have a different experience.” Back then those companies would tell me until they’re blue in the face, “I know how this works and I’m not interested. Don’t sell me this thing.”
FUSE Incrementality™ has changed the game. Now I can say to them, “Let’s look objectively at Company XYZ’s data and see what it tells us.” If it turns out coupon sites truly don’t serve the client, at least we have a clear determination why.
Bottom line: If you have the technology and the experienced team, you can discern just how and where coupon sites will drive your business—without wasting resources on biased analytics from poor data sets.
To learn more about FUSE Incrementality™ and how PartnerCentric employs it to drive revenue growth,
Get in Touch