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Affiliate Profile

I am...

Chris Frost, an old time affiliate (7 years now), known as either ColdSnail or Frostie on the A4U Forums, often found moaning at www.webaffiliate.co.uk/blog

You can find me...

On MSN during the day (work fulltime for Unilever/Hewlett Packard). During the evening I am either out running or eating/drinking more calories than I wish to count

What best describes my website?

DiscountCodes.co.uk is one of my busiest sites, attracting over 100,000 unique visitors per month. It does exactly what it says on the tin! It's one of the oldest and one of the most popular code websites out there, now helping ColdSnail generate over £3m of sales via the affiliate marketing channel.

The best feature on my website is?

Untapped resources! I have been collecting newsletter signups for a year, of which I have only sent 1 email out. It's something that I plan to make better use of this year, concentrating on those merchants that provide me with Exclusive discount codes such as BHS, Boden and The Body Shop. Features on other websites include emailing offers to a friend and also an ever increasing facebook following. Over the next 12 months, I have a few features in development that will run hand in hand with a large PR exercise in the run up to Christmas that's all I'm saying!

Which of the following best describes your affiliate activities?

PPC
Niche or true content site
Blog / Personal Website
Product /Price Comparison
Directory
Loyalty site
Coupon or Voucher Code     redemption site

What is the best piece of affiliate marketing advice you've been given?

Having been involved in the industry since 2001, I have been lucky enough to receive advice from a wide range of affiliates. One that has stuck with me, and continues to influence my decisions on which vertical to concentrate on was "develop websites that you have a genuine interest in". I've found that by following this simple piece of advice, my view isn't blurred by commission levels, incentives or bonuses and makes content writing/updating a piece of cake.

What advice would you give to a brand new affiliate programme manager?

Download my presentation here. Get to know your affiliates - we're a relaxed bunch who enjoy a beer or two! Plan! If you know a sale is taking place in 2 weeks time, then give us a heads up. Don't leave it until 5pm on a Friday to tell us. We too have social lives, holidays, families etc and can't put everything on hold in order to update banners and content. The more notice you provide us, the more targeted we can be, including mentions in our email newsletters!

What are your thoughts of creating a code of conduct for merchants, affiliates and networks to follow?

It's something that has been banded around for some time and if it results in complete transparency by all those involved in the industry then it can only work in its favour. As for how it is managed or policed is a different issue and one that may be a bit more difficult to agree or overcome. The industry is slowly changing as I'm aware that networks are meeting with each other, reaching agreements on certain industry issues. This is encouraging from an affiliate point of view, and something I expect to spread to merchants and affiliates in coming months/years.

Which methods have merchants used effectively to motivate you?

We all like achievable incentives ranging from free samples and bonus commission levels to holidays! Over the past I have received goodies such as Blackberry's, holidays to Barbados and Japan, Aftershave and... a pair of knickers! Personally I find either a solid working relationship with a network account manager or with the merchant directly is just as much an incentive as receiving goodies and is key to a long lasting working relationship.

Which retailer site has the best content?

Speaking from a male perspective and in terms of eye candy, then it has to be BeCheeky or Prezzybox

Which retailer site has the best functionality?

Looking at functionality from an online shopper perspective, then I think Woolies has to be up there amongst the best. Their website is very simple, clean and precise and is a dream to navigate.

Which retailer site has the best style?

The makeover that the BuyAGift website received last year, was a huge improvement that was welcomed by many an affiliate. Again the clean cut, minimalistic style suits this merchant and the vertical they operate in. Their account manager, Graham Keen, also has style... or so he thinks!

What is your favourite blog and why?

There are many blogs out there, some offering solid and sound advice, others that are cleverly used as marketing tools or simple ego boosters. I enjoy reading blogs by affiliates, networks or merchants who aren't afraid to speak the truth, offer something other than self-promotion, and those that assist others in this industry.
3 blogs which fall into this category, which I read regularly are;
Kirsty McCubbin - www.affiliatestuff.co.uk Offers non-stop advice for new and old affiliates alike.
Shane Robinson - www.revenueaddict.com Straight to the point advice, suggestions and rumblings in the PPC world.
Paul Wheatley - www.mooseontheloose.co.uk Another no bull, non-egotistical, self-praising blog on the AM world as a whole.

If you like what you have read so far, please click here to invite them to join your programme.

Dear Merchant

Facebook is now the most popular social networking site in the UK and Europe with over 8 million daily users. To celebrate this, the AWin Focus for May was dedicated to everyone's favourite social networking site and to Wishlist, our very new Facebook application. The Wishlist application encourages users to share, recommend, review and covet items via an interactive list on their proflile. Products are fed through to each Wishlist using the ShopWindow API, giving users a choice of over 4.5million items! Since the AWin Focus newsletter and an a4u blog post we have had a great response, including this article in Retail Week. Who would have thought that poking, throwing a sheep or a member of the Golden Girls at your friends would become a social norm?

Retail week is not the only publication to feature Affiliate Window; Revolution published an essay regarding the cost effectiveness of affiliate marketing, written by Partnerships Director Kevin Edwards. Click here to read it on our blog.

There are changes afoot behind the scenes of ShopWindow. A review of the key sectors within the platform has been conducted and to further the success and properly realise the full potential of price comparison ShopWindow staff will begin to request EAN's. Focusing primarily on Electronics, we are requesting that EAN's are supplied as part of your Product Feed. If you list electronic items in your product feed, please be aware that AWin staff are likely to talk to you requesting EAN data very soon.

Discount codes are a huge part of affiliate marketing, ranging from generic to bespoke, a large percentage of merchants help increase sales by issuing codes for their affiliates to promote. Affiliate Window understands that keeping codes organised can be difficult so we have an area in the interface for you to store your codes so you and your affiliates can access them. For further information regarding discount codes check out our special feature this month.

Also this month, Super affiliate Chris Frost joins us for a little Q and A, find out what is going on at Discountcodes.co.uk, what Chris thinks about an industry code of conduct and who his favourite retailer sites are, click here to find out more.

Discount Codes

Discount codes can prove a useful addition to your affiliate marketing strategy. Managed effectively, they can help grow business from affiliates who control web traffic with a niche customer base. Affiliates tend to generate a higher level of conversion through the use of generic or bespoke discount codes.

Bespoke codes: A code specially created for a specific affiliate. Providing an exclusive code is a great way to build loyalty with top performing discount code affiliates as it gives them a unique offer to promote their own customer base which will drive up conversion.

Generic codes: A discount code that is made available to your entire base of affiliates. These codes should be entered into the discount voucher area in your merchant account. Every Monday, an email is sent with the latest list of discount codes to an opt-in base of top performing affiliates who have requested this information.

Benefits of discount codes:

• Trigger affiliates to join your programme
  
• Strengthening of brand awareness
  
• Increase sales conversion
  
• Strengthens relationships with affiliates

Uploading Discount Codes in the Interface

To access the voucher code are you will need to click on the Tab 'Discount vouchers'

Step 1: Discount Code - enter the promotional code. Please note your website must technically be able to facilitate promotional codes.

Step 2: Valid Dates: It is vital to enter the start and expiry dates of the code so affiliates know exactly how long they can promote the offer on their sites.

Step 3: Deeplink: Enter the details of the relevant landing or product page for the promotion code.

Step 4: Description: Each code uploaded must contain a short description which is important in delivering the offer message and triggering consumer reaction.

Our News Manager tool, the weekly Affiliate Window newsletter and posting on A4uforum, provide excellent and reliable methods of distributing affiliate discount vouchers. Additionally, it is very important to contact your top performing affiliates to make them aware of the offers you are promoting.

To study the impact of discount codes on your programme's performance, we would recommend that you analyse your Performance Over Time report to detect any uplift in sales which coincide with a discount code being released to your affiliate base. If you are only providing a bespoke code to one affiliate then it is possible to look at the sales performance for this affiliate only by entering in their ID number into the search criteria. If the impact is positive then it is important to refresh the codes at the times of the year when you programme needs a boost.

Example: Merchant Providing discount codes - ELC

In February 2008 Early Learning Centre released an affiliate discount code for the first time that could engage the entire affiliate base. The impact of this was fantastic and this was reflected in programme sales growth.

The discount code was very productive in the strong increase in sales, as many affiliates would have been particularly encouraged as it allowed many affiliates to promote ELC more efficiently. This produced campaigns that endorsed affiliates to trigger consumer reaction more effectively, ultimately producing an engaged and more active consumer in making their relevant purchases.

There were also a high number of new affiliates and previously inactive affiliates receiving sales on the programme, which can also be attributed to a successful PR campaign of discount codes which is essential in generating the most productive results.

Ugo's Tech Tips

We are now encouraging all new merchants to add EAN numbers to their ShopWindow datafeed.

ShopWindow is a proven successful platform, to continue this trend we need to significantly improve the effectiveness of our toolset.

By offering price comparison alongside the product comparison.

An EAN is the unique identifier to each product model; with this identifier included we can relay a vast amount of specific product information to your affiliates and consecutively to the customer. By offering price comparison within the electronics categories, your products will receive increased exposure along with your brand (particularly if you're price competitive or a strong brand). Through our developments, users will also be able to refine their search results by the criteria most relevant to them, increasing the number of engaged and informed customers who click through.

Benefits would include:

• Increased conversion rates for your programme
• Supplying publishers with a complete product catalogue in a quick and easy way.
• Up to 55 additional features included for every product
• Complete refine by functionality for your products
• More engaged and informed pool of customers clicking through
• Enhancement of user journey
• Access to a larger pool of brand publishers
• No further changes to feed regarding level of product data (this applies to the product features etc not data regarding your service such as delivery and stock quantity).

If you require further assistance, contact Technical Services on 0844 557 9247 or email us here.

Ugo Offomata
Technical Services

Site Review

Content	17/25
Functionality	20/25
Originality	20/25
Creativity	23/25
Total	80/100

www.idealo.co.uk

Affiliate ID: 73258

Idealo, Germany's number 1 price comparison site (Idealo Internet GmbH) is a growing UK Price Comparison company. Currently Idealo has the number 1 price comparison website in Germany and has been active in the market for the past 8 years, with the total number of employees now reaching over 200.

Idealo now has 4 product price comparison sites including Germany, Austria, UK and the latest edition Idealo France. Additionally having experience with travel price comparison site for the UK, Germany, USA, Spain and France.

The merchant's offers on each product of Idealo are listed purely on the price of the product; shops are given no priority, giving the user the chance to choose the shop with the cheapest offer.

The UK comparison site has now been online for 18 months and has seen aggressive growth though out, we already have a large diversity of shops including high street retailers and successful online e-commerce merchants. They currently have over 100k products online and growing continuously with over 600k offers online from some 600 UK merchants.

The site is clear and neat, easy for customers to navigate with a large product range tastefully on show at on one page.

You can also click here to invite this affiliate to join your programme.

AWin Life in brief

We have yet more new starters here at AWin HQ. This month we are pleased to welcome Raffaella Roccoletti, Jeannine Martel, Jon Weeks and Tom Jones.

Raffaella is the latest addition to the Client Services Team. Since graduating from a Modern Languages degree in 2006, Raffaella has worked in various roles, but only recently moved to London to help kick-start her career.

Account Development Executive, Jeannine, has also just joined the network. This part French, part Mauritian amateur belly dancer left the family business to spread her wings with us here at Affiliate Window. Jeannine will be proving merchants with advice and guidance regarding their programmes and supporting her fellow colleagues in the Account Development department.

Rugby enthusiast, Jon Weeks joined us two weeks ago as an Admin Assistant in the Key Accounts department. Before joining the network Jon gained experiences from a variety of jobs in the marketing industry and has done his fair share of rugby related travelling, including touring Australia and South Africa with the Harlequins Rugby Academy.

Last but by no means least; Tom has just joined the Key Accounts department as an Admin Assistant. Keen traveller Tom has studied in the States and experienced the delights of Europe and Asia, although fresh from university Tom has already had experience working in a media agency.

I'm sure all the new starters will settle in well and become part of the AWin family!