This document analyzes the effects of promotions run by five retailers on their affiliate marketing programs. It finds that most transactions involve only one affiliate referral, occur within 24 hours, and take place within one hour. Promotions that offer exclusive codes to loyalty affiliates see increases in sales volume, value, and average order value. While some affiliates may overwrite others, the data shows affiliates are "click winners" rather than "click stealers." The conclusions question common multi-attribution models and suggest most sales have a single referrer.

1. The Truth About Cookie Overwriting Owen Hewitson Client Strategist DigitalWindow

3. How many affiliates are involved in a sale?

4. How is the AOV affected by a promotion?

5. How is the latency affected by a promotion?

6. How does the path to purchase change?General conclusions

7. Methodology Five retailers across four sectors – 1x fashion, 1x mobile, 2x electricals, 1x health and beauty Data gathered from major brands – all the advertisers studied have high levels of transactions and high numbers of affiliates for each promotional type Data benchmarked - before vs during promotions, with comparison to all affiliates on a programme, and other affiliates with same promotional method The ‘daisy chain’ – the path to purchase, the number of affiliates involved in a sale, and where they sit within that path

8. Caveats Data has been anonymised for both advertisers and affiliates Figures are expressed as percentages Reliant on affiliates having properly categorised their primary method of promotion Advertisers’ and affiliates’ other marketing activities should be borne in mind Data only relates to the affiliate channel

9. Advertiser A - Fashion Retailer Promotion: Exclusive voucher code - Extra 15% off sale items Promo Period: 10th – 12th August 2010 Comparison Period: 3rd – 5th August 2010 Performance: 163% uplift in sales volume, 142% in sales value

10. Involvements – Before the Promo

11. Involvements – During the Promo

12. Involvements – Before the Promo

13. Involvements – During the Promo

14. What effect did the promotion have on AOV?

15. Latency rates: How quickly do our advertisers convert? - Before the promo period

16. Latency rates: How quickly do our advertisers convert? – During the promo period Advertiser A: 87%

17. What effect did the promotion have on latency rates? – Before the promo

18. What effect did the promotion have on latency rates? – During the promo

19. Who did the affiliate overwrite? – Before the promo

20. Who did the affiliate overwrite? – During the promo

21. Advertiser B - Mobile Retailer Promotion: Added points reward exclusively to a loyalty & reward affiliate Promo Period: 7th – 21st May 2010 Comparison Period: 16th – 30th April 2010 Performance: 232% uplift in overall sales on two weeks previous to the promotion; 655% uplift in contract sales on two weeks previous to the promotion

22. Involvements – Before the Promo

23. Involvements – During the Promo

24. Involvements – Before the Promo

25. Involvements – During the Promo

26. Latency rates – How quickly do our advertisers convert? – Before the promo period Advertiser B: 83%

27. Latency rates – How quickly do our advertisers convert? – During the promo period

28. What effect did the promotion have on latency rates? – Before the promo

29. What effect did the promotion have on latency rates? – During the promo

30. Who did the affiliate overwrite? – Before the promo

31. Who did the affiliate overwrite? – During the promo

32. Advertiser C - Electronics Retailer Promotion: Added points reward exclusively to loyalty & reward affiliate (same promo with same affiliate as Advertiser B) Promo Period: 12th – 26th March 2010 Comparison Period: 12th – 26th February 2010 Performance: 9.7% increase in sales volume, 126.5% increase in sales value

33. Involvements – Before the Promo

34. Involvements – During the Promo

35. Involvements – Before the Promo

36. Involvements – During the Promo

37. What effect did the promotion have on AOV?

38. Latency rates – How quickly do our advertisers convert? – Before the promo period

39. Latency rates – How quickly do our advertisers convert? – During the promo period

40. What effect did the promotion have on latency rates? – Before the promo

41. What effect did the promotion have on latency rates? – During the promo

42. Who did the affiliate overwrite? – Before the promo

43. Who did the affiliate overwrite? – During the promo

44. Advertiser D - Health & Beauty Retailer Promotion: Exclusive code: 10% off £50 spend on particular product range. Offered to a loyalty & reward affiliate, rather than a voucher code site. Promo Period: 2nd – 25th July Comparison Period: 2nd – 25th June 2010 Performance: 8% increase in sales volume, 5% increase in sales value.

45. Involvements – Before the Promo

46. Involvements – During the Promo

47. Involvements – Before the Promo

48. Involvements – During the Promo

49. What effect did the promotion have on AOV?

50. Latency rates – How quickly do our advertisers convert? – Before the promo period

51. Latency rates – How quickly do our advertisers convert? – During the promo period

52. What effect did the promotion have on latency rates? – Before the promo

53. What effect did the promotion have on latency rates? – During the promo

54. Who did the affiliate overwrite? – Before the promo

55. Who did the affiliate overwrite? – During the promo

56. Advertiser E - Electricals Retailer Promotion: Competition with cashback site (no cashback increase) Promo Period: 14th – 27th July 2010 Comparison Period: 14th – 27th June 2010 Performance: 32% increase in sales, 58% increase in sales value

57. Involvements – Before the Promo

58. Involvements – During the Promo

59. Involvements – Before the Promo

60. Involvements – During the Promo

61. What effect did the promotion have on AOV?

62. Latency rates – How quickly do our advertisers convert? – Before the promo period

63. Latency rates – How quickly do our advertisers convert? – During the promo period Advertiser E: 90%

64. What effect did the promotion have on latency rates? – Before the promo

65. What effect did the promotion have on latency rates? – During the promo

66. Who did the affiliate overwrite? – Before the promo

67. Who did the affiliate overwrite? – During the promo

68. Conclusions Most transactions have only one referrer Most transactions take place in 24 hours Of those, most take place within the hour Some evidence that where a code is offered customers spend more anyway – AOV rises during the promotion for an affiliate with a code

69. Conclusions Shows affiliates in a good light – affiliates are click winners, not ‘click stealers’ Implications for the debate on multi-attribution – if vast majority of sales are single referrer, what might be a better way to ascertain the value of your affiliates? Taking this research further – benchmarking affiliate channel across online marketing as a whole