The Online CMO by Philip Hallenborg

Any effective ROI assessment of online demand generation needs to be based on some form of tracking. The preferred method for understanding where the originating customer of a sale was exposed to the marketing message/ creative is the “cookie” i.e. a small text file sent via the browser to the computer at the place of exposure. When the sale is registered the cookie will provide the origination information to the tracking host/ affiliate network provider for accounting purposes.

In affiliate programmes, the key is to understand to what degree a given affiliate can be credited for a sale (I will for the sake of simplicity disregard the problems surrounding multiple origination points before a sale). Today, some affiliate networks do not make any distinction between a so called “click through” sale (the click being a definite link from the site of exposure to the point of sale) and a so called “view through” sale (the cookie has been received by inactive “viewing” i.e. visiting a big news site would be enough to actually be exposed to the cookie, the customer sometimes not even seeing the marketing message itself).

Whereas the click through method is relatively clean, the view through method is controversial for a number of reasons. Many of them should be of the greatest importance for any online marketer.

• There is a weaker link between the sale and the exposure hence one could and should question whether the sale really should be attributed to the view through point of exposure.
• This means that the cost per sale will look good – many more sales at a predefined payout level. Nevertheless, there will be false attribution of sale origination. The marketer/advertiser will think that what should be attributed to TV, radio, banner advertising or simply base demand is originating from an affiliate programme. The advertiser will pay twice for the same sale.
• Affiliate networks that do not clearly separate the two in data reports to customers are in my view not playing fair vis-a-vis the advertiser.
• Affiliates will be inclined to join programmes and affiliate networks where view through sales are highly or equally rewarded to click through sales because they will make more money with less quality effort/ traffic.
• Affiliate networks that do not up front separate the two methods often refrain from doing so because they lack tracking technology to separate the two methods and hence offer the same payout for two very different levels of interaction from the customer.

Don’t use affiliate networks that don’t tell you upfront how they manage and attribute view through vs. click through. It will cost you dearly even if your cost per sale and volumes look great.