1. Conversion Balance - Many inexperienced affiliate managers focus too heavily on clicks in regard to display ads. While it is fairly easy to garner clicks with an ad through unclear or misleading messaging, having a good balance of impressions to clicks vs. clicks to sales will ensure a high adoption rate of the ad and more predictable sales conversion. This is achieved through clear messaging that accurately communicates the offer and product or service being advertised.
2. Inaccurate Statistics - For affiliate managers, network statistics for banner ads are almost always inaccurate and cannot be trusted. The reason for this discrepancy is that many high volume affiliates will not grab new banner code. Rather, they will simply copy the image and use it with the first tracking link listed. You will often find that a single banner is producing the most statistics. This is most likely inaccurate. The lesson? Banner conversion statistics cannot be trusted unless you can verify the actual banner code was placed by the affiliate. Then you will have to run statistics only for affiliates for which that is the case to attain accurate conversion stats.
3. Avoid Over-messaging - While it is important to clearly communicate the offer details and product or service to which it applies, over messaging can be detrimental to the conversion of a banner as it produces clutter, confusion, and a sense of desperation on the part of the merchant.
4. Sales Process - The sales process should be sequential. The banner’s purpose is to get a potential buyer to the site. The site then should continue the sales process with supporting information that adds value to the offer. In other words, you are not making the sale on the banner. You are just starting the sales process. Those who over-message try to convince the buyer on the banner. The banner is just the hook. The landing page should be designed to convince and quickly move to sale.
5. Anatomy of a Banner - A banner may contain the following elements to ensure effectiveness: merchant logo, offer detail, demographic targeting, product reference, call to action, and elements to add validity or trust. If the brand is notable, the trust and validity elements are not as essential and can be saved for the landing page.
6. The Importance of Assets - Well established branding guidelines and photo assets can make a world of difference in a banner. Design starts long before the banner design gets started. Quality photos and branding guidelines can make the difference between creating the impression that someone is clicking through to a major retailer or a mom & pop local store. Invest the time and resources to establish attractive branding guidelines, lifestyle & product photos.
7. Details Matter - Throwing things together in a banner design without appreciation for detail will create a poor first impression of the merchant. Consumers are highly susceptible to drawing conclusions from visual cues. If the design is not refined and well balanced, they will suspect the same of the merchant’s product or service offering.
8. Arm Your Affiliates - Be sure to create the most popular sizes as many affiliates are looking for a banner to fill a specific slot on their site. IAB guidelines call for a 300x250, 160x600, 728x90 and 180x150 as a minimum. It is recommended to add the mobile size 320x50 as well as older sizes such as 468x60 and 120x60. If your design resources allow it, it is important to clearly communicate to affiliates that any banner can be altered to fit their specifications.
9. Be Willing to Craft Custom Banners - Some affiliates have a very specific idea in mind, or have a site that is well suited to promote a specific product. In some cases this can lead to a very long and productive placement. Make sure affiliates know that you are ready and willing to craft banners with custom messaging and landing pages to suit their needs. Be sure, however, you are not waisting resources by evaluating that affiliates potential to produce.
10. A/B Testing Is Not Always Reliable - A/B testing requires a control of variables to be accurate. For this reason, simply uploading two variants and looking over the general statistics will not provide adequate insight. A multitude of other variables are at work. For example, banner A could be placed on a highly targeted site while banner B is placed on a site that is not targeted to the product at all. In this scenario banner A would appear to perform better. However, if banner B was placed on the same site it could still out perform banner A. Rash decisions based on limited information can hurt your program. It is important to trust the human element of the affiliate. They want to succeed as well, and many are very experienced. Give affiliates options and trust their judgement.
2. Inaccurate Statistics - For affiliate managers, network statistics for banner ads are almost always inaccurate and cannot be trusted. The reason for this discrepancy is that many high volume affiliates will not grab new banner code. Rather, they will simply copy the image and use it with the first tracking link listed. You will often find that a single banner is producing the most statistics. This is most likely inaccurate. The lesson? Banner conversion statistics cannot be trusted unless you can verify the actual banner code was placed by the affiliate. Then you will have to run statistics only for affiliates for which that is the case to attain accurate conversion stats.
3. Avoid Over-messaging - While it is important to clearly communicate the offer details and product or service to which it applies, over messaging can be detrimental to the conversion of a banner as it produces clutter, confusion, and a sense of desperation on the part of the merchant.
4. Sales Process - The sales process should be sequential. The banner’s purpose is to get a potential buyer to the site. The site then should continue the sales process with supporting information that adds value to the offer. In other words, you are not making the sale on the banner. You are just starting the sales process. Those who over-message try to convince the buyer on the banner. The banner is just the hook. The landing page should be designed to convince and quickly move to sale.
5. Anatomy of a Banner - A banner may contain the following elements to ensure effectiveness: merchant logo, offer detail, demographic targeting, product reference, call to action, and elements to add validity or trust. If the brand is notable, the trust and validity elements are not as essential and can be saved for the landing page.
6. The Importance of Assets - Well established branding guidelines and photo assets can make a world of difference in a banner. Design starts long before the banner design gets started. Quality photos and branding guidelines can make the difference between creating the impression that someone is clicking through to a major retailer or a mom & pop local store. Invest the time and resources to establish attractive branding guidelines, lifestyle & product photos.
7. Details Matter - Throwing things together in a banner design without appreciation for detail will create a poor first impression of the merchant. Consumers are highly susceptible to drawing conclusions from visual cues. If the design is not refined and well balanced, they will suspect the same of the merchant’s product or service offering.
8. Arm Your Affiliates - Be sure to create the most popular sizes as many affiliates are looking for a banner to fill a specific slot on their site. IAB guidelines call for a 300x250, 160x600, 728x90 and 180x150 as a minimum. It is recommended to add the mobile size 320x50 as well as older sizes such as 468x60 and 120x60. If your design resources allow it, it is important to clearly communicate to affiliates that any banner can be altered to fit their specifications.
9. Be Willing to Craft Custom Banners - Some affiliates have a very specific idea in mind, or have a site that is well suited to promote a specific product. In some cases this can lead to a very long and productive placement. Make sure affiliates know that you are ready and willing to craft banners with custom messaging and landing pages to suit their needs. Be sure, however, you are not waisting resources by evaluating that affiliates potential to produce.
10. A/B Testing Is Not Always Reliable - A/B testing requires a control of variables to be accurate. For this reason, simply uploading two variants and looking over the general statistics will not provide adequate insight. A multitude of other variables are at work. For example, banner A could be placed on a highly targeted site while banner B is placed on a site that is not targeted to the product at all. In this scenario banner A would appear to perform better. However, if banner B was placed on the same site it could still out perform banner A. Rash decisions based on limited information can hurt your program. It is important to trust the human element of the affiliate. They want to succeed as well, and many are very experienced. Give affiliates options and trust their judgement.
