2nd Tier Amazon Affiliates

Is getting paid 2X the new normal for Amazon publishers?

Hello all, in this edition of Affiliate Insider I’ll discuss:

• Affiliate networks on top of Amazon Associates

• Q4 promotional preps

• Affiliate resources I read this week

Amazon Associates Jet Fuel

I’ve watched closely as a slew of new Amazon performance marketing solutions hit the market or made the headlines recently.

Amazon Associates is one of the oldest games in town. It’s how I got my start in 2011-2012. I used to have websites that were 100% Amazon Associates sites and they made a killing back in the day (mid 6 figures).

We started diversifying AWAY from Amazon once they started cutting commissions and got rid of their volume based commission tiers.

My thinking was (and to some extent still is), Amazon itself has plenty of market share and decreasing their affiliate commissions is a great way for them to pad their margins.

Despite downward pressure on affiliate commissions over the last 5+ years, Amazon still is a key part of our affiliate stack. That’s because it converts like crazy, regardless of the rates.

Still, I would say about 10% of our revenue now comes from Amazon, versus 80% back in 2017.

BUT, as the Amazon marketplace has matured, brands ON Amazon need more ways to stand out from the pack. The Amazon Associates program is a nice growth benefit for ALL brands on the platform, but individual brands have very little control over the process and now have a natural way to interact with publishers promoting their products.

ENTER the next gen affiliate layers.

Most notably, Refersion is acquired by Pantasonic and integrates Amazon brands as promotional partners for publishers and influencers (dubbed “Amazon Connect”).

The idea is that Amazon native brands should have the same tools, reach and access as any other brand to connect with relevant publishers. Here’s more on how it works.

Some of the Amazon aggregators were also early to this idea, with Perch and Thrasio each having their own affiliate program layer for publishers and creators.

UPDATE: Levanta is another dedicated seller network for Amazon that looks intriguing (I just signed up). Hat tip to Jesse Lakes from Geniuslink for the note!

Some Sticking Points

1. It’s not technically against Amazon’s TOS, yet… Amazon also has their own internal creator partnership initiatives. At some point they may limit outside data integration or otherwise make such partnerships verboten.

2. Tracking is messy. Tracking affiliate sales is already a tremendous undertaking in the age of privacy concerns. Tracking on top of Amazon is likely more difficult. One solution I’ve seen is just doing a post hoc analysis of Amazon Associates reports and bonusing out any brand sales. This is a “good enough” solution but doesn’t accurately assess the actual incremental sales gain from affiliate efforts. For example, we incidentally make many sales for a variety of brands.

My Takeaways

1. Amazon Affiliate Growth. Secondary Amazon referral programs are set to grow as a way for brands to stand out with incremental publisher / creator relationships.

2. Selling Shovels. Platforms and agencies that can help bring brands and off-Amazon traffic sources together stand to gain as well. Look for traditional affiliate agencies to start launching dedicated Amazon brand lines of business and affiliate networks to add tracking technology to support this ecosystem.

Now’s the Time to Prep for Q4

I always use August and early September as my “new year” planning time.

Things are generally more quiet, brand budgets are getting reset, and kids heading back to school leaves some real time to think! Who can actually get any planning done January 2nd anyway?

With this in mind, now’s a good time to do the following:

• Update your media kit with brand opportunities for Q4 and beyond

• Share case studies and build “conversation starters” with sponsors

• Negotiate better terms and plan “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday” promo campaigns

Affiliate News & Resources

There’s been a few great breakdowns of the current state of the affiliate industry.

• Martech Record Agency Directory: It’s good to keep in touch with agencies contacts, particularly if you have multiple publishing brands. Martech Record has finally compiled all of the top agencies in one database for easy browsing.

• Practical Commerce eCommerce Sales Charts: The latest data on eCommerce penetration. I’m always surprised at how LOW ecommerce still is as a percentage of overall retail. eCommerce isn’t the pandemic darling it once was and at the same time has room to run (incrementally) over the long run.

• Advertisers Lose Money to “Shading”: One of the reasons I’m bullish on performance marketing (over programmatic or even sponsorships) long term is the more natural “success” oriented alignment. This article outlines $6B reasons why!

• Best Affiliate Plugins for WordPress: Published by Yours Truly, this is a rundown of the top affiliate plugins we use currently in our publishing business. I’ve been testing some new ones recently, so more to follow…

Wrap Up

That’s it for this week. I don’t have any special calls to action, BUT I would appreciate a like, share, or comment. I’d like to spend more time on this newsletter moving forward!