Affiliate Marketing
eCommerce
Affiliate Marketing
eCommerce
Think back to the last time you went shopping.
Maybe you tried on a few items. Or asked an employee a few questions. Then, you made a purchase. All pretty normal shopping behavior we don’t think much about.
But to store owners, these behaviors represent much more. It’s their way of knowing who their customers are, how they interact with their store, and the products they are interested in.
If most customers remain in the sweater section and few go-to accessories, placing sweaters in the front could draw in more people. Or, store workers find that most of the items left behind in fitting rooms are more expensive, and the owner might want to reconsider their price points.
Plenty of scenarios like this can help store owners improve the customer experience, which will consequently impact the store’s overall business.
But, for e-commerce, this approach doesn’t quite work. With online shopping, business owners can’t explicitly see the customer’s behavior as they would in the scenario above, making it harder to determine what’s working and what’s not.
Google Analytics can help solve that.
Google Analytics has become the most effective way to collect and analyze site data. The platform is particularly useful for e-commerce – with Enhanced Ecommerce giving site owners specific features designed for store optimization.
Enhanced E-commerce features include metrics for:
Popular e-commerce platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, and Magento have a built-in integration with Google Analytics Enhanced E-commerce, so setup won’t be a hassle.
If you aren’t using an e-commerce platform, the setup can be a bit more tricky, so it’s recommended to partner with a web developer.
As you begin analyzing site data, it’s best to be as detailed as possible and avoid a “general overview” approach. Break down the analytics to clearly see what is working, what isn’t working, and how to improve.
Some things to consider in your analysis…
It’s important to see how the different metrics interact with one another instead of making decisions on one report. And always take into account how external factors may impact these metrics.
As we said, there are several data points to examine. This is where we recommend starting:
See the channels customers used to come to your site – direct, organic search, paid search, referrals, social, email, etc.
To find your traffic sources, click on Acquisition.
Some sections to focus on…
Channels: This section looks at groupings of several traffic sources with the same medium. This includes the traffic from channels like direct, referral, organic search, paid search, social media, etc.
Source/Medium: This section breaks down the channels into specific sources. By breaking down the channels, you can see what it working best (or worst) for you. For example, Facebook over Youtube for social media or Google over Bing for search engines.
Use this data as part of your affiliate marketing strategy. Prioritize outreach efforts by partnering with affiliates in the channels that are proven effective for traffic and conversions.
For example…
Understand how customers are interacting with different pages on your site; see which pages are effective and which pages need improvement.
To see how each page performs, click on the tab Behavior.
A few key metrics to look at…
Pageviews: Shows the number of times a page is viewed, including the number of repeated and unique pageviews.
Average Time On Page: Shows the average time a user spends on a page. Generally speaking, users stay on a page longer if the content is useful or interesting to them. But as we mentioned, no metric should be analyzed alone – be sure to check the bounce rate with this.
Bounce Rate: The amount of people that leave the site having only viewed one page. This indicates the user was unsatisfied with the page for various reasons, such as it wasn’t what they were looking for, poor page design, lack of information/descriptions, low-quality images, slow load times, etc.
For your affiliate program, page analytics offer valuable insight for customer acquisition. Landing pages are the first impression of your store and a critical factor in users becoming paying customers. Use these metrics to determine which page is best for affiliate links.
For example…
Gain insight into what customers are really interested in. Use these insights to focus marketing strategies around certain products in order to increase sales.
To determine which products to focus on, click on Product Performance in the tab Conversions.
Here are some things to consider…
Highest revenue: Products making the most money for your site. Consider highlighting these items on the homepage or in ads, as they are the most popular.
Unique Purchases: Products that are bought the most. Popular low-cost items are an opportunity to upsell, so think about marketing these items with more lucrative products.
Highest return rate: The rate that products are being sent back. Check if ads are correctly communicating the product or if it’s a deeper product flaw.
Using this data for your affiliate program, you can strategize ways that affiliates can bring traffic to these specific products.
For example…
Track the customer’s journey through the store. Having a detailed step-by-step of their movement from landing page to completed purchase allows store owners to see the exact point a customer abandons the cart, checkout, or site altogether.
To understand the customer experience, click on Shopping Behavior Analysis in the Conversions tab.
These are the customer steps you’ll see…
With the help of an affiliate program, you can offer special deals to encourage customers to complete their journey. Create affiliate coupons specific to abandonment points.
For example…
With Google Analytics, you have more tangible figures to explain how customers are experiencing your store and ways to enhance your marketing efforts.
But when it comes to optimizing your affiliate program, this is just the start. As we mentioned, no data point should be analyzed alone – there are several other factors that impact affiliate sales and, ultimately, your store’s success.
Be sure to check out the Tapfiliate blog for more tips and strategies for running an affiliate program.
Get started with affiliate marketing now with?? Tapfiliate’s free 14-day trial. ??
Jessica Rangel
Spending my days writing marketing content, cycling around canals in Amsterdam and attempting to master the Dutch language.