Incrementality: word of the moment, confusing, sometimes misused, somewhat divisive. But what does it mean? For Dan Staples, Vice President, Client Development at CJ, it’s not an easy question to answer.
“It can mean so many different things to different people within marketing, within marketing technology and also within affiliate,” said Dan.
From an affiliate standpoint, it’s all about adding value outside the customer journey that was already happening, whether that’s driving more new customers or increasing Lifetime Value, conversion rates and average order value, he explained.
However, it’s not straightforward. “There can often be some conflict between sort of causality and correlation, and that goes into the conversation related to attribution.”
Affiliate isn’t a homogeneous channel
Indeed, at PI LIVE, there was much debate around how the channel is measured and the ways in which it’s still operating on a last-click mode — something Dan said can be challenging for CMOs.
“They're very familiar [with] looking at measurement through the lens of MMMs, which is typically impression-based, typically works across multiple media channels, and affiliate can't be treated as one homogeneous channel,” Dan said.
So, when it comes to incrementality, Dan said it’s important to establish what marketers and brands want to measure, and ensure there’s the data to supplement and support where they're putting their marketing dollars.
This is something CJ is focusing on with incrementality testing.
“We've got a suite of solutions that are able to look at holdout group analysis, cashback elasticity testing, different commission rate optimisations, but also to look further down the customer journey around when and where an affiliate touchpoint exists in that customer journey; how and if and when the influence has produced a better outcome,” he explained.
“We can report back to advertisers to say if affiliate is part of this customer journey, we're able to deliver better conversions, better AOVs and an uplift on perhaps new customer acquisition,” Dan added.
In tandem, CJ is working with MMM solutions and businesses to ensure that affiliate contributions are accurately represented, which hasn’t historically been the case.
The measurement challenge
When it comes to measurement more broadly, Dan noted that the industry has evolved significantly, but challenges remain, as ever.
“When there are significant gaps in tracking and attribution, that means that there are gaps in measurement and that means that the data that exists within that measurement infrastructure isn't as robust as it could be or doesn't at least provide the biggest insight.”
So what’s next?
“Where we need to get to as an industry is ensuring that we're continuing to push the integrations that we have with advertisers and ensuring that they are best-in-class.”
This, Dan said, will help elevate and substantiate the value affiliate marketing can bring, reward publishers fairly, and evidence value to CMOs and budget holders.
Get the full interview, which includes Dan’s insights into AI visibility, below.
