Anne Golombek Feb 27, 2015 10:48:00 AM 3 min read

Pitfalls in Social and Affiliate Marketing: Torben Sominka explains what to watch out for!

Instead of using the common metric CPM (Cost-Per-Mille resp. Cost per Thousand Views) whereby the advertiser has to pay per 1.000 gained contacts, many online shops nowadays prefer to rely on Performance Marketing. In this form of advertising, the advertiser only has to pay a commission if there is a measurable reaction by the user, for example if the banner has actually been noticed or clicked. 
But though this approach sounds very promising at first sight, the devil is in the details again: Whereas in the case of the PostClick procedure the merchant only has to pay for actual clicks, the PostView procedure cannot guarantee an effective contact between the ad and user.

And here is why: Although the name PostView suggests that the advertiser only has to pay for advertising that has actually been seen, this does not necessarily have to be the case. The reason is the used technology: If a potential buyer visits a website with an advertising banner, he gets a cookie immediately – no matter if the respective banner has actually been seen. As PostView ads happen to be placed below the fold most often, many users get the cookie without noticing the ad at all, then maybe visit the shop afterwards (as we all know, cookies stay for a certain span of time!) and purchase something. The retailer now has to pay the Affiliate a commission for those purchases – although the partner played no part in the users’ purchasing decision.
The direct customer who would have been free for the merchant has become an allegedly PostView customer who is costly for the company.

 

 

In his presentation at the eShop Summit 2015, Torben Sominka explaines how to avoid these and other pricey effects and thereby minimize risks in Social and Affiliate Marketing. With the help of his advice, you can allocate your advertising budget for maximum profits!

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Anne Golombek

Anne is COO and Marketing Lead at minubo. As an expert in Business Intelligence and data-driven decision-making, she is a passionate writer for minubo and their blog.