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AFFILIATE MARKETING
A marketer’s nightmare: Clickloss
Let’s get straight to the point: What is clickloss?
As Nick Lenihan explains in this thorough guide, “Clickloss is when you buy X amount of clicks, but less are reported in your tracker, and even less are reported in your affiliate network.”
What causes clickloss?
Clickloss can occur for a number of reasons, such as:
- Internet’s functions: Link redirects, page load speed difference between different pages, servers located in different countries than users. All this architecture can result in some of your clicks getting lost in the interwebz…
- Human behavior and traffic types: Low intent traffic types (pops, in-app videos, etc) will have a high clickloss.
- Shady business partners: All the actors in the scene have different goals that might not reflect your ROAS.
- Bots: Fake clicks are not an underground legend. Bots do exist and can cause a loss in traffic.
What’s an acceptable clickloss percentage?
- Don’t worry if it’s less than 10%.
- Greater than 10%? It might be worth investigating.
- Once it gets over 20% you should start to sweat.
How to fix clickloss
- Make sure your tracker and landing page are loading as fast as possible.
- Eliminate sources with a high clickloss percentage from your campaign.
- Use a landing page instead of direct linking.
But remember, you can’t eliminate clickloss completely… After all, it’s how the Internet works ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
No trust, no more: Google vs the US
Google might have to prepare for another pandemic-like situation as multiple US authorities prepare to file cases against antitrust violations.
What is their plea? They seek to promote competition by discouraging large organizations from unfairly using their dominant market position to squeeze out competitors.
Blast from the past. The search giant was fined $1.7B in the EU last year for anti-competitive behavior when many businesses accused it of using its search results to promote its own webpages over competitors.
The results in the EU might be a strong defining factor and offer a clue to the type of allegations it will face in the US as well.
Accusations in the US may follow a similar course and have a similar outcome, and they’re expected to be filed this summer before being followed by state-level suits in the fall.
Well, what do you think? Another heavy fine for Google? Google to make another retaliatory algorithm change?
SPONSORED BY ARAGON ADVERTISING
Bound to boom, less-talked-about affiliate campaigns and how to promote them
What do these verticals have in common?
- TV/Internet/Satellite
- Life insurance and final expense
- Dentist
- Medical alert devices
- Tax debt
- Pest control
They work great with pay per call flows and they are booming – these offers average $6 earnings per call (EPC) with Medicare and Auto-insurance reaching as high as $20!
You can learn and promote these kinds of offers with the pros at Aragon Advertising, the #1 Pay Per Call Network 3 years running by mThink BlueBook and undisputed leader.
No idea about pay per call? Read their beginner guide here. Then come back for some tips for each traffic source where these offers work great.
On Google:
- Use call ads. Users can call with a click on the ad. Limited space for your copy so be concise and highly targeted. Bid high to gather data fast.
- Use landing pages in call ads to run lead-gen campaigns simultaneously along with pay per call.
- Research and target keywords that show higher intent for calls.
- Use call extensions, they allow you to add your phone number, boosting CTR and calls.
On Facebook:
- Target by location and narrow down by mile radius nearby physical locations that allows your ad to get very specific.
- Target by age, gender, behavior, etc. wherever possible to reach the right demo.
- Customize landing pages and copy for each segment.
On Snapchat:
- Swipe to call or text ads.
- Reaching fresh audiences for a cheaper price, given the earlier stages of Snap’s ad platform.
Perform with pay per call and Aragon Advertising. Sign up here.
BUSINESS
How are small businesses faring: A FB & SMB Roundtable report
Facebook recently conducted a survey involving 86k business owners, managers and workers in the US to understand how small and medium businesses (SMB) are doing after months of lockdown.
Brad Michelson put his four main points in this tweet but we thought it’s good to go a bit deeper.
+ Closed businesses facing an uncertain future.
- 31% of SMBs reported that their business is not currently operating.
- That number rises to 52% when limited to personal businesses, 55% of which are led by women.
+ No access to capital and demand.
- 28% of SMB’s said that cash flow is the biggest challenge they face over the next few months.
- While 20% said their biggest challenge would be lack of demand.
+ Turning to the internet.
- 51% of businesses report an increase in online interactions with their clients.
- 36% report that they are now conducting all of their sales online.
- 35% of businesses that have changed operations have expanded the use of digital payments.
+ Employees are facing dire economic circumstances.
- 74% of employees have no access to paid sick leave.
- Only 45% of SMBs would consider rehiring the same number of workers when their businesses reopen.
+ Being optimistic and resilient.
- 57% of SMBs report that they are optimistic or extremely optimistic about the future of their businesses.
- Only 11% of operating businesses expect to fail in the next three months if the current conditions persist.
Check out the full report here.
ROUNDING UP THE STACK
- GOOGLE: A reporting bug started on May 12 and might be screwing up your Search Console metrics.
- SEO: The May 2020 Core Update rollout is complete. Word of Google.
- INSTAGRAM: The app rolled out Guides. A way for people to discover recommendations from creators. Will we be able to place ads there?
- TIKTOK: The company signed Kevin Mayer, ex-head of Disney Streaming, as the new CEO. A fairy tale has just begun….
- GOOGLE SHOPPING: According to this article, content for Shopping tab listings are being pulled differently for organic and inorganic listings in Google search results.
- FACEBOOK: Skippable, mid-roll in-stream video ads are being tested, which allow users to skip in-stream video ads after five seconds.
BRAIN TEASER
I’m found in socks, scarves and mittens. I’m found in the paws of playful kittens. What am I?
You can find the solution here.
POOLSIDE CHAT
Cool tech, (funny) business, lifestyle and all the other things affiliates like to chat about while sipping cocktails by the pool.
You’ll never see such a case study
Amazon saw its sales surge during the pandemic. And we heard about it everywhere. People stuck at home lined Jeff Bezos’s pockets with even greater urgency than before.
But all that glitters is not gold….
Just like all those screenshots you’ve seen in Facebook Groups, everybody wants to look at the revenue figures. But nobody has been taking the extra costs into consideration…
Amazon spent $600M in COVID-19 related costs in Q1, and it’s not over yet. That cost is expected to grow up to a massive $4B.
Costs surged so high that Amazon actually tried to slow down sales!
Everybody’s out there trying to increase conversions while Amazon, for weeks, actually stopped coupons, product recommendations, promotional deals and all the other features that drive additional revenue.
Not the usual case study, uh?