Affiliate marketers did well during the third quarter of 2018, increasing revenue by 35% year-over-year.
That data comes from Acceleration Partners, a global affiliate marketing agency. The
report analyzed data from more than 13,000 active retailer and affiliate clients'
programs from the third quarter of 2017 to the third quarter of 2018 to see how e-commerce and retail brands grew successful affiliate programs.
Overall, Independence Day week saw the
strongest YoY growth, with revenue up 114%. The report attributes this growth in part to a successful early back-to-school promotion by one retailer in particular.
Mobile revenue for the
quarter rose 46%, compared with desktops and tablets at 29% YoY.
Retailers from the sample group saw revenue from mobile devices rise about two percentage points compared with last year
-- 21.4% in 2018 versus 19.4% in 2017. The retailers presented a range of mobile contribution percentages, ranging from less than 1% to more than 50% for some.
Affiliate program clicks rose
27% in the third quarter of 2018 compared with the year-ago period. Acceleration Partners’ clients took advantage of the various holidays and seasonal time frames by creating excitement and
urgency around July 4th sales, back-to-school deals and summer clearance events.
Click active partnerships grew 44% YoY, according to recent data, and total commissions paid rose along with
revenue and clicks -- up 32% year-over-year.
The average commission rate, or commission as a percentage of sales, remained relatively even year-over-year. The average percentage of affiliate
program revenue from new customers in rose by 42.2% from 41.9% in the third quarter of 2017.
On average, between 38% and 45% of revenue garnered by Acceleration Partners' clients comes from
new customers, per the study.
Finally, conversion rates for retailers rose about 8.2% in the quarter -- up from 7.9% in the year-ago quarter. Although small, the increase suggests that
retailers and their program management teams are effective in continually optimizing their partnerships and messaging, according to the findings.