In the previous
post I looked at how issuers need to build a web presence, or make their websites and cards more 'findable'. It's important they do: the internet has metamorphosed into a giant global haystack and every issuer's website, somewhere inside, small and generally out of sight, a tiny little needle.
In the digital information age, consumers are so saturated by, well, information that the need for issuers to ensure their sites are easily found is arguably as important as building their brands. It may even be more important. You can't just be somewhere, you have to be everywhere. Or, at least, as many places as possible. For branding, read ubiquity.
There are many ways to build a web presence, and we will continue to analyze them in detail in the months ahead, but one approach that is already being leveraged by number of issuers is
affiliate marketing.
It's claimed that as much as 25% of the online sales of the world's leading brands originate from affiliate marketing channels, so it's clearly an effective and cost-effective marketing channel.
Two such issuers, clients of online advertising company
Commission Junction (Capital One Cards Europe and Marbles) see affiliate marketing as such a low cost and risk-free channel to acquire new cardholders, that they are already allocating around 25% of all online ad spend to it. And why not? It's transparent, rooted in ROI and a simple way for issuers to boost their web presence and enhance their brand (presuming the right affiliates are chosen). And best of all, it can easily be outsourced. But how many other issuers are genuinely making the most of this land of opportunity?
It's hard to say, so let's look at one that is. Amex's affiliate
program is a great example of an issuer creating a simple platform for affiliates to learn about the types of card Amex offers, who they would suit (for example, shoppers, travelers, point collectors and business people), and how they go about integrating them into their sites — in this instance, through Amex's affiliate partner,
LinkShare. By making affiliates' lives so easy, Amex is benefiting from one of the cheapest but most cheerful acquisition channels around.
With this in mind, I wonder whether issuers should even introduce the concept of affiliate marketing at the product development level? Rather than create a product and then look to suitable affiliates, why not look to affinity groups that are not being monetized, then work backwards so to speak? That way you create an affiliate product with the perfect fit.