Attention Affiliate Marketers! The FIRST EVER Affiliate Summit AffStat Report has just been made available. The report, which “features dozens of charts of data, based on the responses from the participating affiliates” can be viewed online or downloaded for free. Just use this link to the Affiliate Summit website.
The AffStat Report features responses from over four-hundred and fifty affiliates. Those who were surveyed were asked 28 questions covering a variety of issues relating to affiliate marketing. Questions dealt with affiliates methods, preferences, and strategies as well as any “complaints, ideas, suggestions or opinions…regarding affiliate marketing.” Below is a list of just a few of the questions that were asked, to provide an example:
• Do you promote your affiliate links in PPC search engines?
• Do you prefer network or independent affiliate programs?
• How many affiliate programs do you actively promote?
• Do you choose the affiliate offers you promote based on whether or not they allow affiliates that use adware and/or toolbars?
• How much information should an affiliate manager make available to you?
• What is the minimum EPC (earnings per 1 click) for you to promote an affiliate program?
• What is the most important factor in choosing a merchant?
The 40 page AffStat Report is filled with noteworthy findings about the industry and industry professionals. The Report recommends itself to be full of surprises that make you “think twice about the way you operate as an affiliate, merchant, network, or vendor.” Some questions lent themselves to more balanced results. 51% of participants claimed to “maintain an opt-in e-mail list” while 49% said they didn’t. Other questions resulted in more diversified answers. For example, when asked how they prefer to be contacted by affiliate managers “on an individual basis,” 57% of participants said email was the most preferred means of contact, 11% chose Instant Messenger, 15% opted for the phone, 1% preferred contact by Twitter and Facebook, and 15% claimed to prefer contact by affiliate managers via Phone, IM, and Email.
Among the favorite affiliate marketing message boards are ABestWeb, WickedFire, 5Star, and Affiliates4U. However, there was little consensus on which “industry/merchant types” affiliates prefer to promote. None of the 18 categories which ranged from Apparel to Computers & Electronics to Insurance/Financial Services to Toys & Hobbies mustered more than 8% of the participants.
In additional to the graphs and numbers, the AffStat report offers readers a glimpse into a behind the scenes account of Affiliate Marketing by asking affiliates to speak candidly. Some participants offered complaints; “the affiliate tools are either too complicated or severely lacking. Interfaces are usually too cluttered and the search options rarely work.” Others made suggestions; “know what you’re talking about,” and “don’t lie…the truth is too easily found out.” And a few even gave encouragement; “I’m at the stage where I’m finding a balance.”
The AffStat report may prove particularly useful to Affiliate Marketers. In addition to all the resources mentioned above, it offers valuable supplementary data, including “a glossary to explain industry terms, as well as lists of suggested message boards, blogs, and Twitter accounts that you should know about.”
To learn more or read the findings for yourself, check out the report at http://affstat.com/