David Fiske A subtle blend of affiliate marketing and web development

Be Cheeky posted a question on the forums earlier this week: what do affiliates want as incentives?

I think the best thing merchants could offer is a set of gift vouchers. Why?
 
1) Merchant Cost

If merchants have their own gift vouchers (some do, some don't), it would be more cost effective for them to give these to affiliates rather than token prizes such as MP3 players. The cost of your own stock is in all probability cheaper than going and buying stock from other outlets.

For those that don't have their own gift vouchers, Love 2 Reward offers 'universal' gift vouchers accepted at quite a few well known high street stores. It won't save you any money though :-)

2) Universal Appeal

in the case of Be Cheeky, they predominantly stock women's underwear. If they offered a designer thong as a prize, it may discount some men from entering (perhaps they don't have someone to give it to). By offering gift vouchers, people can buy what they like within a certain price range. Perhaps some women don't like thongs and would prefer knickers.

3) True Affiliate Value

It has often been stated that prizes awarded via a bonus system on affiliate networks are then subjected to tax and other bits and bobs associated with business revenue. Gift vouchers delivered outside of this system don't have a face value. It says so on the back. I assume that this would mean that affiliates are not liable for tax on their prize. They don't have physical cash - the merchant has this. All affiliates have are bits of paper with a promise of an exchange for items up to a certain amount.

Gift vouchers would mean £100 stays as £100 of true prize value.

4) Brand Awareness

If I enter a competition for Dixons, I would like to receive vouchers I can use in-store. If I win a Tesco competition, vouchers would also be handy. Why?

Some affiliates may not have shopped in Dixons or Tesco yet they promote them. By having gift vouchers, the affiliate is more of less forced into buying from that brand - trying them out, seeing how easy (or not) it is to place an order, the transparency of the order process, etc. They may even discover new products they weren't aware of.

Conclusion

If I was offered an iPod or retailer vouchers for the same value, I would opt for the retailer vouchers. I predominantly work with merchants who stock items I would be happy to receive.

If I was offered retailer vouchers or generic vouchers like the Love2Shop ones, I would probably opt for retailer vouchers though it would depend on which retailer we are talking about. Not all merchants offer vouchers - not all merchants sell stock. For those that don't, something like the Love2Shop vouchers would go down a treat.

Any merchant care to test me theories? Answers sent in a brown envelope... ;-)