affiliate conversion dataAre you a data geek?

Maybe you should be.

Earning a steady income online is all about understanding and manipulating the data that you have access to.

Fortunately, you don’t need a PhD in Statistics in order to be successful with affiliate marketing. Understanding a few basic concepts will be enough to help you choose the right niche affiliate program to work with.

What To Look For in a Niche Affiliate Program

Basically, I always look at two points before I sign up for a new program.

Conversion Rate

This is the rate at which people that click affiliate links purchase a product from the company. Unfortunately there’s no single standard you can use as a barometer. Rates vary widely based on a number of factors, including:

  • Industry
  • Sale price
  • Value of the product
  • Reputation of the brand
  • Lead relevance

Total Average Commission

Secondly, I look at what the average commission is for a program. This, too, will vary widely depending upon the sale price and the customer retention rate, but it’s important to look not just at the first sale, but the average commission over time.

Many subscription services, for instance, might only net you a few dollars at the time of the sale, but will recur over time. If a $10 subscription commission has an average retention rate of 15 months, for example, then the real value of that sale is $150!

Putting It Together

If you have these 2 points of data, calculating your potential earnings becomes relatively easy.

But, knowing this information is about than simply projecting sales. The fact that a company provides this data is an indication that they are an experienced player, that has enough of a track record behind them to know exactly when and how their users are going to convert to sales.

You should also note that these two metrics are things I consider for niche affiliate programs. That means that I’m looking only at programs that provide a small set of products.

The larger retailers, like Amazon or Walmart, may provide this data, but it’s usually less relevant to you as an individual affiliate, since commissions will vary depending on product sale price, and finding the exact breakdown of information you’d need for the subset of products you’re promoting is difficult, if not impossible.

To learn more affiliate marketing tips, click here.