Affiliation is becoming increasingly popular with companies looking to increase their profile, customer base and sales. Looking to improve your website’s conversion rate? Affiliation is a proven marketing lever for low-funnel marketing strategies. Here’s why.
How can you use affiliation to develop your low-funnel marketing strategy?
The importance of a good low-funnel strategy
It’s estimated that 100% of prospects end up in the high funnel, but only 1-3% make it to the low funnel. At this final stage of the conversion funnel, prospects are converted into customers and, for some, into loyal customers. Loyal customers are invaluable to any company, because they regularly return to the site to discover new products and make purchases. They can also recommend the product or service to family, friends or colleagues.
The “high funnel”, the first stage of the conversion funnel, is important because this is where you’ll attract the maximum number of prospects. With a good high-funnel marketing strategy, you’ll raise awareness of your company, target your potential clientele and create a good image for your products and services.
The following steps, at the heart of the conversion funnel, will help you build a relationship of trust with your prospects, so that they’ll want to become customers.
The “low-funnel”, the last stage of the conversion funnel, is decisive. You’ll have lost a large proportion of your prospects along the way. You then need to convert as many of the remaining prospects as possible into customers. To do this, you’ll need to convince them to buy your product or service, but also build their loyalty.
The low-funnel stage is your last chance to influence the prospect in favor of a buying decision. You need to convince them to choose you over your competitors. If they buy, you also need to encourage them to come back and become loyal customers. A good low-funnel strategy will enable you to increase your customer base and, consequently, your sales.
How can affiliation convert prospects and build customer loyalty?
There are many ways to improve your low-funnel marketing strategy, and affiliation is one of them. This lever can be used at every stage of the conversion funnel:
- In the high-funnel, affiliation can help you bring new visitors to your website.
- In the middle of the funnel, affiliation can encourage prospects who have shown interest in your site to return.
- In the “low-funnel“, affiliation will convince prospects who have returned to initiate and complete a purchasing action.
Affiliate marketing is an effective way of attracting prospects, because it allows you to target and personalize your marketing strategy. By running an affiliate campaign on well-chosen partner sites, you’ll be able to respond precisely to your target audience’s needs and offer them a personalized, incentive-based message.
Affiliation Marketing at your fingertips
THE KEYS TO MAKING THE MOST OF THIS BOOMING LEVER Download the guide!Which affiliate media are best for low-funnel results?
According to statistics reported in 2023 on the BloggingX website, 81% of brands use affiliation to improve their results and sales. Affiliate campaigns account for an average of 30% of a company’s revenues, and in the marketing and advertising sector, affiliates generate between 15% and 30% of sales.
These figures are not surprising when you consider that affiliation can play an effective role at every stage of the conversion tunnel! An affiliate campaign can use a wide variety of media, including banner ads, mailings, external links in text, product feeds or even offers and gifts aimed at the prospect to be converted, such as a discount code.
In the case of low-funnel marketing, certain affiliate media are particularly recommended to increase your chances of converting and retaining prospects: cashback, retargeting and coupons or promotional offers.
Cashback partners
Cashback sites are placed directly at the end of the conversion funnel, since they require a purchase to work. The cashback system offers to refund a certain amount of money (5%, 10%, 15%…) to a consumer who has just made a purchase.
According to a study on cashback carried out by the Syndicat National du Marketing à la Performance and the Xerfi group, the conversion rate of cashback leads is twice as high as that of other channels. In addition, 58% of online shoppers consider cashback to be one of the top decision criteria when choosing an online retailer.
Opt for a partnership with a cashback site to take advantage of the consumer craze for this type of offer! However, there are many cashback partner sites. To make your choice, you can compare the commission amounts charged by cashback sites on your sales. They can range from 1% to 7%, depending on the partner.
Coupons and promotional offers
According to the same cashback study, discount coupons are the second most effective lever for increasing sales. Highly attractive to the prospect, the discount coupon can also be limited in time (a flash sale, for example) to create a sense of urgency that will encourage the buyer to complete the purchase quickly.
You can partner with a couponing site, which will display your offer and redirect interested prospects to your site.
Retargeting
Retargeting consists in targeting Internet users who have shown an interest in your site or products (e.g. by consulting a page, building a shopping cart, etc.). When surfers visit your affiliate partner’s site, they’ll find ads and incentives related to the products they’re interested in.
Still according to the study conducted by the Syndicat National du Marketing à la Performance and the Xerfi group, retargeting is the fourth most effective lever for increasing sales. It also offers a major advantage: you can choose the partner sites on which you want your offers to reappear. In this way, you can choose a theme and tone that match your brand to further refine your targeting of prospects to convert.
Finally, partnerships with cashback sites, couponing sites and retargeting solutions will boost your affiliate campaign results if you’re looking to convert and retain customers. Seduced by a targeted, personalized and advantageous offer, your prospects won’t hesitate to buy on your site and come back to discover your products and offers.
Need advice on developing your business? Put your trust in our affiliation platform! Our experts are here to support you and help you optimize your strategy. Thanks to our experience, we can guide you towards the best practices and solutions for activating the best low-funnel levers to boost your sales.