Affiliate marketing usually refers to online affiliate marketing. Professional affiliate marketing agencies organize advertising resources on various websites to provide advertisers (sellers) with network-wide advertising promotion. AliExpress affiliate marketing is a “pay-for-performance” promotion model officially launched by AliExpress. The webmasters of affiliate marketing come from more than 100 countries around the world, covering a wide range of consumer groups.
1. The promotion process of joining affiliate marketing
The promotion process of joining affiliate marketing is as follows:
(1) Sellers add their products to affiliate marketing and set up Good commission ratio;
(2) Overseas webmasters publish relevant advertisements on their own websites;
(3) Customers see the advertisement and click to enter the AliExpress website. Place an order to purchase goods;
(4) The seller delivers the goods. After completing the transaction, the platform will pay the commission to the webmaster who published the advertisement.
These advertising websites include search engines (such as Google), social media (such as Facebook), discount price comparison websites, cash back or coupon websites, evaluation or shopping guide websites, etc. Various statistics show that an increasing proportion of buyers purchase goods through friend recommendations and social networking sites, especially in the Middle East, where this proportion accounts for more than half of the total e-commerce transaction volume. Joining affiliate marketing can effectively utilize the media resources of these channels and gain exposure opportunities on a large number of overseas websites, which will be of great help to the growth of store orders.
2. Commission settings for affiliate marketing
The commission model of AliExpress affiliate marketing is paid in proportion to the order amount, that is, CPS (Cost Per Sale). There is no need to join affiliate marketing. Pay upfront, exposure is free, and commission is paid after the customer confirms receipt. The advantage of the CPS model is that you only have to pay when there is a transaction. For newly launched products, the conversion rate needs to be optimized. Using the “pay-per-click” promotion method may cost money but have no sales. Choosing affiliate marketing is a very good test market feedback. Method
Sellers can set their own commission ratio, or choose the default ratio. Different categories have different default minimum commission ratios, ranging from 3% to 8%; the maximum commission ratio that can be set for all categories is 50%. When setting the commission ratio, you can set a relatively low commission for products that are already hot-selling; you can set a higher commission for new products that have not yet accumulated sales. This commission setting strategy is: the profit margin of hot-selling products may have been squeezed very small, and sellers can no longer pay high commissions, but the sales of hot-selling products are stable, and it is easier for promoters to get commissions; and Setting a high commission rate for new products or products with low sales is an incentive for promoters.
Commission settings are divided into the following four categories.
The default commission for the store. When joining affiliate marketing, you need to set the store’s default commission. All products in the store will be calculated according to the store’s default commission without special settings.
Category commission. Sellers can set commissions for categories. In this category, all products will be calculated according to category commissions and the commission for the main products will be calculated without special settings.
Products that you want to promote for a long time can be set as the main product, and a special commission ratio can be set for the main product. The reference ratio is 10%~20%
Commission for hot products. Products that want to focus on increasing sales in the short term, that is, products that plan to spend more marketing budget to quickly increase sales, can be set as hot-selling products, and the reference commission can be set to 20%~30%.
The priority of the above four types of commission settings when calculating commissions is: commission for popular products > commission for recommended products > commission for categories > default commission for stores.
3. Commission calculation method for affiliate marketing
If a customer visits the seller’s AliExpress store through a specific link from the affiliate website, within 15 days, if the customer places an order in the store , and the order is finally completed, then this order is considered an order that effectively calculates the commission. The calculation time of 15 days starts from the last visit through a specific link. If the customer enters through a promotional link within these 15 days, the calculation of 15 days will start again.
During the transaction period, if the customer refunds the alliance order, the alliance commission will be refunded; after the transaction, if the customer returns the product normally, the alliance commission will not be refunded, because the alliance website has already played the role of a shopping guide. The affiliate commission is calculated based on the actual sales price of discounted products, and the affiliate commission is not calculated for shipping costs.
4. Case explanation
The following case is taken from the official forum of AliExpress.
Mr. Wang, an AliExpress seller, joined the AliExpress affiliate program on March 30, 2018. When joining, 5% was set as the default commission rate for the store. On April 1, 2018, in order to improve the competitiveness of the products he sold, he set a commission rate of 6% for his jewelry and watch categories. The commission ratio will take effect after three working days based on the commission effective time. On the same day, in order to better promote his best-selling items, he chose a necklace as the main product and set a 10% commission rate. Again, commission rates will take effect after three business days.
On April 2, 2018, buyer Janet saw the main necklace of Mr. Wang’s store through alliance website A, and placed an order for one piece, the amount was US$58.78, and the shipping fee was US$20. Although Mr. Wang set a 6% commission rate for the jewelry category and a 10% commission rate for the necklace, because the new commission rate had not yet taken effect when the customer purchased it, the commission rate was the default 5%, and Mr. Wang had to pay US$58.78. *5%~$2.94 affiliate commission.
On April 5, 2018, buyer Tom purchased Mr. Wang’s store’s flagship necklace ($58.78) through Alliance Website A. After entering the store, he purchased two more jewelry products (each amount $55), shipping is $30. Because Mr. Wang has set a commission rate of 6% for the jewelry category, and necklaces, as the main product, have a commission rate of 10%, Mr. Wang needs to pay $58.78*10%+$5*2×6% for this order of $19,878~ $6.48 affiliate commission.
On April 10, 2018, the buyer Janet was very satisfied after receiving the goods. She visited Mr. Wang’s store directly and placed an order for 5 featured necklaces (USD 58.78 each) and 1 Small electronic products ($100 each), shipping fee is $20. This buyer was brought by an affiliate site and is within the 15-day validity period, so an affiliate commission should be paid. Necklaces have a 10% commission rate, while electronic products do not have a separate category, so the default commission rate is 5%. Mr. Wang needs to pay an affiliate commission of $58.78*5×10%+$100*5%=$34.39 for this order of $413.9.
On April 12, 2018, buyer Jim saw the main necklace of Mr. Wang’s store through alliance website A. After entering the store, he only purchased two electronic products (the prices were US$100 and US$120 respectively). USD) Shipping fee is $30. There is no separate category for electronic products, so the default commission rate is 5%. Mr. Wang gave this buyer a discount of US$50. The total price of the goods is US$220-US$50 = US$170 (excluding shipping costs). Mr. Wang needs to pay (US$100 x 5% + US$120 x 5%) x 170 for this order. USD/$220 = $8.50 affiliate commission.