Over the last 20 years, affiliate marketing has matured beyond what many marketers would have imagined back then. What could’ve been solidified as the wild west of digital marketing where you hoped reward outweighed risk, has very methodically evolved into a sophisticated channel that champions integral relationship building backed by deep analytics to prove its value. In many ways, it’s become the smart marketers most coveted tactic to gain the operating leverage needed to continue to be omnipresent at all consumer touchpoints and to drive new customer acquisition.
But being omnipresent can also present a unique set of challenges when it comes to brand safety and digital fraud as supported by estimates indicating that ad fraud cost US-based marketers as much as $19B in theft in 2018 alone. Ecommerce fraud, also known as purchase fraud, is a very real and very persistent problem for businesses that conduct online sales. And any business that sells items online is at risk for chargebacks and incorrectly declined transactions, as well as willful fraud due to the degree of anonymity granted by card- not-present (CNP) transactions or transactions made over the phone or by mail.
According to credit reporting agency Experian, ecommerce fraud is growing at nearly twice the rate of actual ecommerce sales. The United States faces the largest amount of ecommerce fraud in the world, with that $19 billion worth of fraudulent ecommerce transactions affecting retailers' bottom lines last year. These facts shouldn’t be shocking to anyone who either buys or sells products or services online.
So where does the affiliate channel rank when it comes to brand safety? The short answer is that according to a Forrester Consulting commissioned survey of executive level marketers, affiliate is regarded quite highly for brand safety. Download our ebook, Brand Safety Ranks High Among Affiliate Marketing’s Benefits to learn more!
