Table of Contents Introduction... 01 CJ s Cross-Device Tracking Solution... 02 Key Strategies... 03 Shopping & Device Paths... 04 Average Order Value... 05 Holiday 2017... 06 Time to Conversion... 07 Day of Week... 08 3 Ways to Take Action... 09 Advertiser Benchmarks... 10 Publisher Benchmarks... 11
Introduction Time spent on mobile devices has increased to the point where, in many markets, the audience reach of mobile devices exceeds that of desktops. Last year, the reach of mobile devices into US digital retail shopping audiences was 90%, compared to 76% reach on desktops. For marketers, this necessitates a shift towards measuring and optimizing customer experiences across devices. The era of cross-device has arrived. A Holisitic View of Affiliate Performance Cross-Device tracking solves for the tracking of sales that originate on one device or browser and complete on another, offering more insight into the customer s path to purchase. Last year, CJ Affiliate introduced Cross-Device tracking as a foundational tracking solution that provides a true view of the impact of affiliate campaigns across different devices or browsers and allows for the expansion of engagement opportunities with affiliates. CJ is able to identify those Publishers that are successfully reaching customers (on whatever device they are) and converting them at higher AOVs, so that Advertisers can make smarter investment decisions. To help marketers optimize within the cross-device landscape, CJ Affiliate has created this Report. This report shares: the difference in time to conversion for cross-device purchases, and how to optimize for this; the most common device paths used for cross-device purchasing; how cross-device shopping trends vary by the day of the week; a view into average order values by device paths; and key strategies for engaging with shoppers across devices. Methodology: Data for this report was sourced from CJ Affiliate s network transactional data for 1,000+ clients who tracked cross-device orders between June 2017 and February 2018. Digital Retail Shoppers Audience Reach by Platform Daily Clicks and Orders Trend Mobile Desktop USA UK Spain Mexico Indonesia Italy India Germany France China Canada Brazil 76% 78% 82% 76% 55% 58% 65% 68% 78% 62% 72% 66% 70% 82% 78% 70% 78% 74% 80% 90% 92% 98% 94% 94% Source: comscore MMX Multi-Platform, May 2017 CROSS-DEVICE INTELLIGENCE REPORT 2018 COMMISSION JUNCTION LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 01
CJ s Cross-Device Tracking Solution Powerful Profiles Using Conversant s 200 million+ unique customer profiles, CJ bridges the gap between cookies and individuals by leveraging online and offline transaction data to create persistent customer profiles that power the most accurate Cross-Device solution in-market today. CJ Affiliate s Cross-Device tracking recognizes more customers with more certainty than anyone else. Conversant s anonymized profiles are created using transaction-based, deterministic matching that links all of a customer s devices to one individual. Anonymized, deterministic data Anonymized, deterministic data (names, addresses, email addresses) Website tagging Website tagging Email tagging ANONYMOUS App tagging First-party cookies CONVERSANT An ony m ousidid 5735748 2373767 Email tagging App tagging First-party cookies CROSS-DEVICE INTELLIGENCE REPORT 2018 COMMISSION JUNCTION LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 02
Key Strategies Capture High-Consideration, High-Value Purchases One of the most tangible benefits of Cross-Device tracking for marketers is the ability to identify more affiliate-influenced sales, including sales that are more consideration driven. With the adoption of Cross-Device tracking, retailers are able to see the influence of the affiliate channel on high-aov orders: orders that happen on multiple devices or browsers have 23% higher AOV than singledevice orders. Most notably 31% of cross-device orders are completed seven 30 days past the initial affiliate click. Research-driven shoppers are engaging with affiliate sites, including coupon sites, earlier than previously known: 20% of cross-device sales driven by coupon publishers occur more than 8 days past the initial click. In addition, Cross-Device tracking has empowered the growth of Content and Social publishers, increasing their rate of affiliate orders 25% overall, many of which have high-aovs, and expanding affiliate s reach into early-stage discovery. Invest in the Discovery & Research Phases of Shopping Cross-Device tracking empowers Advertisers and Publishers to understand more about their customers behaviors, and a consistent trend across the affiliate audience is a high rate of consideration before buying. Data from comscore shows that affiliate shoppers are 1.75 times more likely to engage in heavy research before making a purchase. Relationships between retailers and content and social sites are in a position to flourish when Cross- Device tracking is in place. Marketers can tap shopper discovery via these sites on a CPA-basis and publishers have confidence that their role in earlystage engagement is recognized and rewarded. Marketers can now also double-down on creating content that places them firmly in the consideration phase of shopping, which occurs across many types of sites, involves multiple devices and browsers, and frequently takes longer from initial click to final sale. Cross-Device tracking in affiliate has created a new world for marketers to undertake more early-stage engagements with the promise that their efforts in discovery and research can be tracked, measured, and optimized. Influence & Optimize Paths It is critical to know the right moments to engage with shoppers. With new visibility into affiliate shopping, marketers have the opportunity to not only grow early-stage engagements, but to also optimize highvalue shopping paths and the publisher relationships that drive them. Cross-Device insights allow Advertisers and Publishers to work together to increase ad frequency amongst a core target audience, on the device they are more likely to use and at the right time, increasing the likelihood that a shopper will take action. For example, marketers with a high rate of sales starting on smartphones and closing on tablets can proactively plan campaigns to reach potential buyers on the weekend, when tablet usage for shopping increases. When device usage and purchase paths are tied together, it provides an unprecedented amount of insight with which to understand customer behaviors. As this intelligence is applied to program performance, it allows marketers to make efficient and effective affiliate marketing decisions. CROSS-DEVICE INTELLIGENCE REPORT 2018 COMMISSION JUNCTION LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 03
Shopping & Device Paths Device on Which Shoppers First Clicked an Affiliate Link Device on Which Sales Concluded Half of all shopping journeys are beginning on smartphones and tablets. Share of Cross-Device Orders Share of Cross-Device Orders Cross-Device insights show that shoppers first engagement with affiliate campaigns happens equally on mobile devices as much as desktop computers and laptops. While a majority of cross-device sales close on desktops, smartphones and tablets are the initial devices used for 50% of affiliate crossdevice orders. 44% 6% 9% 50% Desktop & Laptop Smartphone Tablet 28% 63% Desktop & Laptop Smartphone Tablet Shopping paths that take a smartphone to desktop path account for 30% of cross-device sales. Computer usage that involves multiple desktops or laptops (i.e. switching between home and work computers) drives a high rate of cross-device sales as well. Device Paths Share of Cross-Device Orders Desktop > Desktop 31% Tablets are used less frequently than smartphones for shopping; but for marketers, they remain an important part of the cross-device story due to the high value orders completing on tablets. Desktop > Mobile Desktop > Tablet Mobile > Desktop Mobile > Mobile 2% 14% 13% 30% Mobile > Tablet 5% Tablet > Desktop Tablet > Mobile Tablet > Tablet 2% 2% 3% Source: CJ Affiliate CROSS-DEVICE INTELLIGENCE REPORT 2018 COMMISSION JUNCTION LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 04
Average Order Values Affiliate order values across all devices increase once cross-device sales are tracked. A cross-device view into affiliate-driven sales has provided a new perspective on the overall value of sales in the affiliate channel. When sales involving multiple devices are captured, the network average order value increased 23% overall. This is due to the fact that many high-value and longer consideration sales, which often take longer to complete than one-device sales, are being accounted for and many more high-value sales initiated by Content publishers on mobile phones, but completed on desktops, are also being captured. Cross-Device Tracking Captures High-Value Orders. Multi-Device Shopping Drives Higher-Value Orders Orders that involve multiple devices have a higher average order value (AOV) than single-device orders. Independent of initiating device, orders concluded on: Smartphone Desktop 37% increase in AOV 19% increase in AOV Tablet 15% increase in AOV Source: CJ Network Cross-Device Transactions CROSS-DEVICE INTELLIGENCE REPORT 2018 COMMISSION JUNCTION LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 05
Holiday 2017 Cross-device shopping during the holiday season peaked on Free Shipping Day (Dec. 15). Throughout Holiday 2017, shoppers first engagement with affiliate campaigns happened more on desktops than smartphones 57% of cross-device orders started on desktops versus 38% on smartphones. Yet the share of cross-device orders concluding on desktops increased only marginally, compared to preholiday cross-device order trends. Device on Which Shoppers First Clicked an Affiliate Link Share of Cross-Device Orders, Holiday 2017 38% 5% 7% 57% Desktop Mobile Phone Tablet Device on Which Sales Concluded Share of Cross-Device Orders, Holiday 2017 28% 65% Desktop Mobile Phone Tablet Marketers should take note of the differences in shopping paths and the devices used on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. For example, on Black Friday 17% of cross-device orders began on desktops and completed on smartphones, compared to 14% of sales on Cyber Monday. Cyber Monday, which finds many shoppers browsing and buying on both home and work computers, saw 36% of sales initiate and conclude on desktops, compared to 30% of sales on Black Friday. Most Popular Shopping Paths Taken by Black Friday and Cyber Monday Shoppers Share of Cross-Device Orders, Holiday 2017 Desktop > Desktop Desktop > Smartphone 17% 14% Black Friday 30% Cyber Monday 36% Smartphone > Desktop 26% 28% Smartphone > Smartphone 11% 15% Source: CJ Affiliate CROSS-DEVICE INTELLIGENCE REPORT 2018 COMMISSION JUNCTION LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 06
Time to Conversion Content, Search and Social publishers drive a high share of sales that take longer to convert. Cross-Device Orders Share of Orders by Days to Conversion Days to Conversion COUPON CASH BACK CONTENT SEARCH SOCIAL WITHIN 24 HOURS 64% 54% 34% 32% 30% 1 7 16% 20% 24% 31% 23% Cross-Device tracking has given us greater insight into affiliates involvement with shopping purchases that are high consideration and thus, take longer to convert. These purchases frequently leverage multiple devices through the discovery and research process. Across CJ s top publisher models, about 25% of cross-device sales occur one to seven days beyond the last click. 8 14 9% 11% 17% 16% 21% 15 21 4% 6% 8% 8% 12% 22 28 3% 4% 6% 6% 2% 29 35 2% 2% 3% 4% 1% 36 42 1% 1% 2% 3% 1% 43 49 1% 1% 1% 2% 0% Content, Search and Social publishers see a higher rate of sales occur >8 days from the original click Content, Search, and Social publishers experience a higher share of cross-device sales that convert in the weeks after an initial engagement. For these publishers, about 38% of sales occur eight to 49 days beyond the last click. Marketers seeking to optimize their cross-device sales performance with publishers particularly Content, Search, and Social publishers will need to create referral periods that capture high consideration purchases. Number of Days From Initial Click to Concluded Sale One-Device vs. Cross-Device Orders Relative Sales 1.00 0.80 0.60 0.40 0.20 One-Device Cross-Device 0.00-0.20-0.40-0.60 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 14 14 28 21 28 28 35 35 42 42 49 49 56 Days to Conversion Source: CJ Affiliate CROSS-DEVICE INTELLIGENCE REPORT 2018 COMMISSION JUNCTION LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 07
Day of Week Cross-device sales are greater on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Tablet shopping peaks on Sundays. Compared to one-device sales, a greater number of cross-device sales occur when shoppers are transitioning into leisure time. A day of week analysis of cross-device orders shows a greater use of tablets and smartphones on Sundays. Relative performance of cross-device sales also reveals smartphone shopping is lowest mid-week and highest on Fridays. Day of Week on Which One-Device Orders Concluded Relative Sales 2 1 0-1 -2 Desktop Smartphone Tablet As cross-device shopping grows, marketers can leverage day of week device insights to target shoppers with increased placements or promotions on high-converting days. Mon. Tues. Wed. Day of Week on Which Cross-Device Orders Concluded Thur. Fri. Sat. Sun. Relative Sales Desktop Smartphone Tablet 2 1 0-1 -2 Mon. Tues. Wed. Thur. Fri. Sat. Sun. Source: CJ Affiliate CROSS-DEVICE INTELLIGENCE REPORT 2018 COMMISSION JUNCTION LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 08
3 Ways to Take Action 1 2 3 Tie together the data to achieve targeted selling. Create strategies and set growth goals for cross-device sales in your program. Collaborate to develop marketing which leverages customer audience knowledge. Affiliate marketers with Cross-Device tracking in place have the upper hand in terms of customer journey data. In some cases, they may be the only channel within their marketing organization with easy access to customers cross-device shopping behaviors and preferences. Advertisers and Publishers need to make sure they take time to make sense of the new data at their fingertips and recognize the opportunity it presents -- namely, the ability to achieve targeted selling and optimization across different devices, browsers and paths. Cross-device insights should be harnessed to align channel investment with channel performance. Currently cross-device sales may represent a smaller part of an Advertiser s or Publisher s affiliate sales. Don t fall into the trap of thinking that cross-device sales don t deserve their own strategies and goals. Instead, recognize that cross-device sales can be some of the most valuable sales in your program, if you harness the information inherent in them and make efforts to grow them over time. Both Advertisers and Publishers should approach cross-device sales with an eye toward growth and set monthly and quarterly targets by which they measure success and achievement on key measures. Marketing to cross-device shoppers presents an opportunity for Advertisers and Publishers to take the historic collaboration in the affiliate channel to a whole new level. Publishers possess a unique understanding of their audiences and which marketing efforts to employ to best reach an Advertiser s goals. Advertisers, in turn, will have the holistic view of affiliate shoppers cross-device behaviors. Transparency on the part of Advertisers and Publishers is the best way to put this collective knowledge to work in order to achieve a shared goal. CROSS-DEVICE INTELLIGENCE REPORT 2018 COMMISSION JUNCTION LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 09
Advertiser Benchmarks Share of Sales by Cross-Device Path Methodology: Benchmarks were factored using transactional data for clients tracking cross-device orders between June 2017 and February 2018. SECTOR BENCHMARKS RETAIL 36% 15% 3% 22% 15% 4% 3% 2% 2% AOV $119.35 $73.55 7% $106.4 $72.76 $88.57 $99.38 $76.71 $81.82 SERVICES 87% 8% 2% 20% 3% 1% 3% 1% 0% AOV $68.95 $63.61 $89.61 $74.81 $54.57 $107.50 $58.24 $123.31 $52.85 TRAVEL 53% 12% 3% 19% 4% 3% 4% 1% 1% AOV $407.54 $453.92 $316.85 $260.68 $327.14 $169.77 $266.48 $269.29 $189.77 FINANCE 48% 5% 1% 32% 17% 2% 5% <1% 1% CATEGORY BENCHMARKS BUSINESS 64% 6% 1% 20% 3% 2% 3% <1% 1% AOV $56.30 $29.39 $48.88 $36.14 $14.41 $30.64 $31.65 $38.10 $35.64 CLOTHING & APPAREL 15% 17% 2% 27% 25% 7% 2% 3% 2% AOV $102.96 $82.93 $79.88 $98.60 $78.79 $99.71 $84.65 $86.21 $62.96 COMPUTER & ELECTRONICS 20% 16% 2% 27% 22% 6% 2% 2% 2% AOV $204.55 $135.54 $121.05 $161.74 $96.49 $135.96 $168.67 $116.47 $76.97 DEPARTMENT STORES/MALLS 38% 12% 4% 22% 13% 6% 2% 2% 2% AOV $59.65 $77.69 $63.22 $85.88 $70.69 $61.03 $71.21 $77.91 $103.83 HOME & GARDEN 32% 8% 2% 31% 13% 7% 3% 1% 2% AOV $262.61 $177.20 $192.22 $287.82 $176.15 $325.62 $192.56 $167.25 $241.26 SPORTS & FITNESS 28% 12% 2% 25% 20% 5% 3% 2% 2% AOV $96.23 $75.71 $86.18 $98.99 $55.30 $84.94 $123.58 $73.27 $75.50 WATCHES & JEWLERY 21% 13% 2% 34% 15% 9% 3% 2% 2% AOV $286.31 $260.87 $127.94 $184.12 $117.14 $319.47 $182.99 $99.55 $87.84 BOOKS & MEDIA 29% 12% 5% 24% 11% 7% 5% 2% 5% AOV $22.58 $18.63 $9.90 $28.74 $24.02 $14.36 $12.93 $12.12 $8.35 CROSS-DEVICE INTELLIGENCE REPORT 2018 COMMISSION JUNCTION LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 10
Publisher Benchmarks Share of Sales by Cross-Device Path Methodology: Publisher benchmarks were factored using transactional data credited to each publisher type for clients who tracked cross-device sales between June 2017 and February 2018. Publisher Type COUPONS 22% 12% 1% 40% 13% 6% 2% 2% 1% AOV $134.13 $92.07 $93.10 $109.63 $82.22 $109.71 $107.42 $77.65 $94.81 INCENTIVES 40% 22% 4% 11% 16% 2% 1% 1% 3% AOV $123.78 $82.42 $89.51 $145.73 $87.89 $175.83 $95.90 $78.83 $88.62 AD NETWORK 41% 14% 2% 23% 11% 3% 3% 2% 1% AOV $203.90 $188.55 $117.93 $189.20 $101.61 $239.73 $176.85 $134.84 $103.34 CONTENT 45% 8% 2% 26% 7% 3% 5% 2% 2% AOV $142.79 $79.82 $80.00 $148.77 $74.35 $90.88 $130.38 $69.91 $34.34 SEARCH 43% 9% 3% 25% 8% 3% 5% 2% 2% AOV $194.05 $133.55 $86.43 $112.75 $73.44 $139.40 $94.14 $86.56 $82.47 SOCIAL 20% 10% 1% 38% 22% 4% 2% 2% 1% AOV $128.03 $109.38 $148.06 $119.48 $81.83 $131.33 $109.85 $115.96 $73.55 SHOPPING 46% 12% 2% 24% 6% 3% 4% 2% 1% AOV $88.49 $94.15 $111.52 $97/78 $57.99 $127.31 $284.45 $33.97 $58.59 CROSS-DEVICE INTELLIGENCE REPORT 2018 COMMISSION JUNCTION LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 11