Affiliate Window - Independent Review of UK Affiliate Marketing Network
Affiliate Window is one of the leading affiliate marketing networks in the UK. It enables affiliates to generate an income by advertising companies on their websites or via email, search and social media marketing activities.
Digital Window is the holding company for Affiliate Window and buy.at, two of the UK's leading affiliate marketing networks. In 2009 a majority stake of Digital Window was bought by the German-based media group Axel Springer AG and the Swiss-based communications group Publigroupe S.A. who also own Berlin's Zanox AG, continental Europe's largest performance-based online marketing network.
You can see Affiliate Window's range of services here:
Affiliate Window was established in 2000 by Kevin Brown. With the demise of 'first phase' UK CPA affiliate networks like DGM, Magic Button and Your Cheque, Affiliate Window is the one of the few remaining UK affiliate networks from the pre-dotcom boom days.
History
Kevin discovered the important role affiliate marketing took in online sales through his business Latestevents.com which today still sells the majority of its specialist concert travel packages through affiliates. Affiliate Window's software was originally coded by Kevin before being handed over to his development team.
Here is a screenshot of the Affiliate Window home page on 15th August 2000:
The network started off as a specialist in affiliate programs for SMEs. Here is the home page on 31st March 2001:
The design of the homepage improved dramatically from 2001 to 2002 and here is the home page on 25th September 2002. This shows the network's current orange colour scheme for the first time. Awin has grown rapidly by nwo and the page states there are “over 200 advertisers to choose from“:
Over the following years, an ambitious, tenacious business development team fought in a legendary tussle with the now-sister network Buy.at to introduce the concept of affiliate marketing to major UK brands and bring them onto the network. A notable coup was Dixons Retail PLC whose four stores Dixons, Currys, PC World and The Link and went live on Affiliate Window on 2 May 2007. While the launch was heavily PRed by the network, the very low commission overrides on which Affiliate Window which charged the company to win the contract led some to question if it was a worthwhile development.
However, bringing on board the likes of Dixons Retail PLC proved to be a smart move as the headline brands helped attract other major advertisers. Affiliate Window now handles over 800 merchants ranging from blue-chip brands such as Vodafone and Domino's Pizza, to respected specialists like Carlton Leisure.
With Awin having become a major corporate entity, the current home page reflects the network's stature.
Technology
Alongside enabling affiliates to promote big brands on their website, Affiliate Window's emphasis on developing state-of-the-art yet user-friendly widgets and tools for its affiliates has been one of the key factors in it becoming one of the leading networks in the UK.
These include Shop Window, which enables users to search Affiliate Window's database of over four million products from over 800 retailers on a sale popularity basis. Shop Window analyse every affiliate sale and look at sales trends in the market to order the product search results. This means that the results displayed from a ShopWindow search have taken into account the cost of the product, the advertisers' reputation and the confidence of the buying public.
The following is an example of a content unit created with Shop Window in just ten minutes:
Another useful feature of Affiliate Window is 'The Awin Index', which is a tool that gives an 'at-a-glance' indication of programme performance.
The AWin Index is a score out of 100, calculated from an algorithm of four different performance metrics and is used by affiliates to compare and identify the best performing merchant programmes across the Affiliate Window network. The algorithm takes into account information from the previous 3 months for each merchant programme. This is called the C.A.V.E. data and is comprised of the following:
Conversion ratio
Approval percentage
Validation time
Earnings per click
Affiliate Window's interface - along with that of Buy.at - will migrate to the Darwin platform over the coming year, which will be jam-packed with a whole array of features to bring about a more profitable relationship between merchants and affiliates.
Overall
Affiliate Window has gone from strength to strength in recent years and with the integration of Buy.at into the company in 2010 after the acquisition of the competitor on 1 March 2010, and the simultaneous integration of Zanox UK into the network, it looks like the business will go from strength to strength.
This is a truly brilliant affiliate network and Azam Marketing is pleased to give it a five star rating. If you are looking to make money online, you can't go wrong if you sign-up to Affiliate Window.
| Pros: |
Cons: |
| Fast, user-friendly interface |
Complaints the network has become 'too big' to service smaller advertisers and publishers |
| Sophisticated yet easy-to-use tools and widgets |
Some inexperienced Account Managers with rudimentary knowledge of the industry |
| Huge range of merchants, big and small |
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| Regular free training days for merchants and affiliates |
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