2006 Affiliate Survey Partner Centric sent a survey

2006 Affiliate Survey Partner. Centric sent a survey to affiliates of Partner. Centric-Managed Affiliate Programs this past February and March. The purpose of the survey was to gather feedback from affiliates regarding a wide range of issues that effect affiliates on a daily basis. Affiliates were asked a wide range of questions regarding the type of sites they manage, their source of affiliate income, the marketing strategies they use as well as their opinions on what challenges they face in the affiliate marketing space Affiliates were offered a $25 gift certificate from restaurant. com as a thank you for taking the time to share their opinions and thoughts with us for this survey. We received 1, 041 original responses

Participating Programs These Partner. Centric-managed programs were sent the 2006 Affiliate Survey • • • Niche Retail 21 st 911 Health. Shop Golf. Gods Irvs. National Domistications International Male Brian Tracy Club. Mom The Company Store USADC Travel Intellegence Foot. Smart Geographics Silhouettes Under. Gear Jiggerbug Life. Script

1. Which of the Partner. Centric-managed programs do you currently promote? Program Number Percent Club. Mom 274 27. 00% Foot. Smart 222 21. 90% National Geographic 214 Restaurant. com Program Number Percent Undergear 87 8. 60% Digital River 77 7. 60% 21. 10% Smooth. Corp 73 7. 20% 208 20. 50% 911 Health. Shop 72 7. 10% 21 st Century Insurance 178 17. 60% Quicken Loans 64 6. 30% Irvs Luggage 158 15. 60% Wynn Las Vegas 45 4. 40% Golf. Gods 132 13. 00% Niche Retail 42 4. 10% Domestications 125 12. 30% USADentalcare 26 2. 60% Brian Tracy 120 11. 80% Wild Divine 21 2. 10% Jigger. Bug 119 11. 70% Mortgage. Rates 4 Less 13 1. 30% Animal Den 107 10. 60% Toner. Zone 8 0. 80% Life. Script Vitamins 104 10. 30% Credit-Land 6 0. 60% The Company Store 98 9. 70% Tax. Help. Attorney 5 0. 50% International Male 87 8. 60% Travel Intelligence 4 0. 40% Silhouettes 87 8. 60%

2. How would you describe your main source of affiliate commission income? (1, 165 Responses) Method Number Percent Niche/content site 518 44. 5% Coupon/discount shopping site 313 26. 9% PPC advertiser 204 17. 5% Sweepstakes/contest site 39 3. 3% Misc (see next slide for responses) 25 2. 1% Shopping Mall/SEO 23 2. 0% Incentive/Loyalty Site 19 1. 6% Personal Website 9 0. 8% Freebie Site 8 0. 7% Blog/Ezine 7 0. 6%

Open-Ended Responses to Question 2: “How would you describe your main source of affiliate commission income? “ MISC website Autosurf check Used book site Diversification website Through Commission Junction Print and Radio Advertising leads Links Affiliate retail site - not sure if I understand the question site for auto dealers / customers Mom Site Content none CJ and Linkshare cash decorating Book sites Cold calling CPA campaigns ranking service retail Domain names

3. How do you currently promote affiliate programs? (Check all that apply) (3, 250 Responses) Method Number Percent Text Links 646 19. 88% Banners 611 18. 80% Content 598 18. 40% Search Engine Optimization 374 11. 51% Email 306 9. 42% PPC 244 7. 51% Coupons 222 6. 83% Datafeed 133 4. 09% Media (Purchasing advertising, print ads, radio, etc. ) 77 2. 37% Misc (see next slide for responses) 13 0. 40% Newsletter/Blog/Webring 12 0. 37% Website Links 9 0. 28% Incentives 5 0. 15%

Open-Ended Responses to Question 3: “How do you currently promote affiliate programs? Misc We use the affiliate programs to compliment our membership base and partnering bases with a benefit. Cold calling sales Clientelle classified ads Card swapping meetings e. Book Domain names Our registered card holders are rewarded for every purchase. online shopping mall Offline deal teams. . . word of mouth gatherings PPV traffic generators

4. What is your biggest challenge with Affiliate Marketing? (1, 631 Responses) Response Number Percent Conversion Rate 441 27. 04% Merchant inaccuracies (coupons, datafeeds, outdated content, etc) 290 17. 78% Tracking Technology 198 12. 14% Other (please specify) 147 9. 01% Restrictions and Limits set forth in the Affiliate Agreement 142 8. 71% Product Selection, Inventory or Pricing 128 7. 85% Communicating with program managers 101 6. 19% Getting Paid 92 5. 64% Search Engines/Traffic 30 1. 84% Lack of time 18 1. 10% None 13 0. 80% Misc (see next slide for responses) 12 0. 74% Education 9 0. 55% Trust (Spyware/Click Fraud) 7 0. 43% Payout/Commissions 3 0. 18%

Open-Ended Responses to Question 4: “What is your biggest challenge with affiliate marketing? Misc Inbox/Email Management Getting set up how to know my script code is valid finding the products I want to promote in the database Finding a good ecommerce setup that does not include a shopping cart, but does have csv import establishing a database Consumer Behavior Modification Coming up with something rermarkable to promote on a consistant basis. Building opt-in list making sales Finding a good affiliate manager that is affordable and can manage my 600 web sites The ads must appeal to my demographic.

5. What would help you generate more business (i. e. leads, sales, etc)? (1, 662 responses) Response Number Percent More content (emails, articles, etc. ) 499 30. 02% Datafeeds and Coupons 417 25. 09% Higher Commissions 410 24. 67% Training Materials and Sessions 256 15. 40% Misc (see next slide for responses) 30 1. 81% Traffic to Site 20 1. 20% PPC/Affiliate Agreement 12 0. 72% Tracking/Conversion 10 0. 60% Technology (Datafeeds) 8 0. 48%

Open-Ended Responses to Question 5: “What would help you generate more business in 2006? ” Misc Pointers on design/ad placement to maximize click through rates. Turn-key store modifiable to our look and feel It would really be cool if merchants would provide an op-in service included with there stores. Seems like a win to me. More creative ability to advertise individual products and having more creative license in creating ad campaigns. Some sort of pre-approved creative and mailing list assistance. I have compiled a list of over 5000 email addresses. I'm scared to death to do an broadcast emailing because someone might accuse me of spamming and I could be dropped from the program. Personal interaction from your affiliate management team. We expect to greatly expand as our exposure increases locally, regionally and then nationally. It would be great to have someone look at how we've used the banners on our site, and make suggestions for improving performance. Some radio ads. less generic or more professional looking page makers for. I would like to see better advertising info. about your product and not so much about how we get paid. I depend on your banners & links ( more links ) because the banners take up to much space and site load slower. Content links take over ones website. More 'grass roots' marketing by client partners. More time Greater contact with potential surfers as licensed distributor. Attracting customers to click on links and rewarding referrals and then a second tier of reward for actually making a purchase. More paid advertising/traffic converting to sales. true white label sites More money for more advertising. better options available for 'specialization' I think part of the problem is that most affiliate programs out there right now have been 'worn out'. So many of us are tired of zip offers, and the same exact affiliate programs at different networks. It's time for something new to come up - I just wish I knew what that was! LOL But it just seems like affiliate marketing is kind of stale right now Ideas relating to Washington, DC finding someone who wants to manage 600 affiliate web sites My web page is fine the way it is. I don't make much money from affiliates to change my web site entirely. I have a weblog where I talk about various products I have tried. easiness to communicate with all merchants simultaneously (possibly a virtual community with chat capabilities with any merchant you need help from); easiness to find promotions Honest Merchants A change in the registration process might be helpful to increase conversions. As Club. Mom offers change, the basic signup process always stays the same. . . affiliates are used to it, and I think tend to ignore the new promotions becuase they know they'll be running an identical campaign to what they've already promoted in the past. Less competition Being able to link through paper advertising For a Customer to beable to Add Multipule Items to a Shopping Cart system. and from there purchase the products from the Affiliate website. I need opt-in email lists

6. Which Industry Publications or Websites do you read or visit on a regular basis? (249 Responses) Name/Site Number ABest. Web. com 60 Revenews. com 43 Affiliate. Tip. com 41 Revenue Magazine 39 Network Newsletters 16 Affiliate. Boards. com 14 Associate. Programs. com 9 Return. On. Affiliate. com 6 Web. Master. World. com 5 ECom. Expo 3 Revenue. Today. com 2 Web. Pro. World. com 5 Affiliate. Clue. Train. com 1 Others 5

7. Which of the following would motivate you to quickly promote a merchant's affiliate program? (2, 004 Responses) Response Number Percent VIP commission rate 434 21. 66% Weekly payments 333 16. 62% Availability of wire transfer/direct deposit of commissions 315 15. 72% Guaranteed payments through a 3 rd party (network, escrow vendor, etc) 256 12. 77% Automatic entry into a contest or promotion that appeals to you 244 12. 18% Other (please specify) 177 8. 83% Advance on first comm check 105 5. 24% Promotions/Exclusive Coupons 32 1. 60% Banners/Links/Content 26 1. 30% "Good" Products 24 1. 20% Misc (see next slide for responses) 20 1. 00% Relevance To My Site 19 0. 95% Above Avg Conv. Rate 6 0. 30% Trust 5 0. 25% Personal Touch with Managers 5 0. 25% Liberal PPC Policy 3 0. 15%

Open-Ended Responses to Question 7: “Which of the following would motivate you to quickly promote a merchant's affiliate program” Misc more user-friendly cj site too new to respond I keep up on the new banners & text when supplied. . . I can't help it if someone doesn't click on that link. I have a very small budget so pay per click is out of the question at this time. showing more information and tips about why I get so many clickthroughs and no conversion to sale. What some factors may be and how to better improve sales. For us to promote a merchant in excess inventory - they must have a strong offer and brand. review Samples easy to promote, more incentive to our visitors ready to go mini site Easy Automation, or training us how to With in our pervue. Ease of integrating data into a store Limiting who they approve contest for those who are searching for insurance other insentives Contests or sales and shipping specials for the clients not sure. . . still learning being well again Diet or weight loss related promotions Affiliate managers who are NOT boneheads! co-marketing opportunities (such as providing content to the advertiser to generate traffic to my site)

8. What is your preference in terms of merchant communications to you? (1, 160 Responses) Response Number Percent Only where there is something new to announce 453 39. 05% Monthly 242 20. 86% Weekly 225 19. 40% Bi-monthly 156 13. 45% Typically don't read merchants newsletters 52 4. 48% 14 1. 21% Misc (see next slide for responses) 13 1. 12% Daily 5 0. 43% As often as necessary

Open-Ended Responses to Question 8: “What is your preference in terms of merchant communications to you? ” Misc tips on how to get more click thrus on web page banner ad let me know my performance and tips for my site only. Its also important not to send the same newsletter more than once. I use the Commission Junction e-mail function & if I write to a merchant I would like a reply I am a work at home dad ( caregiver ) who is trying to build a home business for extra funds. I can not be on every day. . I try to be but it doesn't happen. Email coming from an actual person. Direct communication with the merchant partner Depends, I do mostly coupons, so email is preferable when a new coupon exists depends on the merchant Content for Ezine also when the merchant would like feedback. a week out for all sales send content for publication