Sophisticated shoppers have long been the lifeblood of the affiliate marketing industry. But as affiliate marketing has grown more visible, many of those shoppers have gotten choosier about the kinds of deals they take, squeezing the margins of both advertisers and publishers.

Consumers know that deals are out there

Affiliate marketing is among the most noticed kinds of advertising found online, according to our research conducted earlier this year. The share of respondents who had noticed affiliate ads on websites in the past 12 months—54.0%—was about 10 percentage points higher than the share who had noticed ads on search engines.

That has also led to shoppers becoming more discriminating. Rather than buying something purely because it has been recommended by a trusted creator or publisher, consumers are shopping around. “People are thinking twice about buying,” said Carl Kalapesi, senior vice president of sales and revenue at Rakuten Rewards. “What we’re seeing is increased consideration of multiple brands rather than loyalty to one retailer.”

(Almost) all publishers feel compelled to sweeten the deal. Consumers are also holding out for discounts, deals, and other kinds of additional savings. For example, the percentage of influencer affiliate conversions that included a coupon was 32.3% in H1 2024, up from 8.8% a year earlier, according to Awin data.

Read the full report, Affiliate Marketing 2024.