Conversion Rate Optimization for Affiliates: Get More From the Traffic You Have

The maths in one line

Conversion rate = conversions ÷ clicks × 100. If 400 clicks produce 8 conversions, your conversion rate is 2%. (These are example numbers only.)

The second and third rows land on the same result, but the third one needs no extra posting and no extra accounts. That's why CRO usually comes before scaling traffic, as how to scale affiliate income explains.

The levers that move conversion

• Offer fit: the single biggest lever. The right offer for the audience beats any clever page. See how to choose an affiliate program.
• Message match: what your post promised must be what the person sees after clicking.
• Warm traffic: people who have followed you for a while convert better than strangers, so owned channels help.
• Clarity: one clear next step, not three.
• Speed: slow pages lose visitors before they see anything.
• Trust: honest descriptions, clear age limits and disclosures, no hype.

Optimise each step, not just the last one

Conversion isn't only the final sale. Every stage of your affiliate funnel has its own conversion rate: views to profile visits, visits to clicks, clicks to conversions. Look at all of them and work on the weakest.

1. 1Write down this week's numbers for each stage per source.
2. 2Work out each stage's rate.
3. 3Compare to your own previous weeks, not to someone else's screenshots.
4. 4Pick the stage that dropped most or is lowest.
5. 5Choose one change aimed at that stage and test it.

Look at segments, not just the total

A total conversion rate hides a lot. Split it by source, by country, by device and by post type. You may find that one platform converts at three times the rate of another, or that one country barely converts at all. That tells you where to put next week's effort.

Segments also stop you from fixing the wrong thing. If your total drops, it may be one source going quiet while the rest hold steady. Changing your landing page would not help; finding out what changed on that one source would. Always check whether a drop is everywhere or in one place before you act.

To split this way, you need sub-IDs on every link. If you haven't set them up, use the tracking link builder today; without it, CRO is guesswork.

A weekly CRO routine

• Monday: pull last week's numbers per source and stage.
• Monday: pick the weakest stage and one change to test.
• Through the week: run the change, keep everything else the same.
• Next Monday: compare, keep or drop, and pick the next test.
• Once a month: look back at all the tests and note which kinds of change tend to win for your audience.

The method for running the test fairly is in split testing for affiliates. AMZA's Wingmen go through these numbers with promoters weekly, but the routine is the same either way: one stage, one change, one week.