What incrementality really means in affiliate marketing

The words “incremental” and “incrementality” get thrown around in affiliate marketing, but they might not mean what they sound like. There may be no increase in actual sales, new customers, or revenue. Affiliate marketers who refer to incrementality often look at it only within the affiliate channel, not across your company as a whole.

To determine whether affiliates are truly incremental, ask a simple question: Would the sale have happened without the affiliate program?

The answer determines whether the partner is bringing you new customers and revenue or simply intercepting customers already in your checkout flow.

Why high-intent traffic doesn’t always mean incremental value

The word “incrementality” in affiliate programs is similar to an affiliate, an agency, or a network using “high intent” to describe the traffic. High intent means the person has a strong intent to purchase, which is a good thing. What is left out is whether that touchpoint would happen if there were no affiliate program at all.

High intent could be used by a coupon site where the touchpoint is a consumer already at checkout, going to Google and typing in “your brand + coupons.” If you close your affiliate program today, these same touchpoints will likely still happen. Your company saves money because you no longer pay commissions, network fees, manager salaries, or agency fees.

Yes, the traffic is high intent. It’s your customers already checking out of your shopping cart. It doesn’t get more “high intent” than that. The touchpoint may be low- or no-value because it happens whether you have a program or not, and you may be losing money on the sale because of it.

Note: Not all coupon sites or deal touchpoints are bad. Some shopping cart interceptions may add value (including brand + coupon), so don’t take action without testing. Use your data and test to see if the same or a similar amount of sales happens without an affiliate program before making decisions.

The more customers checking out of your own shopping cart, the more sales the affiliate in the top positions of Google make. The less you have, the less they make. They rely on you having your own traffic to intercept so they can make money, which is why they are sometimes called parasitic affiliates. And that’s where incrementality comes in.

What incremental sales and value actually mean

If this touchpoint isn’t bringing in new customers, and it happens even when you don’t have a program, are the sales incremental? This starts with defining what incremental sales and value are.

• Incremental sales are sales that are introduced by the partner and that your company doesn’t have access to without the partner.
• Incremental value is when the affiliate increases the value of the customer by doing things you can’t do without them, including increasing items in the cart, increasing order value, building consumer trust that results in more conversions, and helping move products you need to clear off a shelf through their own marketing efforts.

You, as the brand, can feature a coupon code, a deal, or a bundle without an affiliate program. If you have no program, you can submit those same deals to the sites showing up for your brand + coupons and get the same or a similar amount of sales with the increased AOV or items in cart. But you don’t have to spend money on network fees, commissions and affiliate manager salaries.

If a deal or bundle exists only on the partner’s platform (website, videos, password-protected communities, newsletter blasts, etc.) and it doesn’t appear for your brand on Google, YouTube, etc., their active community is what drives sales. That’s something you can’t do without them. The affiliate is adding incremental value.

Dig deeper: Where affiliates can get traffic beyond Google search

Here are a few types of affiliate content and programs that can add real incremental value.

Product and brand comparisons

There are two types of comparisons: brands and products. Comparing two products from any brand (e.g., bandages sold at most retailers like CVS, Walgreens, Amazon, and Walmart), the affiliate controls where traffic goes and which brand gets the sale. This may not be customer acquisition for big brands, since they already have millions of customers, but it’s high-value because without that affiliate deciding to send the customer to you, you don’t get the sale.

The person could be comparing two types of electronics or adaptors for a specific purpose. Then they decide which retailer to send the consumer to and explain why they recommend that one. They could mention the service guarantees, extra guides, prices, or social causes the brands support. Each of these helps convince the consumer to shop with their recommendation, increasing the incrementality and value.

If no brand is mentioned at all in the content, they can change out the affiliate links and destination at any time, so your brand can be cut out, and you lose. This is where the affiliate holds the power, as they control their traffic and add incremental value.

Brand comparisons get tricky. Comparing you and a competitor adds credibility because it’s a “trusted third party” who is putting their name on the line. They likely do help the customer make a decision, but it isn’t new customer acquisition, as the customer is already in your funnel. But it’s a value-adding touchpoint in the customer acquisition funnel.

Tip: If you have a non-affiliate doing the brand comparison, you’re more profitable because you don’t pay commissions on it in perpetuity.

For example, you pay a one-time fee of $500 for an unbiased and honest comparison vs. paying $2,000 in commissions over the course of the year. Your company is more profitable by $1,500 the first year and $2,000 each additional year until the comparison is no longer accurate or shows up for your brand vs. the competitor.

Then there’s the big incremental value add for small brands. By being added to a comparison with the two big brands, you gain access to their comparison traffic and their customer funnel. The credibility from their brands and the reviewer may build trust for your brand, and this comparison is likely to be customer acquisition and incremental in revenue, not to mention getting your competitors’ customers.

These types of partners include:

• Review and comparison websites.
• Listicle sites (SEO and PPC).
• YouTubers.
• Communities and forums with UGC and shopping guides.

---

Creators who do and don’t do reviews

Creators is a blanket term for anyone who creates content, including:

• Social media influencers. 
• YouTubers.
• Bloggers.
• Streamers.
• Podcasters.
• Others who build a following. 

They create top-funnel and high-value traffic and mid- and low-value traffic. 

I’ll break this section into two parts starting with the mid- and low-value.

Reviews only

When creators do a review only, the initial review gets distributed to anyone who subscribes, and this is top-funnel and builds trust. Then it gets tricky on incrementality.

Once the initial review is live and the subscribers have already viewed it, the top-funnel incrementality is over. Now, algorithms start to pick it up and show it for your own customers already in your funnel. Unlike the coupon example, where the sale is likely to happen just before the person clicks the pay now button, the customer review touchpoint isn’t as “high intent” yet.

This consumer is looking for validity and credibility before making a purchase. The reviewer provides credibility as a trusted third party and helps the consumer make a decision. When the algorithms show this review, it isn’t bringing you new customers, so there’s no full customer acquisition. But if you currently have only bad reviews showing up, and the affiliates have good reviews showing the benefits and presenting you in a good light, this can increase customer confidence, making the conversions happen. Not to mention it helps repair your brand reputation.

Affiliates will be faster to create review content than customers because they are incentivized with commissions. The same goes for non-affiliate ambassadors and influencers. Incrementality here is similar to comparisons.

If you pay an influencer or ambassador a one-time fee of $200 for the review, that’s the only cost. When you have affiliates doing the review and earning commissions, each affiliate earns on each one, which could be $500 in commissions each year, while network fees, affiliate manager salaries, bonuses, etc., cost your company more than the influencer or ambassador.

With that said, it’s easier to get affiliates to update their reviews and create new ones as your company updates, since they’re making money by keeping them up to date. You’d need to pay the influencer or ambassador again each time, unless they are in a good mood and decide to do it for free.

The ones that genuinely value their readers or visitors will do it free and quickly because they want to make sure their audience and visitors get accurate information. With that said, it’s almost impossible to do it for every brand they feature, especially if they’ve been around for 10 years. This is why a fee is normally required. It’s too much for any one or even four- and five-person team.

Stephanie Robbins from Right Side Up also shared a situation where a review can be highly incremental. New brands without a ton of branded search and without demand yet could benefit from review affiliates. By getting reviews going early in the company’s life, they have an established foundation for growth. These established reviews help block competitors from taking their branded search. Once the brand starts to pick up, it will need to replace affiliate reviews with non-affiliate reviews via SEO to save money.

Dig deeper: The best affiliate networks by need and use case

Non-reviews

Non-review creators are huge for incrementality, and there’s no shortage of them.

• Listicle affiliates.
• Tutorial creators.
• Communities for like-minded people.
• Apps that provide solutions.
• Media buyers.

Listicle affiliates

These affiliates create “top ten” and “best” lists, including media companies, PPC affiliates, and bloggers with roundups and shopping guides. The ones that don’t optimize for your brand + reviews or bid on your branded terms in search engines are bringing you customers with a higher intent to purchase.

The consumer here knows they need something and is shopping, but they don’t know which brand to choose. Being on these lists builds trust and may reach a consumer who hasn’t heard of you (especially if you’re not one of the big names in the space).

Tutorial creators

You can see them on YouTube, Skool, and other platforms, teaching workshops and creating written guides on how to fix a roof, bake a cake, set up a server, or take care of a goldfish, which likely provides a lot of incrementality for your brand.

The ones that don’t add “with [Brand]” to the title (How to take a photo with a Canon camera vs. how to take a photo) and throughout the content have a captive audience that you can’t reach without them.

Because their traffic does not need your brand, they control who gets the referrals. Being in these guides brings you high-value and incremental customers. The conversion rates may be higher because the tutorial presold the product, and the creator put their name on the line by recommending you.

Community

This same form of trust comes from community moderators and the highly respected members. When people are there because they love sharing parenting advice, common passions for bird watching or cooking gluten-free meals, video game or tabletop game enthusiasts, or anything else, they trust the community. 

When the owner of the community says this is the brand to trust, that trust passes through, and the community shops. While they may not be new customers each time, they are incremental, and you get brand credibility, which is one of the hardest things to earn.

Apps

There’s no shortage of apps, and now that AI is powering features, affiliate sales are being made. Some apps may let you find celebrity styles you like and then use affiliate data feeds to find similar clothes and recommend them to the user. 

Others might have you snap a photo of your room, then use affiliate datafeeds to show what furniture could look like in it and let you mix and match to create your perfect space. These are high-value touchpoints with incrementality because the app controls where the person shops and pre-sells the items by giving them an experience with the products.

Media buyers

Media buyers purchase ads across the web, in communities, and other spaces. As long as they’re not buying ad space via the pages in your checkout, targeting your own website if you run ads on it, or using your brand as a target, they’re adding incrementality by reaching the audience your ads can’t reach.

Some have a lot of experience on third-party platforms, and others may have a budget when you’re already tapping yours out, so they work as an extension of your own efforts.

Dig deeper: How amplifying creator content strengthens trust and lowers media costs

Don’t confuse affiliate attribution with incrementality

Incrementality in affiliate marketing means the affiliate brings you a new customer and drives a sale that likely wouldn’t have happened without them or without the program at all. When an affiliate relies on your existing traffic, incrementality drops substantially. You’ll often hear terms like “high-intent traffic” used to make this sound more valuable than it is.

Use your data and your knowledge to determine what is right for your business and what incrementality means for you. Don’t rely on one channel alone.

Key takeaways:

• When an affiliate drives revenue, increases cart value, and moves products without relying on the brand’s own traffic, they’re adding incremental revenue and customers to your business.
• If the sales happen whether you have a program or not, there’s little to no incremental value (i.e., affiliates that only intercept your own customers already in your checkout process).