Jen LaForge 0:00

My next guest today has spent nearly two decades in the affiliate marketing industry, and I'm very pleased to present not only the most passionate and hardworking individual I've met in the industry to date, but someone I work very closely with here at Rackton, Krista Gutteridge from Rackton Advertising. Thank you for taking the time to be here today.

Krysta Gutteridge 0:19

Of course, of course I was gonna say yes to doing this. This is such a cool project that you're working on. Amazing initiative and innovation. Congrats on all the episodes you've done so far. I'm very privileged to be here.

Jen LaForge 0:30

Well, thank you so much. Krista, let's let's start off at the top. So not everyone watching or listening is going to really understand the machine behind our cashback and the affiliate space. So can you explain exactly how you fit in and how that engine works?

Krysta Gutteridge 0:51

I can surely take a stab at it. So affiliate marketing is a performance-based marketing channel that advertisers use to find more customers. And so with your cash back on racketon.ca, you are in this world, you are called a publisher. You have all of these members that will click through the links on your site and get to the advertisers where they ultimately make a purchase and then they earn some cash back into their digital wallet on your side. What I do at Rackton Advertising is that my team and I, we sell a, for all intents and purpose, a software and strategy execution so those advertisers can actually track all of those clicks, all of those transactions, and then intentionally strategize on how to find a better ROAS, a return on ad spend for their customers, right? So they are intentionally, strategically going out into the market to find the best customers for their product or service that they have. So Aracton Advertising, we approach those enterprise and strategic level e-commerce companies, and we help them put this tracking in place so that they can watch in their beautiful platform dashboard all of those conversions happening and then find more of the right business for their product and service.

Jen LaForge 2:08

Okay, so there's been a lot of different terms used. Some are calling them merchants, some are retailers, you call them advertisers. Why do you use the word advertiser instead of retailer?

Krysta Gutteridge 2:18

They're very interchangeable. And so in my business, we call them advertisers, we call the platforms publishers, we call the actual engines behind all the tracking networks, affiliate networks, and then there are third-party agencies to help manage some of those. Retailers can sometimes, it's the exact same thing, really. It really depends on who you're talking to. So retailers, merchants, advertisers, it's kind of all the same thing. It's, you know, maybe subtle differences to some people, but for the sake of our conversation, merchants, retailers, advertisers, they're all the same.

Jen LaForge 2:53

Okay, so to make sure I've got this right, which I should. Yes. Summarize. You have the retailer, you have the affiliate network, the the tech piece, the tracking setup software, and then you have the publishers like RackGen.ca. And all three of those are working seamlessly to create that rewarding experience.

Krysta Gutteridge 3:12

Yes, and seamlessly is the buzzword for sure. And it's seamless because there are people managing that program. They are executing strategy to make sure that all of those moving pieces work well and the data that you are getting as an advertiser and a publisher is accurate and then helps you make better decisions going forward. Okay.

Jen LaForge 3:33

A lot of the times in my personal life, I like to compare what we do to influencers because everyone's very familiar with what an influencer is and what an influencer does. So can you talk about the similarities there and kind of tie that into a general understanding of how this really works?

Krysta Gutteridge 3:49

So to that end, a publisher is a platform, right? So racton.ca, sorry to name competitors, but you're talking about like the Aeroplan eStore or any other, you know, a coupon site or an employee perk program. Anyone who's got members, whether they are paid members or attained members through a loyalty program, however it is, they have traffic to send to an advertiser. So it's the same thing with a creator or an influencer. They've procured an audience or a following, and so those are their members the same way that you have members, right? So when they have something to promote, they're going to let those members or followers know and send that traffic to the advertiser, right? So whether it's a giant publisher in this ecosystem like racton.ca or you know, uh an influencer on TikTok or Instagram talking about beauty and skincare, it's the same model, right? You are sending clicks into the advertiser and that is all tracked and data is procured for the advertiser to analyze.

Jen LaForge 4:50

Okay. So it's safe to say the influence are doing exactly what we're doing, and the retailers are paying them a commission to drive their audience or member base to the store. Except they're keeping all the commission. And at rackutin.ca on our publisher side, what we're doing is splitting that commission and giving half to our members as cash back.

Krysta Gutteridge 5:09

So it's safe to say we're the same same, but well, it's safe to say you're the same same because you're driving click traffic, but every publisher and really every creator and influencer, everyone operates very differently. And you have a different member base than creator influencer ABC does over here, right? So where you are sharing the commission that you're earning from that advertiser, you are incentivizing the purchase that way, right? So you are earning your commission from the Sephora advertisers of the world, and then you are sharing the commission back with the customer, and that customer is excited because they're earning their 2% cash back. You've made them make that purchase because they were excited to earn. They had to buy four products this this time, and they're gonna earn money that way. There's also a different path with creators and influencers, right? So they're not sharing cash back. They are also not always working on a publisher commission model. They quite often get paid flat fees by the advertisers to make a reel, to make a post. They're more top of funnel as well, right? So the top of funnel means like they're bringing branding, they're bringing eyes to a new product or an advertiser. They're not always financially incentivized by the actual conversion, right? And so the technology is there for influencers to be using more tech to drive conversions and be earning off of those transactions. But for the most part, influencers and creators are that high-level top of funnel branding recognition, and they play a big part in the conversion journey. But you might be, as Racton.ca, might be the actual conversion, right? Because we've learned about it from an influencer or creator, we've seen it a little bit with programmatic ads, but at the end of the day, I'm converting because I'm getting 2% cash back, right? So there's such a conversion journey to explore on this topic, right? So you're same, same, but you're very different. Very different.

Jen LaForge 7:01

I love that. So you work with a wide variety of advertisers and uh they're all uniquely different in how they're working. So can you talk about a very successful retailer brand in the affiliate space? What are they doing to be successful in this space?

Krysta Gutteridge 7:22

The quickest answer, and I won't um name names here, but the quickest answer is strategy. They are executing strategy. And to execute strategy, you have to be involved. You have to be paying attention. There's no frustration in your top. There's no frustration at all, audience. No. What really separates really great affiliate programs from affiliate programs that simply exist is that attention to the data and then strategy execution, right? The network that you choose as an advertiser greatly affects your program. So my advice to advertisers is also to choose your network properly. Do your due diligence and make sure that that network is the right fit for what you want to track in all of your KPIs, right? So when you are employing this network, you want to use all the bells and whistles that they have because they were created for a purpose. When you use those, you employ those strategies, you then get all of this beautiful data, data, however you want to say it, but you get these numbers and then you need to do something with it. You can't just say, oh, that sounds nice. That was good, right? You then execute a strategy around, okay, well, that publisher that we worked with had really high returns, and that's actually not a good lifetime value customer for us. Whereas this publisher actually had less sales, but we saw 1% returns. That's a much better partner for you. And you're only going to recognize that when you look at the metrics coming in and analyzing the data. So the biggest differentiator is actually paying attention and the strategic execution of that data.

Jen LaForge 9:01

So fantastic answer. Um you're making me think about one of the core messages we open this project with, and that's leaving money on the table. Consumers are leaving money on the table, but retailers, it sounds like are leaving money on the table or wasting money by not strategically treating their affiliate program like a growth channel. It's something that's just operating in the background. So on the flip side of what I just asked you, there's the dark side where they're wasting money and they're not successful. What's happening there?

Krysta Gutteridge 9:36

Okay, so to answer that question, I need to go one step back and say that right now, affiliate marketing is not being taught in colleges, in marketing programs. I've done a couple guest lecture spots in colleges in these marketing classes, and they're like, oh, what's affiliate marketing? It's not being taught. When it's not taught at the post-secondary education level, it's not going into the workforce. And so marketing leaders aren't getting skilled newbies coming into this field and they have to teach. And if they don't know the language of affiliate, it's hard to teach. And so to learn it, you have to learn by doing. And so until we really start educating the new marketers at that college or university level, we're gonna have this struggle for a long time. And like the wasting money piece, that's the struggle, right? So to go back to answer your question, right? Advertisers will waste money when they don't understand the model, right? When they don't understand the publisher that they've met, right? So it's it's great to see a shiny name or a logo that you represent and say, yeah, let's work together. That's great. And then they set it and forget it, and they don't get to know what that audience looks like at that publisher's organization. And like I was saying, every publisher is different, right? Every platform has a different membership pool. They maybe they cater to 20 to 30 year old women, maybe they cater to 45-year-old men, right? Everyone has this different demographic that they have publishers need to know who their members are, right? And that's what needs to be understood by the advertiser and the strategic execution team that is managing this channel, right? So quite often advertisers will waste money by thinking that they can just start working, they can approve a publisher in their program, but then not understand who they're targeting. It is when, again, when you put the effort in and you understand the audience, and then you understand what makes them tick and what's gonna make them convert and be really great lifetime value customers for you. That's where you find the success. But that takes effort.

Jen LaForge 11:42

So you you nailed it. It sounds really complicated, it sounds like it's hard to learn, you've made it sound like it's gonna take a lot of time and energy from the retailer. What if they just don't have that time, energy, the the workforce behind it, the the aptitude or the the training on the affiliate program? How does someone like you or your team help retailers either build those muscles or become successful?

Krysta Gutteridge 12:12

Yeah, and that's a like literally, thank you for the segue. That's exactly what we do. So that strategy execution piece is what we've been doing for 20 years. We win awards for it. Our people live and breathe these technology pieces within the dashboard so that they it's like they're um translators, right? So there is a language at a boardroom table inside of an advertiser's company. They need to increase their AOV, right? So that's their challenge. They tell our strategic execution team what they need to do, and our teams are so fluent in affiliate marketing that they can say, okay, well, all we need to do is do a dynamic commissioning offer to increase the publisher commission to X, Y, and Z publishers to say this can be done after a $150 cart value, right? So our people act as the translators from the advertisers into the affiliate network, and we're also the arm that gets it done, right? So, yes, it is a lot to learn, but it's not rocket science, right? Honestly, we're not saving lives here. But it's just cash. But it is, you know what? It's like everything else with work, with anything else, it takes effort, and you get out of it what you put in, right? It's just you have to put in that effort.

Jen LaForge 13:29

Okay, so I'm retailer, uh, everyone's favorite retailer. And uh I call you in January. Maria set up uh the strategy for the year. You set it in place, you do all the work, and I talk to you again next January.

Krysta Gutteridge 13:43

No, no, we have a much more healthy relationship than that. Um, and then you know it goes, it this is becoming the theme of our conversation, right? Like intentionally putting effort into it. And so I I will say it is catered. Like we build bespoke packages for advertisers who have little to zero time to people who want advertisers who want to be in the mix, like 50-50, right? So it really depends on what the advertiser's bandwidth is, what they're prepared to put into the management of it. We have different service levels that go from a little bit of management to fully outsource to us, right? And it really depends on the advertiser, right? So once a year we'll not cut it. We'll repeat that once a year we'll not cut it, right? Um, you do have to be engaged with it. Like a marketing, a CMO, a marketing team doesn't want uh a yearly update on how their channels are performing, right? The nice thing about this performance-based channel is that you can see results dynamically, right? You can log into that dashboard and see how that one newsletter to this geo how that performed. What was the click value? How many conversions? What's the AOV on that cartload, right? And then you can see literally how well it's performing, you know, on an hourly basis, right? So you can watch that. And that's really important when there's seasonality to things, right? I know our teams like watch with bated breath on Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Boxing Day, right? Like, how well is that Mother's Day ad performing, right? So all that seasonality plays into it as well. So to be a little bit shorter-winded, I guess, is it depends what the advertiser needs, but we will always have a solution that works for the advertiser, and we will give our best strategy to the advertiser, and we will execute as much as they need from us.

Jen LaForge 15:32

Okay, great answer. There's a lot going on, and the consumer side might be listening to this and thinking there is this horde of people working behind the scenes to just force them into shopping and buying more and spending more, and that's the core of what we're doing here. Um, we we just did some episodes on myth busting. I think that's a pretty big myth. We are not just trying to get people to shop or rewarding them for what they're already doing. Can you talk a little bit about how strong affiliate ecosystems are actually working to create real value instead of just pushing purchases?

Krysta Gutteridge 16:14

Yeah, for sure. Um, there's not a lot of advertisers that want just straight up purchases, right? Like that's for sure, that's important, right? That means revenue, but it should be the right purchases with the right customers, right? Because those customers are then going to be ambassadors of an advertiser going forward, right? So there's a lot to be said, again, to our theme of paying attention to your affiliate marketing channel and diving into what that looks like. But the value for an advertiser behind strategically putting together a campaign that makes sense for the demographic that they're trying to attract more of, right? That takes effort and it takes precision and it takes some trial and error, right? And you can A-B test a lot of different things again because it's performance-based. An advertiser isn't paying for conversions that actually don't happen, right? And every marketing channel has its place, and I'm someone who does want to see an advertiser trying lots of different things, but like again, watch your data, see where that ROAS is coming in, where are you getting that best lifetime value, right? Um, I could give you an example of, and I won't say which brand, but you know, like the beds in a box, yeah, right? The ones that come rolled up, compressed. So when I was a publisher myself, I worked for a really large employee perk program. That audience was really a high-caliber audience and high converting, which is of course very attractive because they all work at a big company, they get their emails to their work accounts, so that's all very attractive. The mattress companies do this like hundred-night free trial, right? And so they actually have to take back a mattress or donate it to a charity if that customer doesn't want to keep that mattress. And I remember working those campaigns with those bed-in-the-box brands, and they loved that platform and audience because they rarely returned a mattress. So they were actually looking at the quality of customer for not returning something, right? That was way more valuable. So maybe we sold less, but our audience actually returned hardly anything. So that's a way more powerful audience. So every advertiser isn't just looking at purchases, every advertiser has different metrics that they're gonna care about, and you might not even realize their core metrics that mean the most to them, but they can't watch those metrics if they don't have the right tech implementation put in place with the affiliate network that they choose to work with, right? So it all comes down to caring about how that is set up.

Jen LaForge 18:54

So the work is really about putting the the right thing in front of the right customer, and that's where the work is for the most rewarding experience, not just per driving purchases. I love it. The thing that blows my mind, and you you touched on it when you talked about the lack of formal curriculum built into marketing education programs, is that affiliates now represent up to 20% of all retail sales that are being driven by programs like Bracton.ca. That's significant. That is a full piece of the pie that is worthy of teaching at colleges and universities, isn't it? It is. But a lot of people still think about when it was a tiny sliver or a tiny piece of the pie, and it was all about coupon codes. So can you talk a little bit about how the affiliate space has evolved to take on such a big piece and such a prominent position within advertiser strategies today?

Krysta Gutteridge 19:54

Yeah, and a lot of that does come down to education, but also the technology advancements, right? So maybe 20 years ago when affiliate was just out, it was kind of like a how do I direct someone from point A to point B and earn a commission, right? And it was like the Wild West, right? There was some big money being made, and brands would do contests about how many sales you can do. We'll give you this product for free for life, right? Like it was the Wild West 20 years ago, right? And then it evolved with technology, and more data was able to be tracked, more advertisers were in the game, more publishers came to be, right? Ebates became racketin, right? So many pieces of this puzzle evolved, and there are a lot of players in this space, right? We're now actually kind of seeing a market correction right now with all the players. We're seeing some mergers and acquisitions and strategic partnerships, right? Because there are so many players in the space. What happens when there are too many players is that not enough business is held by enough agencies or enough of the publishers, right? And so they do have to join forces to be a stronger entity in this ecosystem. And I think we are gonna see a lot more of that in the next couple years as well. So that all evolved, right? The technology around how we track the different offers, we can get so creative, right? Like I was giving the example of the dynamic commissioning, right? We can translate any business need into the affiliate system. And you couldn't do that 10 years ago, five years ago, right? Definitely not 20 years ago, but now you can be so much more intentional about the offers you put into the market. And there are a lot of luxury advertisers that have private programs. They're not available to every publisher or platform out there, and they're very strategic and intentional about who they work with or if they even do work with publishers. Maybe they just have a few choice creators, influencers, right? So, with that evolvement, you've also had the creator influencer evolvement, right? Where we're now seeing a lot of storefronts, right? So a creator will actually create a storefront and have their choice products from A, B, and C. Advertisers on their storefront. You're also seeing more retail media, right? The retail media piece is say a company doesn't have a direct-to-consumer site, but they make all these different brands of toys, and they want to push their traffic to Walmart. So they will run retail media campaigns through the affiliate channel to put some dollars behind pushing towards Amazon or Walmart, right? So things are evolving very quickly, right? And that's not gonna slow down, right? But I do think we are gonna see more mergers and acquisitions, strategic partnerships between different entities.

Jen LaForge 22:35

Okay. The uh you're talking about evolution, the entire space has been evolving. I think the most critical concern in that evolution continues to be around data and privacy. Uh, and and you're working in the online space, everyone feels spied on, everyone feels like their data is compromised. Can you talk to us a bit about uh how the affiliate marketing has become stronger and evolved to combat data protection and privacy concerns?

Krysta Gutteridge 23:06

Those privacy policies are put in place for a reason, right? So that we do have ownership over our demographic information, right? And so, as much of a hindrance as they can be for advertisers for my industry on certain points, Krista as a consumer is happy that they exist, right? And I will go into my settings and I will make sure that I'm protecting myself to the most that I'm comfortable with. Now, on the same level, I do like being recommended things, right? So I don't turn it all the way off, right? So every consumer has to make that choice for themselves, right? Advertisers have to work within the guidelines that are imposed on their country, right? You also have different things where, you know, like when you say data privacy, I immediately think right now about CTV ads, right? So right now, IP address is not considered privacy, and that is really important to this whole stream of business coming with CTV ads, right? So for your viewers, if they're not familiar, that is when you are watching Netflix or Prime and you've got a commercial, and that commercial shows you a nice little cat food video, and then a QR code comes up, and you grab your phone and you take that QR code, and now your IP address is registering with that CTV ad. And should you tomorrow go and look at that cat food company, right? That ad is gonna get some attribution credit for bringing that in, right? And that's only possible because IP address is not considered private information. So that's working really well for that channel, right? So I'm I don't have a crystal ball and I can't tell you what's gonna happen in the future with data privacy, but I do encourage consumers to be knowledgeable of what they're allowing to be tracked and what they're comfortable with, right? And if you are or if you aren't, that is your personal decision. The strategy execution team needs to be creative and find a different way to that advertiser, right? Like we we cannot do something that goes against a privacy law. We don't pull in that information from advertisers. You can't do it, right? So you do have to find another way. And whether that is the advertiser polling their customers or if it's a different way of getting interest information, right? But no, it's you have to be creative on how you reach the right customers, and privacy rules are going to continue to evolve.

Jen LaForge 25:38

Okay. I want to move over to some practical takeaways now, and we can we can have a handful of them depending on the audience you want to speak to. So let's start with say a mid-sized brand that is not currently playing in the affiliate space or just learning about it today. Um, what is the smartest first thing that they need to be doing this month? Calling me.

Krysta Gutteridge 26:02

The real, real answer is every mid-size, you said mid-range advertiser, you need to be in this space. And it's not something that you turn on overnight. So you need to rip off the band-aid and get started. Like you have to do your due diligence on what network you're gonna start with, and that's your starting point, right? So you need to do your own research internally, and that will take a little effort. You need to interview them, you need to understand what sort of tech implementation they're offering you and how much time that's gonna take your tech team to implement. And then once you've chosen a network, then you need to decide who your strategy execution team is going to be, right? And that is such an important, it's just as important as what network you choose, who's actually gonna run it. I will say, even though this is like my company and what we do, the best people to run an advertiser's affiliate program is internal. If you have the bandwidth on your team to run your affiliate channel and they can learn it and they can dive in and they're gonna give it all the attention it needs, fabulous because they know the brand and that's what's really gonna help those relationships. If you do not, as an advertiser, if you do not have the bandwidth, your next best option is racked in advertising, right? So we have all of this experience to get that program up and running. It takes three to six months to ramp up a program, right? And that's what's not always understood. So a retailer would not want to start a program in October, November, right? Right in the middle of Q4, probably not the best time to start, right? But January is a great time, right? Anytime really up until the end of Q3 is a great time to start a program. We can get that ramped up for you. It's really important that when a new advertiser in the affiliate channel, NetNew, comes in, that they are prepared to give a full 12-month path to really gauge and judge the affiliate channel. Because every company, every advertiser rather, has their own seasonality. And so you need to see all of those different seasonal events that happen for your product or service and how it reacts in the channel, right? So I can give you like an average of what a net new affiliate program might see on the advertiser side. And this is something that we give to all of our prospects, right? So after a full year, you can expect to see five to ten percent incremental revenue growth. Right? Now that can be a lot more if you put a lot of effort into it or if you have the right strategy execution team to put into it, right? But your first thing is you gotta rip off the band-aid and start. Okay.

Jen LaForge 28:35

I want to summarize all of that. Go ahead. What I just heard you say was call Krista. Yes, call me. I have got a great team of sales reps that are ready to chat with you. And help with that education piece because as as we've said throughout this, this is a significant growth channel for businesses. Some have not realized it yet because they're still thinking about coupon codes, but it is nearly 20% of all retail sales now flowing through affiliate programs. It's worth the the elbow grease to get it up and running, and it's worth the year of data to really understand how to make it a valuable channel. Absolutely.

Krysta Gutteridge 29:10

And after that first year, then you have the benefit of knowing what that first year looks like, and it will grow so much more. It's so exciting to see a mature program and where it's come from, right? But you see that because there's data.

Jen LaForge 29:23

We all love data. What we also love are our customers, and I have a lot of uh viewers and listeners who have reached out to me personally, excited about learning how to earn more cash back and more rewards in this space. So that's what we promised. Last question to you, Krista: what is one thing consumers should know about affiliate links, cashback rewards that will help them shop smarter?

Krysta Gutteridge 29:53

If consumers slowed down a little bit and looked at their options for purchasing, they would make a lot better choices. And I say that in many kind of realms, there are so many different places you can make a purchase, right? There are so many different companies you can make a purchase with. I think so often a consumer just jumps at the first thing that they see, and then they have that FOMO of missing out on cashback, right? By getting the browser extension on rackton.ca, you can actually take advantage of that cashback so much more often without that feeling of regret missing it. But I also think that if outside of the cashback space, if you know, if we haven't gotten that advertiser on cashback yet, and that's on me, we got to go out and get them for you, right? If you get to checkout with an advertiser and you see that there is a coupon space there, that will automatically trigger a customer to go looking for a coupon, right? So an advertiser needs to be aware that that space does trigger a customer to go look for a coupon. Where are they finding a coupon? Are they gonna have a good experience looking for that coupon? Are they not gonna find anything at all and then they're gonna be ticked off and then have a bad experience, right? And that's where cashback is so lovely because it's already done for you, right? So, like that little browser extension pops up, and we can take advantage of the rackton.ca cashback right there. And I feel better making that purchase knowing that I'm putting a little bit more into my digital wallet there. But I think the quick answer to answer your question is consumers need to just slow down a hot second. They need to look at what is their best path to getting the best product for the best price, and what credit card are they using to make that purchase? What you know last click conversion are they going through? And lots of consumers have no idea what's going on in the background, right? Like they don't know that these things are being tracked and that racton.ca will make this commission and then share it as cashback. But as a whole, I do think that Canadians or any consumers need to just slow down and make more intentional choices on their purchases. Shop with purpose, shop with real intention, think about where your dollars are going, support the best companies, support the companies that are doing well by their workers, well by you as a consumer, well to Canada. Look at shipping. Look at how much shipping's gonna cost, look at the cart threshold. Just take an extra 60 seconds before you convert and make sure that you're doing all the right steps to get yourself the best offer and that you are interacting with the right path.

Jen LaForge 32:35

So rack tun.ca helps you do all of those things. So what I heard was slow down a hot minute, join rackton.ca, get the toolbar extension, and start stacking your cash back with all your other loyalty and rewards points. I mean, we both said it. Krista, thank you for coming. Your passion was evident, uh, your expertise was evident, you've helped us a lot really understand the in-between middle part of uh what's going on here. Thank you so much. You are so welcome, Jen. Great doing us. And that's it. This episode of Stacked. If you found this useful, follow along as we interview leaders shaping the future of retail and learn how value really works behind the scenes. And if there's a topic you want us to unpack, I'd love to hear from you. See you next time.