The future of blockchain in affiliate marketing technology business, what does it hold for us?
In recent years, a considerable increase has been evident in the affiliate marketing industry. Money is falling from the skies in this business, and people are constantly working on innovation and new creative ways to improve affiliate marketing channels.
One of the innovations that people expect a lot of profit from is the blockchain technology.
When you think of blockchain, you may immediately think of cryptocurrencies, but you can now extend this unique technology.
Therefore, it is expected that affiliate marketing and blockchain technology will become closely intertwined in the (very near) future.
In this article, you will find more information about the current state of affairs, the possible future of blockchain in the affiliate marketing business, and the software that can be used for it.
Blockchain technology in the affiliate marketing industry is currently in its infancy, but that is likely to change soon.
The current state of affairs; blockchain in affiliate marketing
The affiliate marketing industry is growing by a few percent annually. Check out this article on affiliate marketing stats. This applies to all parts of the world, not just the US market.
As a result of this growth, more and more companies are becoming involved in affiliate marketing (directly or indirectly), while more and more marketers are interested in this form of online marketing.
However, there is a lot of criticism about the affiliate marketing industry.
This criticism is mainly related to the lack of transparency. It is ‘the expectation’ that you trust the links of the advertisers; if these links don’t work, you don’t earn anything as an affiliate marketer.
Besides, it is relatively easy to scam in this industry. Partly because of this criticism, there is an increasing demand for a fairer and more transparent process. A process, in which there is no more room for mistakes or deceitful techniques.
At the time of writing (2020), blockchain technology is slowly entering our industry. However, this is not moving too fast, as there is the inevitable resistance.
After all, many people earn (a lot of) money with affiliate marketing; a shift in technology can possibly change this.
Since we don’t have a crystal ball and cannot foresee for sure what’s ahead of us, it is exciting to look at the future of affiliate marketing and guess how blockchain technology will shape it.
Nowadays, with the help of certain software, including affiliate marketing software, blockchain technology can already be partly used by affiliate marketers.
How exactly? Let’s dive in.
Blockchain technology software
It is fascinating to look at the connection between technology, affiliate marketing, and cryptocurrencies in the current market. For example, there are several marketing platforms for which companies and affiliate marketers can sign up. These platforms take over the functions of the affiliate networks and offer several models.
To explain this better, let’s take Scaleo platform is an example. This is an affiliate software, a SaaS performance marketing platform for creating networks and managing, tracking & optimizing online advertising campaigns.
It is striking that Scaleo also offers a built-in tracker; thanks to this tracker, it is possible for advertisers to see how well the campaigns are performing.
Such a platform offers many advantages for both parties. There is much more transparency for both companies and affiliate marketers. Thanks to blockchain technology, it is also possible to save costs, work more efficiently, and go through life completely anonymously. After all, that too is one of the most important features and advantages of blockchain technology.
Scaleo currently is not using blockchain technology, but it may change in the future. However, some affiliate marketing platforms focus purely on cryptocurrencies; Scaleo offers a wide range of benefits for anyone. For example, you can integrate it with Shopify, WooCommerce, and other platforms.
If visitors to your affiliate website buy cryptocurrencies via that platform, you will receive a certain commission for that. As soon as you have earned a commission, you can have it paid out immediately. That, too, can be called a relatively unique feature.
With the above examples, the problem was also directly touched upon.
There is still too little certainty, there is still no clear line, and there is also insufficient development in the industry.
The concept of the future: blockchain in affiliate marketing
Earlier in this article, you could read that blockchain technology entails the necessary resistance. Which is logical, as no one knows what this technology will offer us. Partly because of this uncertainty, affiliate platforms and companies are not yet too keen to actually use blockchain technology now.
At the same time, it is interesting to see that various affiliate networks are already implementing changes.
According to various sources, affiliate network can play a decisive role. TradeDoubler wants to use the blockchain technology for the following:
- Save data
- Make transaction data (more) accessible
- Make the transactions a lot more transparent
- Prevent fraud
- Implement new functionalities more easily
The benefits of blockchain technology in affiliate marketing
There are no discussions about the various advantages of blockchain technology. Many people certainly see the value of this technology, in combination with the cryptocurrencies, but there is nevertheless the necessary friction. Friction because the old monetary system should change, while so many people make a lot of money and want to stop.
It is only forgotten that many people fraudulently earn money and actually abuse the banks’ power, for example.
This is actually also the case in the world of affiliate marketing.
Some parties have too much power, while many other parties depend on them.
In fact, blockchain technology offers everything one needs to combat this.
This affiliate platform gives some reasons why people are so eager to get started with blockchain technology on its own website. These benefits are summarized below:
- Affiliate platforms expect to be able to pay out much faster with the new technology.
- Affiliate platforms expect to be better able to comply with the GPDR; after all, the new technology offers more options for protecting users’ data.
- Affiliate platforms expect to be able to bypass the adblockers, which should increase revenues.
- Affiliate platforms expect to be able to exercise greater control over publishers; after all, the technology provides all kinds of relevant information, which Tradedoubler can then react to.
- Affiliate software platforms expect a direct connection between advertisers and publishers to emerge; it is expected that this will increase the conversion rate (significantly).
- Affiliate systems expects much better attribution; thanks to the technology, it is possible to measure all clicks’ conversion, and it is no longer possible to ‘falsify’ the attribution.
- Scaleo expects a lot less fraud; this makes the entire affiliate marketing industry a lot fairer.
All in all, this affiliate marketing platform expects quite a lot from blockchain technology. Is technology going to deliver on all of this? That is the question currently in the affiliate marketing industry.
The expectations; blockchain in affiliate marketing
It is absolutely clear; blockchain technology will bring about the necessary changes. These changes will make the entire affiliate marketing industry a lot more transparent, fairer, and more enjoyable.
Both advertisers and publishers will benefit from this.
For you, as a publisher, it is important to keep a close eye on all development. This allows you to respond to developments so that you can take a head start on your competition quickly. It is expected that within x number of years, the blockchain technology will be applied on a large scale by several European affiliate platforms.
Should that be the case, the entire affiliate marketing industry is going to change, but, no one knows what the future will bring.
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