Awin recovers over USD $250 million in lost affiliate revenue

Awin has disclosed that its Conversion Protection Initiative has enabled brands to recover over USD $250 million in lost affiliate revenue since its implementation earlier this year, marking a reported 150% increase within a two-month period.

Tracking challenges

Affiliate marketers face growing obstacles in tracking conversions accurately due to widespread adoption of ad blockers, changes in mobile tracking standards by major technology companies, and the ongoing roll-out of privacy-focused tools like Google's Privacy Sandbox. These developments have complicated efforts to attribute sales and marketing performance reliably across digital channels.

While marketers have access to increasingly sophisticated tracking tools, these are often optional or are not applied consistently across various platforms, leading to potential under-reporting of results and misattribution of sales.

Server-to-server tracking

Awin's Conversion Protection Initiative addresses these concerns by mandating server-to-server and in-app integrations for its clients. These technical measures are intended to track every legitimate conversion and correctly attribute sales, regardless of which marketing partner was involved. This setup aims to provide brands with more robust data for performance analysis and financial reporting.

Awin reports that brands participating in the initiative have achieved improvements in key commercial metrics. According to the company, clients using in-app tracking integration have observed a 37% increase in revenue, a 34% rise in sales, a 29% uplift in average order value, and an 81% improvement in conversion rates. In the UK, tracked sales totalled EUR €1.3 million, revenue reached EUR €141.6 million, and commission payments amounted to EUR €7.5 million for participating brands.

Revenue attribution

The initiative comes at a time when brands are looking for more accurate measures of their marketing investments. The affiliate model is based on performance, with brands only paying for confirmed results, a structure that can help reduce upfront marketing costs and risks compared with models like pay-per-click.

"Awin's CPI initiative has delivered real impact for easyfundraising, driving an 8.6% increase in conversion since launch. That uplift directly translates into more money reaching good causes and charities at a time when they need it most. This year alone, we've paid out a record GBP £7.3 million in donations - and improving tracking accuracy is essential to protecting and growing that support. CPI is a positive step toward a fairer, more transparent affiliate ecosystem," said Mic Miller, COO, easyfundraising.

Industry response

The enhanced tracking capabilities also allow brands and their partners to better measure performance and optimise affiliate programmes. More comprehensive data has led some advertisers to rethink how they reward affiliates and credit sales.

"Awin CPI has helped Blue Light Card to have better conversations with our partners about how they track and measure performance. Because of this, we've improved our member experience and boosted the results of our partners' affiliate channels," said Jamie Devlin, Revenue Director, Blue Light Card.

Adam Ross, CEO at Awin, said: "CPI is about building a stronger, smarter and more sustainable partner marketing ecosystem. Awin is putting the right systems and frameworks in place to allow brands and publishers to operate in an environment where tracking is accurate, attribution is fair and growth is built on trust."