So the user goes to their computer and instead of typing in the phrase "cheap car insurance" to the search engines, they type in "Confused Car Insurance" or "Elephant Car Insurance" or something like this.
Immediately the new age car insurance website appears and the user diverts straight to it hence eliminating the chance of car insurance affiliates getting a bite of the apple.
Affiliates Click Value Tumbled
Now, we have explained how the affiliate has lost money due to these new age sites by losing valuable traffic looking for car insurance deals. The next fact makes the affiliate lose even more money!
The click value that the affiliate network pays the affiliate has dramatically dropped in many areas due to the new age sites. The Car insurance click was previously valued at around £0.90 pence from a particular affiliate network 2 years ago.
This amount was depicted by the car insurance companies bidding for business to the affiliate network. The higher the car insurance companies bid to be at the top of the list, the more they paid!
Since the new age sites of multiple quotes arrived, the car insurance companies have lost their ability to get customers who had only a few quotes to compare in their pocket. This meant that they were bidding against the likes of Confused, Elephant and Insure Supermarket car insurance websites.
Now, when Insure Supermarket is at the top of the list on the affiliate website, the customer clicks it and gains 50 quotes or more. One of those quotes would probably be from the next car insurance company who is below Insure Supermarket on the affiliate website's list.
So who is going to click it? Nobody as they have already had a car insurance quote off them through the new age site! And if they did happen to click it first, its cost the insurance company say £1.20. Now if they clicked the new age site secondly, they would almost certainly be beaten on price and the user would not take out an insurance policy with the originally clicked upon car insurance company.
Still with me? Anyway, this has devalued the value of the click on the affiliate website to around £0.30 pence in Summer 2006. A 70% loss in value!
Combine the loss of traffic due to new age websites and the devalue of the click because of their service and it's plainly obvious that the car insurance affiliate has had his day in making good money. Not only in car insurance, but in all sorts of financial areas where affiliates can make a living from doing what they do.
So what will happen in the future regarding car insurance?
The new age sites will surely multiply as these are the websites earning the money. So in theory, that will increase the value of the click again due to all this competing for the same type of business? Let's hope so affiliates!
So I suppose the lesson is "If you're an Affiliate - don't give up your day job because things will always change!"
If you are an affiliate involved in a car insurance website, please email us on and tell us your views on how things have changed and if you think they will change again for the better.
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