Exploring the Top 10 Affiliate Marketing Trends in 2023

Discover the top 10 affiliate marketing trends for 2023, including influencer marketing, AI-powered personalization, and social proof. Stay ahead of the game!

The world of affiliate marketing is constantly evolving, and staying ahead of the curve is crucial for success. As we approach mid of 2023 and beyond, several trends are poised to shape the industry. Here are the top 10 affiliate marketing trends to keep an eye on:

Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing has been a hot trend in recent years, and it’s poised to become even more critical in the marketing space. Expect influencers to partnering brands to promote their products.

Influencer marketing has seen steady growth in recent years, with the market size increasing from $1.7 billion in 2016 to $16.4 billion in 2022 [1]. This growth is due to influencers’ growing popularity and ability to reach a broad audience. Statista said the global influencer marketing platform market size was estimated at around $4.14 billion in 2022 [2]. Additionally, U.S. influencer marketing spending jumped from $3.69 billion to $4.14 billion in 2022 [3].

Furthermore, research from Influencer Marketing Hub shows that the influencer marketing industry reached $16.4 billion in 2022. This indicates that influencer marketing is becoming increasingly popular and lucrative. The market is estimated to grow in 2023, with the industry expected to reach a market size of $20 billion [4].

Overall, it is clear that influencer marketing has seen steady growth in recent years and is expected to continue to grow.

Sources:

1. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1092819/global-influencer-market-size/
2. https://www.statista.com/topics/2496/influence-marketing/
3. https://www.statista.com/topics/8371/influencer-marketing-in-the-us/
4. https://influencermarketinghub.com/influencer-marketing/

Voice Search

With the rise of smart speakers and voice assistants, optimizing your affiliate marketing content for voice search will be crucial. This means focusing on conversational keywords and using natural language in your content.

Voice search is becoming increasingly popular. Statistics show that 50% of the US population uses voice search features daily [1], and 71% of consumers prefer to conduct queries by voice instead of typing [2]. Additionally, 52% of people use voice search while driving [3], 65% of consumers ages 25-49 years old talk to their voice-enabled devices daily [4], and 40% of smartphone voice users check the time at least once a week [5].

Furthermore, almost 50% of users are utilizing voice search to get answers from the globe[6], and 63% of marketers agree that including a voice app for smartphone users is “extremely important” [7]. On average, more men than women use voice search at least once per month8, and 58% of them check the weather [5], 47% set the alarm [5], and 46% use a personal voice assistant to make a phone call [5].

These statistics demonstrate that voice search is growing in popularity and usage, becoming an increasingly important tool for consumers and marketers alike.

Sources:

1. https://www.ober./blog/voice-search-statistics
2. https://www.algolia.com/blog/product/voice-search-the-latest-statistics-and-trends-for-2022-and-beyond/
3. https://backlinko.com/voice-search-stats
4. https://pwc.com/us/en/industries/entertainment-media/voice-assistants-consumer-survey.html
5. https://serpwatch.io/blog/voice-search-statistics/
6. https://review42.com/resources/voice-search-stats/
7. https://www.algolia.com/blog/product/voice-search-the-latest-statistics-and-trends-for-2022-and-beyond/

AI-Powered Personalization

Artificial intelligence is already used in affiliate marketing to personalize content and offers for individual users. As AI technology advances, expect to see even more sophisticated personalization in the years ahead.

AI-Powered Personalization has become increasingly popular in recent years, as it has been proven to improve customer engagement, loyalty, and sales. According to a study by Instapage, 88% of U.S. marketers have seen measurable improvements due to personalization, with more than half reporting a lift greater than 10%.[1] Additionally, AI-based personalization enables brands to increase customer engagement, improve loyalty, increase sales, and thoroughly understand their customers — all in real time.[2]

Furthermore, AI is being used to improve email marketing, with 87% of companies adopting AI to improve their email marketing.[3] AI is also increasing sales by 50% based on the number of leads.[3] Additionally, 28% of the time, top-rated companies are using AI-powered personalization to provide personalized customer experiences.

In conclusion, AI-Powered Personalization has become increasingly popular in recent years, as it has been proven to improve customer engagement, loyalty, and sales. Companies that have adopted AI are seeing measurable improvements in their email marketing, with increased sales numbers and personalized customer experiences.

Sources:

1. https://www.forbes.com/sites/blakemorgan/2020/02/18/50-stats-showing-the-power-of-personalization/
2. https://www.techtarget.com/searchenterpriseai/feature/8-examples-of-AI-personalization-across-industries
3. https://unfoldlabs.medium.com/top-50-advanced-personalization-statistics-predictions-2020-2025-b9c801660506

Video Content

Affiliate marketing already uses a lot of video content, but it will likely become even more important in the coming years. As more people watch videos online, affiliate marketers will probably make videos to promote their products and services.

Video content is becoming increasingly popular, with more people turning to video for information, entertainment, and more. According to Renderforest, 52% of video marketers said video content has the best ROI in 2022 [1]. Additionally, Cisco reported that video traffic would make up 82% of all consumer traffic by 2022 [2]. This is further supported by Elite Content Marketer, which found that 66% of people would rather watch a short video about a product or service than read a text [3].

Furthermore, YouTube has over 1 billion monthly active users, and people watch over 5 billion videos daily [4]. Facebook now has over 8 billion daily videos [4], and Instagram has 400 million daily active users, and they watch 60% more videos than they did just a year ago [4].

Regarding marketers, 44% of marketers describe creating video content as somewhat easy [5], and 59% found video marketing to be slightly effective for reaching their company’s overall business goals [5]. Additionally, 47% of marketers say video marketing is moderately important to the overall marketing strategy at their company [5].

Finally, there are 38 million active channels on YouTube, of which 15 million are content creators, and 22,000 have crossed 1 million subscribers [6]. Additionally, 500 hours of video content are uploaded to YouTube every minute as of 2019 [6], and the average time spent on YouTube daily is 17 minutes, 31 seconds [6].

To leverage this growing trend, you can create high-quality videos easily with FlexClip, a free simple yet powerful web-based AI video maker that helps you craft compelling content in minutes.

Overall, it is clear that video content is becoming increasingly popular, with more people turning to video for information, entertainment, and more.

Sources:

1. https://www.renderforest.com/blog/video-marketing-statistics
2. https://www.digiexe.com/blog/video-content-marketing-statistics/
3. https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/video-marketing-statistics
4. https://www.statista.com/topics/9269/online-video-content-creators/
5. https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/video-marketing-statistics
6. https://invideo.io/blog/video-marketing-stat

Mobile Optimization

Mobile optimization has been a trend for years, but it’s more important than ever. With more people accessing the internet on their mobile devices, affiliate marketers need to ensure their content is optimized for mobile users.

Mobile optimization is becoming increasingly important in today’s digital world. According to Statista, at the end of the first quarter of 2022, there were 3.3 million apps on Google Play [1]. This number is expected to grow by up to 700% between 2016 and 2020 [2]. Additionally, mobile phone data usage is predicted to grow by 46% by 2023 [2].

Furthermore, mobile devices are becoming the primary source of internet access for many consumers. According to a study by reverbico.com, over 51% of websites are opened on mobile devices [3]. Also, 60% of people worldwide use their mobile devices as their main way to connect to the internet [4].

Furthermore, mobile usage is becoming more prevalent in many countries. For example, 46% of Americans in the United States spend five to six hours on their phones daily [5]. Additionally, mobile usage is 71% of China’s and 67% of Spain’s [1].

Overall, mobile optimization is becoming increasingly important in today’s digital world. With more people using mobile devices and mobile devices as their main way to access the internet, it is important to make sure websites and apps work well on mobile devices to reach as many people as possible.

Sources:

1. https://llcbuddy.com/data/mobile-app-optimization-statistics/
2. https://webinarcare.com/best-mobile-app-optimization-software/mobile-app-optimization-statistics/
3. https://www.marion.com/mobile-marketing-statistics-optimization-stats/
4. https://blog.hubspot.com/website/mobile-optimization-stats

Native Advertising

Native advertising, which involves creating ads that blend seamlessly into the content around them, is becoming increasingly popular in affiliate marketing. Expect more affiliate marketers to use native ads to promote products and services.

Native advertising has become a lot more popular in the past few years, and this trend is likely to continue in the years to come. According to eMarketer, native advertising spending in the US jumped 37% in 2021 and is expected to reach $98.59 billion in 2023. In 2020, $53 billion will be spent on native digital display ads, which is a big jump. Also, native video ads are expected to make up 84.1% of all video ad spending in the US in 2022, almost 2% more than in 2021.

A 2019 survey of 50 content-focused websites showed that 58% of websites are not using native advertising, indicating that there is still a lot of potential for growth in this area. Additionally, the global native advertising market is expected to reach $100 billion by 2022 and $650 billion by 2032, with a CAGR of 375%. This shows that native advertising is a growing business that is likely to keep growing in the years to come. [1]

Sources:

1. https://www.outbrain.com/blog/native-advertising-statistics/

Diversification

As the affiliate marketing space gets more crowded, you’ll need to do more than one thing to stand out. This means exploring new niches and products and partnering with different types of brands.

Diversification will likely be one of the biggest trends in affiliate marketing in 2023, as businesses and marketers try to take advantage of new technologies and trends. According to a blog post from ShareASale, “2023 will see discounts and promotions everywhere, but only those affiliates that have forged real trust with their users will see the benefit.”  [1] Affiliate marketing strategies will need to be more varied to succeed in 2023 when businesses are using many different channels and platforms.

Awin

Awin, another affiliate marketing platform, also notes that “the affiliate marketing industry is constantly evolving, and 2023 is set to bring a variety of new trends to the table. With technological advances and shifts in consumer behavior, businesses and marketers need to stay ahead of the curve to remain competitive.  [2] This further reinforces the idea that diversification will be a key trend in 2023 as businesses capitalize on new technologies and consumer behaviors.

Clickbank

Clickbank also notes, “In 2023, affiliate marketers will have to keep up with metaverse trends—and dip their toes into a future of digital currencies such as NFTs and crypto—if they want to monetize off of the most popular virtual platforms.”  [3] This suggests that diversification of affiliate marketing strategies will be necessary to capitalize on the growing virtual economy.

Influencer Marketing Hub

Finally, Influencer Marketing Hub notes, “The world of affiliate marketing has been consistently growing over the past years, and with the rapid changes in digital marketing and e-commerce, there are specific trends on the horizon that marketers should be aware of entering 2023. Affiliate marketing has gained appeal as a low-cost business growth plan.  [4] This shows that affiliate marketing strategies must be more varied to take advantage of the growing digital economy and stay competitive.

Overall, it’s clear that a big trend in 2023 will be the diversification of affiliate marketing strategies. To stay competitive, businesses and marketers must stay ahead of the curve and make the most of new technologies and consumer habits.

Sources:

1. https://blog.shareasale.com/2023/01/23/2023-affiliate-trends/
2. https://www.awin.com/us/affiliate-marketing/2023-affiliate-trends
3. https://www.clickbank.com/blog/affiliate-marketing-trends-2023/
4. https://influencermarketinghub.com/affiliate-marketing-trends/

Social Proof

Social proof, which involves using customer reviews and testimonials for products, will be even more critical in the years ahead. Consumers are increasingly relying on social proof to make purchasing decisions.

A blog post by ShareASale says that one of the top affiliate marketing trends for 2023 is an increased focus on discounts and promotions and the resale and rental markets, which will do well when the economy is bad. This trend is caused by the need for brands to build trust with their customers and make sure that their products are seen as long-lasting and reliable. Additionally, Tapfiliate suggests that brands will increase their focus on video, podcasts, SEO affiliates, and influencer marketing focused on performance.

TUNE also says that protecting consumers’ privacy will be an essential goal for the industry in 2023, and that server-side tracking will be a big part of that. Clickbank also says 2023 will be a year of digital change for social platforms, search engines, and the brands that live in them.

Lastly, Influencer Marketing Hub recommends that companies strategically use nano- and micro-influencers to reach niche users. This is a big trend in affiliate marketing that lets brands reach a bigger audience and show that their products are popular. Social proof is a powerful tool for brands to build customer trust and credibility. BrightLocal did a survey and found that 88% of people trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations [1]. This trend is expected to continue in 2023 as more and more brands focus on creating social proof to build trust and credibility with their customers.

Sources:

1. https://www.brightlocal.com/learn/local-consumer-review-survey/

Data Privacy

With the rise of data breaches and privacy concerns, data privacy will be a top concern for affiliate marketers. Expect more emphasis on data privacy and security in the years ahead.

Privacy is set to become a top trend in affiliate marketing in 2023. Gartner says that by 2023, 30% of organizations that deal with customers will have a self-service transparency portal for managing preferences and consent [1]. Data privacy will be a big deal for companies that deal with customers in the coming years.

ShareASale also says that in 2023, “shopping sustainably is often one of the first casualties of a recession” [2], which shows that data privacy will become more important as the economy continues to struggle.

Also, ClickBank says that by 2023, “affiliate marketers will have to keep up with metaverse trends and dip their toes into a future of digital currencies like NFTs and crypto” if they want to make money off of the most popular virtual platforms. Affiliate marketers will have to pay a lot of attention to data privacy to keep their customers’ information safe.

Finally, TUNE states that “consumer privacy is the goal” [4], indicating that data privacy will be a major focus for affiliate marketers in the coming years.

Overall, data privacy is set to become a top trend in affiliate marketing in 2023.

Sources:

1. https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2022-05-31-gartner-identifies-top-five-trends-in-privacy-through-2024
2. https://blog.shareasale.com/2023/01/23/2023-affiliate-trends/
3. https://www.clickbank.com/blog/affiliate-marketing-trends-2023/
4. https://www.tune.com/blog/2023-affiliate-marketing-trends-to-watch/

Sustainability

Sustainability is starting to be a big trend in affiliate marketing in 2023. Luxury players will need to speed up their efforts to reduce carbon emissions and change their mindset from managing ESG risk to creating opportunities for strategic renewal and more brand desire through new business models with a purpose and a positive impact. [1] Consumers want more sustainable products and services, and more people are becoming aware of how businesses affect the environment and society. [2]

A recent survey by the National Retail Federation found that 73% of consumers are more likely to buy from a store that sells sustainable products and services. [3] Additionally, the survey found that over half (56%) of consumers are willing to pay more for sustainable products. This shows that people want products and services that are good for the environment, which will likely help affiliate marketing grow in 2023.

Furthermore, a study conducted by the World Economic Forum found that nearly two-thirds (63%) of consumers are more likely to purchase from a transparent company about its environmental and social impacts. [4] This indicates that consumers are increasingly aware of businesses’ environmental and social impacts and are willing to support those taking steps to reduce those effects. This is likely to make affiliate marketing grow in 2023, as businesses try to take advantage of this trend by partnering with affiliates who promote products and services that are good for the environment.

Overall, it is clear that sustainability is set to be a major trend in affiliate marketing in 2023, driven by the increasing demand for sustainable products and services from consumers and the growing awareness of the social impacts of businesses.

Sources:

1. https://www.imd.org/ibyimd/sustainability/13-sustainability-trends-driving-business-in-2023/
2. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinessdevelopmentcouncil/2020/05/11why-sustainability-is-the-future-of-business/?sh=3b3d3f2f2e2b
3. https://nrf.com/resources/consumer-data/sustainability-consumer-trends
4. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/05/consumer-trends-sustainability-environmental-social-impact/

FAQs

Conclusion

In conclusion, these are the top 10 affiliate marketing trends in 2023 and beyond. To grow your affiliate marketing business follow these trends to make sure they stay relevant and do well in a field that is always changing.