CJAM: Tell a Story with Your Data

Here at CJ, we have no shortage of data. Everything you need to know about your consumers is flowing through our system, the CJ Account Manager (CJAM), and ready for you to collect and analyze.

Just like a massive library of books, there are two keys to sifting through all that data:

1. Where to look (and how to get there)
2. How to read the data once you find it

To help you do this, we've pulled together three common reporting use cases, illustrating how you can dig in, decipher, and tell a stronger story with your data. In case you need a refresher on reporting in general, check out this short video overview: Reporting Overview.

“What’s driving low EPC and Conversion Rates?”

First, let’s run a report…

Performance by Program: Daily Trend, Last 30 Days (or longer)

• This will show you which days saw the weakest EPC or CR, and when the decline began
• Note: a major influx in clicks can drive these averages down, so look for that as well!

Then…

Performance by Publisher: No Trend, Custom Date Range 

• Set a date or date range that may have stood out in the last report
• This will help you determine if a particular publisher is pulling down those metrics
  • If there is, check out their sites to see if their ad placement is attracting traffic that’s not likely to convert for you
  • Reach out and start optimizing!

If no publishers stand out…

Performance by Link: No Trend, Custom Date Range

• Set this to the same date range as your Performance by Publisher report
• This will show you if any particular links or promotions drove clicks that weren’t converting
• Dig in to determine what changed from your more successful promotions

“Did that site-wide sale improve engagement?”

You guessed it, let's run a report...

Performance by Publisher: Monthly Trend, Custom Date Range of a few months before the sale through today

• This will give you a chart of your overall performance (use the drop-down to see additional metrics like Sales, Clicks, etc.) as well as a data table showing how each of your publishers is performing.
  • Download and open this report in Excel to start analyzing trends by publisher
  • For tight promotional dates (just a few days or so), set this report to a Daily trend instead

• By selecting all of your data and building a pivot table, you can see:
  • If publishers drove more clicks or sales during the promotion than they did prior
  • If Average Order Value was higher during the promotion than it was prior

Also, try…

Mail > Email Campaigns

• Did you send a newsletter about your sale? How about after?
• Use this page to see your open rates* which can indicate higher engagement and interest in the program *(Only HTML messages report opened mail)

“How is each product affecting our ROAS?”

First, let’s run a report…

Performance by Program: Daily Trend, Last 30 Days (or longer)

• Dividing Sale Amount by Publisher Commission gives you your Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)

• Calculate your ROAS for the whole period, and for each day, to give yourself a program-wide baseline

Then…

Performance by Product: Daily Trend, Last 30 Days (or longer)

• This will show how each of your SKUs is performing, and what your ROAS is for each

• If you’re offering different commission rates for specific products, this is where you’re going to see how those rates are making a difference

• If your ROAS is lower than you'd like on certain days, or for certain products, consider engaging with your publishers
  • Discuss the products they’re focusing on and how your promotions are—or aren’t—driving consumers to products that drive the healthiest returns
  • For additional insight, run a Performance by Product by Publisher report, to see which publishers are driving a low ROAS!

Do you have a product catalog but aren’t seeing product-specific data? You likely have a “simple” pixel integration. Connect through the Support Center to unlock product-level insights with an “advanced” pixel integration.

As you gather and act upon this newfound data, be sure to check out our Support Center. It’s chock full of best practices and ideas to guide you along the way. You can also read these articles as you follow-through on the stories of your data:

• Promotional Strategies
• Activate your Publishers
• Publisher Optimization

Our data is only as powerful as the stories you tell with it. Use the above information to find the answer you are looking for.