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Ebates Case Study

Ebates Finds Pay-for-Performance Marketing with Commission Junction Easy and Rewarding

Launched in 1998 in San Francisco, Ebates was the first online shopping mall offering rebates at top online stores. It quickly grew a loyal fan base and currently has several million registered members. Ebates members receive rebates of up to 25 percent on every purchase made through their site. Ebates features more than 500 retailers in 19 categories, including computer equipment, health and beauty supplies, clothing, electronics, cooking, gardening supplies, as well as "free stuff."



	"Commission Junction's Web-based system is excellent and the real-time reporting is a huge benefit." Paul Nichols Senior Merchant Development Manager

Ebates' valuable member base of shoppers spends millions of dollars a month online with Ebates' partners. In return for the large audience it provides, Ebates receives sales commissions from those partners. In turn, Ebates rewards its customers with rebates. This means Ebates must keep track of several million members, more than 500 retail partners, thousands of product offers, sales transactions that take place between them, commissions to be received, and rebates to be paid to Ebates' customers. Realizing what a huge undertaking this is, Ebates turned to Commission Junction to tap into its expertise in linking advertisers with publishers and tracking sales.

"From the beginning, we knew that a publisher sales channel would be an essential part of the Ebates business plan," says Paul Nichols, senior merchant development manager for Ebates. "With access to Commission Junction's existing network of advertisers, we have the ability to choose from more than 1.5 million product links, banners, buttons, and text links that are of interest to our customers."

Commission Junction has proven to be a turn-key solution that has helped Ebates develop a highly successful business model. By becoming a Commission Junction publisher, Ebates has access to over 1,200 advertisers at no cost. Currently, Commission Junction advertisers comprise one third of the advertisers Ebates is actively promoting.

A beneficial feature of Commission Junction's services that Ebates utilizes is SmartRewards technology. SmartRewards provides Web sites with the ability to create a unique record for each registered individual and match it with any transaction that ensues. Ebates uses SmartRewards to identify a consumer's total amount of purchases made through its Ebates account.

"SmartRewards is a great way for providers of loyalty programs, like Ebates, to simplify the way they do business," says Lisa Riolo, Commission Junction vice president, client development. "Our SmartRewards technology is another easy-to-use tool we provide to assist our clients in managing their pay-for-performance marketing programs and increasing revenue."

In addition to SmartRewards, the real-time reporting Commission Junction offers, combined with its proprietary tracking and Web-based infrastructure, provides Ebates with just the solution it was looking for.

"Commission Junction's Web-based system is excellent and the real-time reporting is a huge benefit," said Nichols. "It is an important factor to our business model. With Commission Junction handling the technology behind so many of our relationships with our advertisers, we can now concentrate on our core competency – rewarding our loyal members."

Since there is no cost for active publishers to participate in the Commission Junction network, the return-on-investment is high. Commission Junction also saves Ebates time and money in advertiser acquisition costs. With new advertisers being added to the Commission Junction network daily, Ebates is able to add new offerings to its program quickly and easily. Currently, Ebates is working with many name-brand retailers through Commission Junction, including MLB.com, Palm.com and Tower Records, just to name a few.

From real-time reporting to SmartRewards technology, brand-name advertisers and zero overhead costs, Commission Junction has made the complex simple for Ebates. With Commission Junction's transaction tracking and reporting, Ebates is able to concentrate on what it does best – rewarding its customers for shopping online. Meanwhile, Commission Junction remains focused on its primary practice – providing a turn-key solution for pay-for-performance marketing.

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