Zanox and AccuQuote: Strong Indication of Things to Come for Online Marketing

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This morning at Affiliate Summit West in Las Vegas, I had the great pleasure to spend a good deal of time with Heiko Rauch, Co-Founder and COO of Zanox, Holger Kamin, Regional Manager / Country Manager USA and Sean Cheyney, AccuQuote’s VP of Marketing and Business Development in an involved and incredibly interesting discussion about affiliate marketing, the international online marketing world and possible futures for marketing in a cross-channel and cross-border world.

Heiko, Holger and Sean were more than gracious with their time, insights and honesty about the position of Zanox in the United State affiliate marketing scene and how partnerships with companies such as AccuQuote may help to quickly make affiliates, publishers and merchants aware of the opportunities that an international approach can bring to their respective platforms.

We began by discussing why AccuQuote decided to partner with Zanox to promote its affiliate and online marketing efforts. One thing quickly became clear as Sean talked about this decision… AccuQuote is giddy with excitement over the prospect of consolidating its myriad and diaspora marketing efforts under one umbrella, while still offering the same sorts of customized and personalized platforms for promotion for which AccuQuote is famous.

Sean continually pointed to the “partnership” aspect which Zanox stresses (even within its logo) and how AccuQuote could better facilitate communications with publishers and affiliates by working with one network rather than upwards of a dozen yet offer even more flexibility and transparency than before.

Sean commented:

“Our goal is to make the process of buying life insurance as easy as possible for our customers. We do that by combining instant online quotes with the personal service of seasoned, experienced professionals. It was therefore very important to us to find an affiliate marketing partner that placed the same emphasis on customer service as we do – and we found that in Zanox.”

As Sean made his case for the AccuQuote decision, Holger was especially passionate about Zanox’s commitment to its vision of e-commerce as a global business and online marketing as the greatest exemplar of that paradigm. He articulately emphasized the point that by helping merchants and affiliates reach each other on a global scale, Zanox has placed itself in a unique position which other affiliate networks have not been able to establish.

Heiko pointed out that Zanox has well established offices in Shanghai, China and is quickly learning how to apply what is working in those offices to its European and American efforts.zanox.jpg

That is exciting.

“Zanox was founded on the principle of performance-based marketing. Our customers only pay for results, period. That focus, combined with our comprehensive support program for affiliate partners, means that we can offer the highest-quality, most effective affiliate marketing programs around.”

Holger and Heiko continually brought up their excitement for the Zanox AdRank program as a way for search affiliates to find useful keywords and adequately monetize their programs while providing guidance for publishers, as well. I’ve taken a look at a few demo’s of that program, and it is a nice alternative to AdSense as it provides customization.

Speaking of customization, the Zanox and AccuQuote partnership is grounded in it. Sean says that is a major reason that AccuQuote has partnered with Zanox. The level of customization and immediate transparency is greater than any other affiliate network, and after taking a peek at some of the programs, I can’t argue. I’m impressed with how well Zanox has built the ability to customize banners, links, mobile creative, and web site placements while not becoming so automated in creative generation that the program loses the human touch. Rather, they have been able to provide the merchant with a welcome ability to seek out and establish that happy medium themselves.

I’m more than impressed with what I’ve seen and heard from the Zanox and AccuQuote deal, and I’ll be covering more aspects of the partnership in the coming days as I process them. I’ve got many pages of notes and many neurons full of insight that I can’t wait to share.

Thank you Sean, Holger and Heiko for an enlightening session!

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