Commission Junction Review – How Does this Network Compare?

Sitting at home and earning money may seem like one of those offers that are simply too good to be true, but affiliate marketing, pursued by a large number of companies and platforms across the world, can make this a reality. The point to be kept in mind here is that there will be a large number of affiliate networks that promise you the world and more but you need to choose only the ones that have a degree of legitimacy and years of experience in the field. One such affiliate network that has stood the test of time is Commission Junction or CJ Affiliate.

About Commission Junction

Founded in Santa Barbara, California in 1998, Commission Junction has over two decades worth of experience in the field of affiliate marketing, which makes this company of the leading choices for both advertisers and publishers. Commission Junction was set up by Lex Sisney, Per Pettersen and Todd Crawford, growing to a large-scale enterprise with 15 offices across the world, which includes an EU headquarters in London, as well as offices in Paris, France; Madrid, Spain; Munich, Germany; Bengaluru, India and more.

CJ Affiliate comes under the umbrella of the Publicis Media Groupe, one of the largest communications corporations in the world, as a part of the media vertical referred to as Publicis Media. This gives the company access to premium data, which helps in giving CJ Affiliate an edge over some of the major competitors that it has in the field. The company aims at building innovative solutions for its clients, allowing for better results along the way. For this, the company has won numerous accolades, including a mention on Forbes’ “Top 200 Growth Champions” and “Top 25 Fast Tech”, both in 2017.

What Type of Affiliate Network is It?

CJ Affiliate works by attracting both advertisers and publishers to its platforms so that it can facilitate a healthy relationship for both sides. If you are looking at this review of the Commission Junction affiliate network, it is highly likely that you will be the publisher in this context. CJ Affiliates has some of the world’s largest brands, including Lowe’s, IHG, GoPro, Office Depot and so on, registered on the platform, which means that you gain access to some premium programs for your published work. A few broad categories of advertisers that have signed themselves up with Commission Junction are mentioned below:

• Accessories
• Art/Photo/Music
• Automotive
• Beauty
• Books/Media
• Business
• Buying and Selling
• Careers
• Clothing/Apparel
• Computers and Electronics
• Entertainment
• Family
• Financial Services
• Health and Wellness
• Marketing
• Online Services

This list doesn’t even cover the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the different categories of affiliate programs that are offered on the CJ Affiliate platform. You can sign up and see the more extensive list when you are choosing affiliate programs.

Commission Junction Offers

As you may have noticed from the section above, Commission Junction has an impressive number of affiliate programs and offers listed on its platform. There are options for everyone, regardless of the type of website — or websites — that you run or manage. According to the company, there are close to 4,000 global brands that have affiliate programs running on CJ Affiliate, along with over 70,000 publishers who can make the most of these programs.

All you need to do is sign up for a free account on the website and start exploring the different niches that are conveniently located on the dashboard in front of you. This will allow you to get a better perspective of the range of offers that are available on the platform.

Quality of Offers

While Commission Junction offers a wide range of affiliate programs on its platforms, the quality of offers can differ from company to company. For example, you can look for companies that are offering the usual pay per sale deal, which is the norm or opt for other affiliate programs that can be based on the pay per lead or pay per call principles. The commissions that you make will also differ from company to company, ranging from a smaller percentage — let’s say 3% — going up to 30%. As different merchants on the platform have their own terms of services that they operate by, the commissions that you receive may also be handled differently.

In addition to this, there are also VIP Influencer Campaigns, through which you can get access to some of the best offers on the platforms — usually from the largest brands — after CJ Affiliate’s Content team advocates for you.

Payouts (Terms and Options)

As CJ Affiliate offers such a wide variety of affiliate programs, there is no single figure that can be quoted when it comes to payouts. Different programs work with different terms of service, which means that you will be able to earn different amounts from these. While it isn’t possible to state how much you can earn from Commission Junction, the company’s website shows that publishers have earned $1.8 billion in commissions annually.

While more and more financial transactions have moved to online platforms, websites like Commission Junction still do not offer payouts through PayPal or similar platforms. You will be paid either via check or through a direct bank deposit — only for a limited number of countries like Australia, France, Singapore, India and so on. There is a minimum payout threshold.

Here, it is also important to mention that there will be some actions for which CJ Affiliate requires both publishers and advertisers to pay a certain fee. In order to get a better look at the company’s pay-for-performance program, you will be required to contact the platform directly.

Reputation/Trustworthiness

Commission Junction has been in the game for over 20 years, which means there is something to say about the company’s reputation. As the company has a wide range of advertisers registered on to the platform, many of which are globally known brands, you know that you are getting into a legitimate deal. The company also offers transparent performance statistics for you to monitor how individual merchants are performing within the Commission Junction network. As the payouts are made by CJ Affiliate itself, there is a degree of predictability and security.

One major problem that occurs — albeit not too frequently — is the closing down of inactive accounts. While the company is known to shut down accounts that haven’t been active, some users claim that their active accounts, which were gathering commissions, were shut down without any warning.

How Does the Network Standout?

There are plenty of reasons why publishers flock to Commission Junction when they are looking to make forays into affiliate marketing and the most important of these is the variety and quality of advertisers that use this platform. The signing up and application process are fairly simple and you can also use some of the tools offered by the company — for example, product widgets and Deep Link Automation — to drive more revenue. The company gives its users comprehensive statistics and tracking options, along with personalized training, one-on-one coaching and other such features.

Commission Junction Application Process

The application process for Commission Junction is very easy. Before you start enrolling yourself in affiliate programs, you will be required to sign up with the platform. This sign up process is free of cost and just requires some of your basic details. For example, you need to be above 18 years of age and have your own website, which needs to be used to sign up as a publisher. In case you own multiple websites and want affiliate programs to run on each of these, you can add another website for the “Account” option in the dashboard.

Once your profile is set up, you can log in to your account and start searching for the right affiliate programs for you. As the database is searchable, this step is very easy to walk through. Click on an option that meets your fancy to get more details about what the company is offering, the commissions that are up for grabs and the terms of service that you will need to adhere to. After going through all the details, you can click on the “+” icon to apply for that particular platform. You should be ready to face some rejections when you first start off, as many companies prefer to avoid newbies, but there will be enough that will take you on. It may take some time for the approval to come through, so be patient!

However, you must keep in mind that Commission Junction may deactivate your account if you have very little to no traffic and fail to get the desired results over a period of time.

Final Thoughts on the CJ Network

As one of the oldest players in the field of affiliate marketing, Commission Junction is one of those platforms that you need to try at least once when you are making a jump into this field. While there have been a few complaints of accounts being closed without prior intimation, most users have been happy with their CJ Affiliate experience. If you have tried Commission Junction and want to share your experience with a bunch of like-minded people, you can comment below and help others in need.