 | Evans Above - Now Lakeland Fail To Comprehend |
Well the usual happy monday morning has been well and truly blown into last week, as news just comes in from Affiliate Window that our application from Lakeland, which originally was accepted, has now been rejected.
This is because Lakeland are very concerned about how their brand is presented at present do not want to be promoted by sites offering discounts, free products or competitions.
Ok, as I’m unable to talk to Lakeland direct - here’s how it works:
1. You don’t want to be be promoted by sites offering discounts? That’s ok, but why? If you don’t offer us a discount to promote, we won’t promote it! It’s that easy. However, some merchants do offer us discounts and we want to promote them, so they go… yes guess where they go… in the discount code section! No discount, not listed! Discount, get listed… comprendez?
2. You don’t want to be promoted by sites offering free products? By this I’m guessing reward sites - so will that include cashback affiliates? Maybe you mean sites telling users that you have freebies on your site… but hang on isn’t that a promotional tool that you can use in your affiliate marketing mix? Or perhaps you just don’t want affiliates to link to your free product promotions either? Well, ok - we’d do that! It really is sooooo straightforward!
3. You don’t want to be promoted by sites offering competitions? Here’s how we work! You have a competition on your site, we link to it and send people to enter your promotional marketing tool! We don’t run competitions ourselves to promote you…. so please tell me over priced tupperware people… what exactly the problem is?
2007 affiliate marketing and still we bang our heads against the wall trying to get the merchants to understand how some of us, who have been in this industry for over 8 years, actually work and work within the rules to protect your brand but ultimately protect and build the respect of our own.
Why is that concept so complicated for you?
But hold on a cotton picking minute… this would be Lakeland, the company who don’t want to be associated with sites offering discounts? Well isn’t cashback a discount of sorts? Isn’t it a freebie of sorts? Obviously not as yes once again the big cashback sites are welcomed with open arms!
Like gambling, it seems that freebies/competitions/discounts all have different meanings when it comes down to dealing with a cashback affiliate versus an affiliate who is not. That is wrong!
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on October 22, 2007 at 1:59 pm jason wrote:
Since the above was written, a lot of communication has gone back and forward to Affiliate Window. I’d like to publically thank them for taking time to reply/phone - and it’s nice to know a network is willing to do that.
From my understanding Lakeland want to put a nervous first toe into the affiliate arena.
Perhaps the way forward is for programs which are new to the industry, and who perhaps don’t wish to embrace it full on, is have them launched privately (although perhaps with clarity to other affiliates about what is happening) and with pre-selected affiliates (as recommended by network in consultation with merchant) as opposed to a full launch and the accept/reject process which then results in annoyed affiliates and instant loss of goodwill.
I’d also like to see consistency - especially if rejections on gambling reasons are valid and applied to all. A cashback site with a gambling section is as much promoting gambling (perhaps more) than a multi sectioned content/community site.
That said I’ve also received a document about the Lakeland rejection process, and it really makes fascinating reading: “Voucher, discount and price comparison sites that overtly focus on price are also likely to be declined”… are they simply saying that “our products are expensive and if you put them on price comparison we will never be top”?
on October 27, 2007 at 11:34 am Julia Stent wrote:
Hi Jason
Thanks for your comment above - I was out and about when I phoned you (hence all the going through tunnels) or I’d have come here to reply earlier.
You’re exactly right that this is about introducing merchants gradually to the affiliate channel. We try to be as consistent as possible between types of affiliates and different merchant programmes, but to a certain extent affiliate approvals come down to how an individual brand wants to be represented through the affiliate channel.
You raised a good point when we spoke, which was that networks could go further to indicate this and explain what a merchant is looking for from their affiliates in the programme description. I’m going to have a chat with our account management team about putting this in place. This will not only avoid loss of goodwill from affiliates that we work with closely on other programmes, but should hopefully save affiliates who are better suited for other brands their time in going through the approval process.
There are occasions when we launch more hesitant merchants on a closed programme initially, but in most cases I would recommend a merchant avoids this. There are so many strong affiliates out there signing up for new programmes, as well as new affiliates coming along with original ideas, that some affiliates who would be a great match could be missed out. From my own experience, I’ve also found that you can’t always predict which sites will convert the best on a campaign - I’ve certainly seen some surprises before!
If your application to a programme is declined, you’re best bet is to call the account manager and talk it through. We’re here to help you as much as our merchants.
Thanks
Julia