I Shot The Sheriff – But I Haven’t Done Any PPC!
10 Comments January 15, 2008 / Posted in Affiliate MarketingWhat do voucher codes and brand bidding have in common? Answer – they all seem to be at the root of some of the current ructions in affiliate marketing:
Code Sites – Reasons to be Cheerful
Discount Codes – What’s the Etiquette?
Voucher Sites! Oh So Much Hard Work
Dodgy Bidder Name and Shame
Am I a Dodgy Bidder?
No Means No – Not Yes When Nobody Is Looking
Sadly this list could go on and on!
At present it seems that the only people policing “issues” that arise in the voucher code or brand bidding sectors are the affiliates themselves. That can be a good thing when done properly and above board (i.e. the facts are factual), but that can bring its own problems.
1. No one likes being outed by a fellow affiliate and that can cause animosity.
2. Affiliates sometimes get it wrong and/or don’t have access to all the facts.
3. Any justification an affiliate has in raising an issue against another affiliate can often be glossed over as “jealousy” or “pettiness”.
4. Not all affiliates actually care and see anything and everything in AM as simply fair game!
The simple fact is it should not be down to affiliates to monitor and police the activity of their competitors! The Wild West atmosphere with a few vigilantes is in need of a Sheriff!
So, who should be Sheriff?
Well, it’s the merchants and networks who have the terms and conditions in place. They’re the ones who tell affiliates what they can and can’t do – and it’s therefore their responsibility to make sure everything is done above board and that terms are implemented. However, I do feel that networks and merchants don’t take this aspect of affiliate marketing that seriously. In fact, I’d go as far as to question “do networks/merchants really care whether there’s an issue between affiliate and affiliate”?
If an affiliate is caught using iframes, using voucher codes they shouldn’t have or brand bidding – what happens? To me it seems that nothing happens – because why else do these issues continue to roll on? Even when an affiliate is caught, whilst they may have to change their ways, they’ve still gone and pocketed the loot. It’s like robbing a bank and being told on the way out “Now that’s a naughty thing to do – but here’s your swag for you to spend”!
There’s no disincentive in place to stop affiliates breaking or bending or pushing the rules. Imagine if an affiliate caught using iframes or brand bidding when they shouldn’t be actually risked not just getting a slapped wrist, but had their commissions withheld and their account terminated? And imagine if that event was then publicised on a network for all to see, including other networks who could then take their own stances.
I doubt that would happen though – and the reason is quite simple – even merchants and networks can’t get their own policing right (Am I a Dodgy Bidder?)!
Unfortunately voucher code issues and PPC issues will rumble on and on, but affiliate marketing needs a solution!
With PPC problems I’d like to see all those involved (networks, affiliates and merchants) go into a room, lock the door and not be allowed to leave until past and present problems have been sorted out. Regardless of who’s done what and when, get it in the open, be transparent and then move forward with networks and merchants working together to make sure the naughty PPC-ers are removed.
With code issues – to my mind this will descend towards chaos with ethical affiliates becoming unethical in order to compete on the same level unless something is done soon. Perhaps another affiliate could take legal action against those who don’t have the same netiquette standards? I do wonder what the legal situation (apart from expensive) would be if an affiliate site could prove they’re losing revenue due to another affiliate’s misuse of their code(s) and the network not taking action to support them? Could site scraping be evidence of copyright infringement too? Anyway I digress!
In both cases it’s time for networks and merchants to stand up and take responsibility as these are meant to be the days of the defining the professionalism of the industry. Start making those terms and conditions clearer (and findable on your login areas) and start taking those affiliates, no matter how big or small, to task when the time is right and importantly your facts are right too.
I dunno, I mention Dodge City then you shoot the Sherif and we’re both using dodgy song titles.
If I ever get out of here, thought of giving it all away, to a registered charity – all I need is a pint a day, if I ever get out of here.
Good points well made.
The only downside with rules is there’s always a jobsworth just looking to make life a little bit more miserable.
Great minds and all that Joe – either that all we’re just the last two miserable sods left in the salon whilst everyone else is gun slinging left, right and centre.
Jason
I wrote a post on my blog after discovering a vigilante who is taking his/her own form of action against bad guys. When there’s no sheriff in town, perhaps it’s up to the citizens to fight the bad guys.
Hi Jason,
You raise some interesting points but your post perpetuates two ongoing myths that networks have to address with merchants and agencies daily.
Firstly that networks don’t monitor activity. Having worked for two networks, staff spend far, far too long trying to weed out the rogue affiliates. It;s no wonder campaign T&Cs may not be up to date – there are only so many hours in the day. I’ve probably dealt with dozens of rogue affiliates or affiliates breaking the rules in my 15 months at Affiliate Window – and that’s one employee at one network.
I also find it slightly strange logic that affiliates somehow absolve themselves of blame – do something wrong, it’s the network’s fault. Of course there is a responsibility by both network and merchant to ensure T&Cs are up to date, but there are thousand of affiliate programmes in the UK – it’s inevitable there will be the occasional issue.
The other myth is that networks do nothing or don’t care when affiliates break rules because they have a vested interest. We look constantly to innovate in this area so we can prove to our merchants (and affiliates) the incremental value that affiliate marketing is supposed to bring. We’re regularly suspending commissions and affiliates because of flagrant rule breaking by both unknown and familiar affiliates. Remember, there is only a finite amount of commission for an affiliate programme. If one affiliate is forcing clicks then this may be stealing the sale from another affiliate; we’re not going to lose the sale by making sure it’s properly apportioned.
And on this point, I’ve seen well known affiliates, vocal on the A4U Forum and blogs, break rules and bend T&Cs. It only surprises me this hasn’t been more of an issue.
Final point, I received the A4U newsletter today – there are four affiliate blogs referenced as being the ‘pick’ of the blogs. Three are slating merchants or programmes. This hardly sends a professional message to the industry, something most network staff are trying to do on a daily basis.
Bit of a grumpy post I admit but I’ve recently felt that there are a number of people (not you Jason!) who are actually undermining the whole industry, overwhelming it with negativity – and to be frank that depresses me.
“Bit of a grumpy post I admit”
Kevin you’re more than welcome to make a grumpy post here!
I fully appreciate networks are busy – probably overwelmed at times – but if I’m perpetuating myths then perhaps it’s time that the networks were more vocal in helping dispel them?
E.g. Take the iframe/voucher code issue with a certain voucher code site.
As an affiliate who raised this I’d have liked to have seen – no actually I expected to see – all networks make some effort in making it clear that using iframes to drop cookies (especially 1×1 iframes) was not acceptable. As far as I know not one has done anything via their newsletter or on the management system. And for an “old timer” I was pretty disappointed considering the seriousness of the issue.
Ok things were tidied up in house and between network and affiliate – but that was an opportunity for networks to clarify their stance.
When nothing seems to be said – it does (imo) add validity to the myths!
You’re obviously are passionate about AM Kevin – and vocal, which is great – but we need more people like you to speak out and give the network perspective to help educate affiliates. I think sometimes there’s an assumption that affiliates know what’s going on behind those closed doors.
Why not put something on Awin’s blog about what you have to do as a network to monitor rogue affiliates? Help us understand what you’re doing and the problems you face?
Jason
Hi Jason,
You raise a good point about the forced clicks issue.
We’re actually looking into making our T&Cs a lot more explicit on the issue – we’ll be sure to keep everyone posted.
We were instrumental in getting certain affiliate sites changed and perhaps we need to flag this up a little more publicly.
There is a lot of politics around the voucher coding sites at the moment and I know we’re loathe to get drawn in while the issues are outstanding.
I think the risk for networks is to triumph something only to find a new affiliate pops up doing exactly what you say your network doesn’t do…after all networks inevitably have to play catch up and react to the ever changing goal posts.
I’m with Kevin here, I can’t speak for other networks but I know we spend far more time than we should have to policing affiliates who breach T&C. I estimate that I personally contact around 5-10 affiliates a week regarding PPC issues, the vast majority of the time this is more than a slap on the wrist with the affiliate generally losing any commission earned via their PPC and being removed from the programme. In addition we normally close a few affiliate accounts a week as a result of ongoing PPC/iframe activity.
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