Like many affiliates I really dislike no notice suspensions and program terminations. In fact they really make the old blood boil, especially if the merchant is doing well for us or the email sent through is totally irrelevant to us (e.g. we’re being categorised as a cashback site or the merchant has got a bee in their bonnet about being in a shopping section that has a link to a casino section).
In most cases it’s simply a case of switching off a link - but it still doesn’t stop the annoyance at the inconvenience. Some terminations/suspensions can’t be helped, especially in the current economic climate, but others can be dealt with a lot better. For example contacting the affiliate BEFORE the suspension and discussing a compromise or offering a reasonable period of time to take action.
Rather than get angry with the fact that in 2008 termination/suspension emails are sent out often with any professional respect that should exist between “affiliate partners”, I’ve decided on a new course of action.
The OLD Plan!
If I’ve got to remove links for one merchant, then hey I may as well move links for two!
In other words, where possible if Network A’s merchant sends me a demeaning suspension notice, then those links will be removed AND links for a random a.n.other merchant from Network A will then be moved to Network B.
So Network A not only loses links for Mr Suspending Merchant, but also misses out on another merchant too. Double Whammy for having an awful manner of dealing with suspensions and terminations.
Of course if Network B then jump on the “you’re suspended for no reason and we’re not going to tell you either or give you any notice” bandwagon the same rule applies.
Imagine if all affiliates adopted a similar plan - do you think networks might look at the way they handle suspensions/terminations a lot better?
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August 4th, 2008
11:53 am
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Pay per click brand name bidding is a bit of a fly in the ointment for some affiliates. Many see it, especially when it involves the same people in closed brand name bidding groups, as a bit of an elitist lazy way to affiliate marketing riches. There are also serious concerns about the overwriting of content affiliate cookies and the impact that brand name PPC has on the distribution of commissions.
So is there a better way for PPC brand name bidding to be managed by a merchant?
Books Direct using an idea by Paul Wheatley and Fraser Edwards have been trialling an alternative and today have announced it’s official launch over on Affiliates4U.
In brief, Books Direct are funding the brand name bidding PPC which is managed under a unique affiliate account. Accounts generated via this channel earn commission and these commissions (presumably after costs), plus interestingly the network override generated, go into a prize pool. Affiliates generating sales and even clicks then have the chance to win the pool.
The prize pool is around £2600 after a couple of months - and has another 5 months to run! The idea is that “the profits generated through private allowances on brand activity will now be shared back to those affiliates who potentially risk losing commissions from their cookies being overwritten by brand cookies”.
To have a chance to win the overall pool (which on the above could be around £8000) you need to have a golden ticket. Every month 5 golden tickets and cash prizes of £50 will be awarded to 5 lucky winners drawn from everyone who has made sales (1 entry per sale) and 100 clicks (1 entry full stop).
This is quite a neat idea and fair play to Books Direct, Paul, Fraser and Affiliate Window for getting things underway.
Affiliates tend to like big prize incentives. So with the chance of walking away with a prize pool of possibly £8000 or more (or less) come the end of 2008 that’s going to surely make a number of affiliates take a closer look at Books Direct.
It will be interesting to see if other merchants adopt the same kind of model, and what kind of prize pool they generate from brand name bidding activity.
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August 1st, 2008
10:27 am
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Cashback in the news doesn’t seem to go away! This week I’ve received a few press releases from Submission Technology (the Greasy Palm people) regarding new white-labels and their acquisition of a tasty cashback domain plus there’s the latest installment of Awin vs Quidco on the network blog.
One could be forgiven in thinking that Affiliate Window have a bit of a penchant for the 100% cashback site Cashback Kings and are moving swiftly to push them forward as a viable alternative to the soon to be exiled Kings of Cashback. The King is Dead (at least with one network) - Long Live the (Cashback) King!
But Can They Really Rule?
Google Trends is a nifty little tool and it can be used to compare “daily unique visitors”. So if we compare the 100% cashback sites we see quite clearly the domination of the one over the many!
Seeing how these trends change after September 1st will certainly be something worth revisiting! Of course there’s question marks about the accuracy of the data but it paints a pretty interesting picture.
For other non-cashback sites it also paints a pretty gloomy picture! As mentioned above Submission Technology have new white-label site cashback partners - DLG, UKNetguide and Answerback. However, what chance do they have of being successful?
Let’s go back to those trends!
This time we’re looking at some of the most well known non-100% cashback sites!
Is there a decline? It does certainly look that way, at least for some of the sites featured. Perhaps this could be attributed to cashbackers moving to 100% sites or users moving to new sites like our own CashQuack (which in all honesty needs a miracle of biblical proportions to get going)?
Regardless, the trends aren’t upwards like Quidco (and to a smaller extent TopCashBack) in the top graph!
This does raise the question whether non-100% cashback sites have a future and whether big names looking to jump into the space are only doing so because their marketing manager has heard about them, heard that MSN are doing something cashbacky, and thinks it’s a great idea.
How the cashback landscape will change after September 1st remains to be seen, but it’s going to take a monumental effort from the pretenders to the throne to get the crown - at least based on the above - whilst new, and even established, non-100% sites have a serious battle on their hands to compete full stop.
Apparently there’s “quality, commitment, diversity and professionalism shining through” the affiliate industry at the moment and to celebrate the guys and gals at Affiliates4U want to survey the affiliate landscape. This is your chance to say what you think of the industry, what’s good, what’s bad and where you think we’re all going (the asylum is not a valid answer).
To bribe you to take part you also have the chance to win a choice of Amazon Vouchers or High Street Gift Vouchers to the value of £100.
The survey is quite painless and should take a few minutes - or half an hour depending how much you write in the “What part of the Affiliate Marketing industry really annoys you?” box!
It’s a “stop and think” survey and having completed it - including questions like “What is your thoughts on the outlook for the future of the Affiliate Marketing industry?” and “How could the Affiliate Marketing industry change for everyones benefit?” - I actually came away feeling a bit indifferent towards the industry and it’s evolution.
Yes, that evolution has brought “quality, commitment, diversity and professionalism” but it has also lost some of it’s shine. That is in part because you know that despite working hard, playing by the rules and trying to offer a good service to internet users, your business is exposed to outside forces, like Google, 100% cashback, tracking issues, merchants swapping networks every two minutes, voucher code sites and other fun and games that give affiliates headaches.
Some may say “hey that’s just business” - sadly they’re probably right!
It’s been a fascinating few days in the cashback affiliate marketing world. Quidco announced to their members (after telling merchants) that they’ve made a “hard decision” and from 1st September are removing merchants from their site who are on the Affiliate Window platform. Awin have posted indepth responses via their blog whilst discussions have popped up on consumer and affiliate forums.
Dropping network links was never this exciting!
A great deal of this situation doesn’t make sense.
The catalyst for Quidco to email merchants indicating their departure from Affiliate Window seems to surround the SureShop system - a guarantee if you like for user cashback transaction inquiries. Awin aren’t happy about this as it “offers no protection to merchants” and have therefore decided to opt out of the agreement.
From an affiliate point of view if I’m not happy with a network then I’ll seek alternative links for merchants on other networks - I’d pretty much guarantee every major affiliate does that! So, I really can’t see why Quidco haven’t done this, perhaps even flagging up to their users that “these merchants are not on our SureShop system”.
That leaves bridges loosely in place to resolve the situation with that network or if and when the opportunity arises switch merchant links to an alternative network. This also means the consumer has the choice. Everyone remains, at least on the surface, happy.
Quidco’s response since their email informing merchants of their Awin departure, at least in the affiliate world, has been incredibly low key - although interestingly on their own blog they’ve said that they will “continue to remove any comments here which are intended to formulate an Affiliate Window smear campaign against us” like this one.
I’m not so sure that encouraging their users to support their decision (and therefore go on an offensive against Awin) was particularly sensible. Site users will usually always have loyalty to what they know and not always understand what’s truly happening (and if one party is earning you ££’s and another one isn’t it’s amazing how that can influence your loyalty regardless).
Furthermore, by removing network responses Quidco are also not offering a fair right to reply. This means facts become lost or misconstrued. If you’re going to rally your users for support, then you need to demonstrate that you’ve nothing to hide and have conviction in your actions.
Deletions and selective answering just results in more questioning!
From an affiliate perspective the situation also raises more questions than it offers answers!
For example, if Affiliate Window are concerned about SureShop - why aren’t other networks?
What if other networks (and merchants) are concerned but are perhaps not in a position to overturn the apple cart and publically fall out with the UK’s primary cashback affiliate?
And how do merchants feel about the situation - regardless of the network they’re on? Do they feel the same as Paul Smith (I Want One of Those)?
Building a brand online is hard work, so imagine if you’re a merchant trying to develop consumer loyalty via fair prices and good customer service only to find that future purchases and loyalty are based on cashback? No longer are people shopping at Merchant X they’re shopping with Cashback A and quite possibly your brand loyalty is shunted into second place.
I’m in full support of Awin’s decision, based on the information that they’ve posted, as after all business between merchant, network and affiliate need to be mutually beneficial to all involved. Boundaries can be bent, but there’s only so far over a barrel you can push things, and reading through the lines it seems Awin have had enough of being pushed!
So what’s next?
Which Awin merchants will open up onto dual networks? Will other networks take advantage of the situation? Will content sites benefit? Is this the end of 100% cashback? Will Quidco open their own network? Will a network open their own 100% cashback site?
100% Cashback sites are like The Hydra. One leaves the spotlight and another appears, so we’ll now see, courtesy of Awin’s blog, promotion of other 100% sites as alternatives for merchants who won’t feature on Quidco! Oh goody - how great is that!
Perhaps several similar sized sites will be better for the cashback industry as a whole, but the new kids on the block have got to go some to match up to the market leader.
Other networks, who Quidco are happy to work (at least until they question SureShop), will no doubt utilise the situation to try and pick off new business from Awin when bitching, i mean pitching, for new clients.
The fallout from this public fall out is still to come.
