Moose on the Loose

I am currently looking into obtaining a premium rate telephone number as our main business number. Over the years we have gradually discouraged irrelevant & time wasting calls by being NAV … Not AVailable.

One of the reasons was that over the years, we felt we could have earned a nice little packet. I have lost count over the number of occasions we have given free advice, basically consultancy to networks, about them or merchants they represent, only for them either not to implement them or worse still farm it out to their clients as their own innovative idea (combined & harnessed with other affiliates suggestions) & then charge a king’s ransom to their clients veiled in the form of a consultancy fee, making them look good.

I am totally confident that I am not the only affiliate who feels / knows they have wasted countless hours on the telephone & attended meetings at some networks offices to no avail.
Generally, there is a lack of loyalty out there as when push comes to shove, concessions normally always have to be made by the affiliate. Only recently a network sent an email pertaining to a merchant, I replied that I would like to speak directly with the merchant. Ever since then all I have heard is tumbleweed. No prizes to guess who the network is.

I will come back with the maximum rates which can be charged and the options available.

This blog entry stems back to Christmas 2005, and is why we feel that Comet is synonymous with Poor Customer Service.

We are, soon to be “were”, affiliated with the program Comet, who today delivered what transcribes to an ultimatum to us. As a customer, we have had two instances of extremely poor customer service which have never been resolved, even when we asked the affiliate manager at Comet, there was no assistance.

A synopsis, an independent review, of the experience is on our website(s) is simply as follows:

“From purchases made Christmas 2005 we have been extremely disappointed with the service received from Comet. With unpackaged items & damaged boxes, despite assurances from customer services & item being resent on several occasions! with the same or similar problems, which ruined a surprise christmas present for someone special, 12 months later Comet still haven’t attended to our concerns.

In addition to this a tumble dryer purchased became faulty after only 13 months, we were expected to pay for the repairs. We are in the process of claiming a full refund on repairs through the Sale of Goods Act”.

Over the years we have delivered millions of £’s in sales to Comet though thick & thin, but are we bothered .. in a word, NO. Their commission & conversion rates are fairly bog standard and I can remember not too long ago there was a reduction in commission which they said they would raise again. Plus the de-duplicating fiasco which is well documented on the A4Uforum together with last referrer problems, where in my personal opinion affiliates got the raw end of the deal. We continued to promote them on a significant lower scale, but still generated sales. This is a program which is now a long way short of the dizzy heights of when Sam Bain was the affiliate manager & the program was a roaring success. Since her departure, the program has gradually slid to oblivion for such a major brand. Which emphasises the importance of a good affiliate manager.

A lot of the traffic was via pay per click on product & generic terms, supplemented by being widely populated through our websites. Comet had an issue with this negative copy being incorporated on our website with a general review, which is now over a year old. Comet didn’t want this from any of their affiliates. Basically the crux of it was, remove it or no longer be part of the program.

The dialogue was via a representative of Affiliate Window, who I don’t apportion any blame to. He handled the dialogue between the two parties just fine, but maybe didn’t appreciate enough it’s our site & our business, though not sure if grasped the fact that if i removed the affiliate link (but not the content) from our site, then it was no longer a matter of concern for the network as the only traffic would have been via pay per click activity. It seemed that the only compromises had to be made by me the affiliate, not the merchant.

Comet only wanted to be profiled in a positive light, not accepting that the truth sometimes hurt, by pleading for pity that because they are a big brand people are more likely to make negative statements, which still doesn’t get past the fact the customer service was appalling, it’s still not been resolved & the affiliate team at Comet didn’t want to know. Wake up smell the coffee & get use to it.

Merchants shouldn’t deliver ultimatums, basically their bluff was called and we didn’t wish to work with them under a false arrangement, we prefer to stick by our principles of free speech, honest opinion & never falsely sugar-coat anything we don’t believe in. Being a sycophant is the last think I would ever want to be.

Anyhow we could quite comfortably earn more via sponsored or price comparison listings or equivalent amounts via other merchants. We have a database of most of the products Comet sell, so we can easily source alternative merchants & compete with them on the sponsored search front by promoting other merchants.

The email response from the network was:

“Further to our MSN conversation, please take this as formal notice of Comet’s request to cease their affiliate relationship with” (our website). “This covers the use of affiliate links to Comet on ” (our website) “and all PPC activity either direct or indirect. All existing cookies will still be honoured.

Comet are aware of the time involved in removing all PPC campaigns and indeed adjusting your site and as such offer you a period of 30 days in which to action this request.

The decision has been made reluctantly as a result of the presence of negative comments about Comet on” (our website). “Comet believe that working with an affiliate that profiles them in a negative light is counter productive.

Should you wish to discuss any aspect of this further, please don’t hesitate to contact me.”

As for the review, well this will remain, even more prominent than before as one of our “soon to come ” projects will be an electrical product website we have spend considerable investment in. We anticipate that maybe a million people will see this review over the coming year. I guess Comet may have miscalculated, the only way to save face was to follow through & dissolve the relationship. We pointed out a few high profile sites with predominantly negative reviews who I can assume has business relationships with Comet, yet nothing will done.

On the whole, no loss, we are now just another competitor with good traffic levels & Comet have shot themselves in the foot. With no fault attributed to the network.

Forget it & Move on.

Favourite Networks

• 1st Paidonresults : Rock solid at number 1 obviously.
• 2nd Affiliate Window : Moving Up … Exciting developments expected. The dark horse.
• 3rd Affiliate Future : Steady as they go. No fuss pleasant network to work with.
• 4th Affilnet : Moving Down … Good team in place, but still need more credible programs to fulfill potential.
• 5th Webgains : Moving Down … Need to be firmer with some merchants. But a nice network & good team
• 6th OMG : No Improvement … Need to become a Moneysupermarket and be more assertive to claim finance sector. Still yes men by pandering to merchants on ppc policies, but a really fantastic bunch of nice people working there.
• 7th Deal Group Media : Out of the bottom three & given a sporting chance. I don’t know if they will ever recover or whether old habits still remain & wonder still if the left hand knows what the right hand is doing knowing. But you don’t want to feel sorry for a network, time will only tell whether they have enough staff who really “get it” and grasp affiliate marketing from an affiliates perspective. Perhaps Adrian Moss back at the helm may assist.

Least Favoured Networks

• 8th Buy.at – Rooted into the bottom three. In my opinion they have become the network they vowed they would never stoop to be. I don’t dislike them, I just have no time for them. Their lack of disclosure & upright refusal of closed programs within their network which we shall blog another time plus other aspects has for sometime lost our trust & faith in them.
• 9th Tradedoubler – Moving down … Just getting worse in my opinion. It just seems everybody else is beneath them, with a similar mindset to Ebay and Google. Perhaps that is the point & the secret to success.
• Last Commission Junction – Still last but the UK office have made an effort recently, as long as the US office stays out of the equation. Might not be long before they overhaul Tradedoubler & Buy.at. Don’t confuse CJ with Search 123. S123 are a terrific bunch.

At last I have got around to commenting on the Affiliate Census Report. Anybody will have their own inference of the data, but what new does it suggest and / or does it reinforce what affiliates have been saying all along? … rest to follow

Just a bugbear that quite a few affiliates involved within ppc advertising experience is the zero notification or lack of notification in changes to pay per click advertising policies. .. rest to follow

Following the recent article in NMA with reference to Super Affiliates .. rest to follow

It’s about time prepayment becomes a prerequisite by all merchants on any network. We get assured it won’t happen but it always does.

How often do programs close with immediate or short notice, curiously these emails often go out late on a friday afternoon, and we always get the same chestnut reasons like “we apologise but”, “circumstances beyond our control” etc etc.

Then you have merchants who are late paying invoices, it’s really about time that the networks guilty of this are charged either a flat fee or standard rate interest charge.

Also, lost tracking, as a precursor to any program going live, a compulsory remuneration package should be set up for periods of lost tracking. These occur often when a merchants site is redeveloped, the first thing to come out is the affiliates tracking, but it’s forgotten to be replaced. The problem is that though assurances of remuneration are sometimes made, these can get forgotten about over a duration of time or worse still network & merchant think that if a fuss about it hasn’t been made, then they can get away with it.
… rest to follow

Celebrity podcast presenter Fraser has knocked up another Podcast with a review of Affiliate Summit when he went walkabout in Las Vegas, with various folk from the affiliate marketing world contributing to what is already Podcast number. Keep up the fantastic work mate.

‘Oc Aye the Noo!’

Click Here for Affiliate Summit Review Podcast

Following rapidly after Buy.at’s overdue overhaul of their interface (a good improvement) plus rebrand, Tradedoubler (aka The Borg) have just launched theirs, with an interface facelift, as well as redefining their market offerings.

The product range caters to advertisers and affiliates who are looking to utilise the various marketing and advertising opportunities presented by the internet. TradeDoubler’s range of marketing solutions now have a clear & concise distinction to accommodate advertisers across multiple industry sectors whether they are looking to generate increased brand awareness or drive direct response in the form of clicks, sales or registrations.

The portfolio / product range is now defined as:

• td Pull (Affiliate network)

Long-term partnerships between advertisers and publishers. Publishers are paid a commission by an advertiser when advertising on their website results in an actual sale or registration for the advertiser.

• td Push (Campaign network)

Short-term activity with pre-defined deliverables. TradeDoubler will create a bespoke network of targeted publisher sites to meet the advertiser’s specific objectives.

• td Reach (Ad network)

A plug and play network with extensive reach. An advertiser ‘plugs’ into the existing network of publisher sites and ads are rotated across the network reaching a wide target audience.

• td Talk (Pay-per call network)

Advertisers can use the reach of the internet to drive sales and registrations over the phone. td Talk allows publishers to easily promote more complex products and services on their website and receive a commission for phone calls generated.

• td Toolbox (Marketing interface)

A tracking and ad serving interface. Advertisers and publishers can track, analyse and optimise the performance of all online marketing activity (advertisers) or advertising carried on their website (publishers).

My Opinion:

td Talk (Pay-per call network) – is what caught my eye the most. We have had a trials with a few of merchants in the past, so it’s far from being new yet still remains unexploited, and those we had made a real concerted effort on had reaped dividends indeed. With the increasing uptake of VOIP, and traditional use of ordering by telephone still preferred by a good proportion of internet users (especially holidays), this will help plug the leakage where potential customers reach for the phone rather than ordering online, whereby previously an affiliate would have lost out on the commission. Unfortunately, though fairly much in it’s infancy, the market requires a greater uptake by merchants / advertisers of this option if they wish to be taking seriously by high revenue generating affiliates, frustratingly so many merchant / advertiser sites still have prominent order numbers displayed. Therefore, I do hope a lot of energy is focused in this area not only by Tradedoubler but other networks too by encouraging their clients to adopt & embrace this option … Maximising revenues to affiliates who can create landing pages with improved monetisation … The downside of where it hasn’t worked particularly well so far is Miva UK, the quality of advertisers being poor in our opinion and the uptake of only a few in the finance sector. Still this is an exciting avenue to pursue / explore and one we will be keeping a keen eye on.

Their strap line “Market like you mean it” has more of a buzz to it, rather than the previously mundane “The European Affiliate Network”. As for the logo, well take it or leave, it simply looks like the typical pebble dashing after a few too many beers & a dodgy kebab. More likely they have let a kid loose with with one of those old spiral drawing kids sets. You know the one, where you create beautiful designs using cogs, stencils and colouring pens. Tradedoubler should have commissioned my kids. To be fair it is an overall improvement.
At first glance, the functionality of the interface seems fairly similar to before, the colour scheme reminds me very of DGM.. is that a good? The first thing I noticed was that our so called publisher manager had changed without notification … nice of them to let us know … It used to be Nick Roveta, and over the past year despite many attempts to contact him via email or telephone, little was ever returned. I used to have a lot of respect for him, unfortunately this has somewhat withered with our zero respect for the network. On the whole their rebranding will work out to be a good thing for them and the industry as a whole (pending if the proposed takeover from AOL materialises), but scratch beneath the surface of the veneer / make up and it’s still the old mutton dressed up as lamb Tradedoubler. A leopard doesn’t change it’s spots and I see no commitment or genuine conviction from them that this will change. If I ever had the deciding vote on the takeover, I would have gone against the boards recommendations who I feel have reached their exit strategy of looking to cash out with their cash cow.

On a minor note they claim a be “network of more than 100,000 website publishers”. This really needs to be taken into perspective on a market by market or country by country basis. This number simply blinds prospective clients. Realistically most of the main players in affiliate marketing are signed up to most networks anyhow, the figure you really need to examine is how many cheques a network actually cuts per month, then you will quickly determine that’s it’s fairly similar across many of them. They have over 1000 advertisers which is true .. so quickly looking at this, the ratio of publishers to advertisers is 10:1, then surely the dedicated account managers looking after affiliates should be a similar ratio you would expect wouldn’t you? So if there 100 account managers looking after merchants, then there should be 1000 publisher managers as a rule of thumb, therefore I think you’ll find that the ratio in relation to affiliate / publisher : merchant support is somewhat inverted.

This is an interesting development:

AOL LLC Makes $900 Million Bid For TradeDoubler AB (Aka the Borg)

More info is here at the Morning Star

It’s not particularly a great surprise, rumours had been circulated about Tradedoubler, though not specific to whom the buyer would be. Until now it had simply been gossip & conjecture, with a hint or two dropped along the way.

I am not sure how I feel at the moment, so really it’s still all hypothetical until the deal is set in stone and the required majority of shareholders accept the offer. With a giant like AOL coming to the table, my initial gut reaction is that it’s unfortunately & gradually taking away the independent network feel good factor. Those very foundations on what affiliate marketing flourished, yet it is inevitable that these roots will be corroded away in favour of big bucks business.

However, there maybe no need to be pessimistic, on the more positive flip-side, this may actually elevate the image & perception of affiliate marketing & thus improving our own stakes with it. Another positive result /outcome could be that it acts as a catalyst for some networks to give their reporting tools & interface a fresh lick of paint to ensure they are more appealing & subsequently a more attractive proposition, since a few more bells & whistles will both improve awareness of them & naturally with it comes further credibility (though this shouldn’t necessarily be the case). Perhaps a couple of networks may actually move their backsides into gear who have been recently lagging on several fronts. But, you cannot get away from thinking will there be a conflict of interest with access to affiliate’s data!

On the A4UForum, one member rightly quotes “I think we’ve all predicted consolidation and Mergers/acquisitions being a theme this year. I wouldn’t imagine the effects will be felt by publishers/affiliates for a half year. Certainly interested in how this will affect the market in the long run though”

This makes me wonder how many networks are contemplating 2007 end, as an “exit strategy / opportunity. There was various speculation last year surrounding DGM, however who else can shares be speculated in?

What difference it will make short term or long term? … one can only hazard at a guess …. Will it be good, bad or indifferent, thus business as usual for affiliates? Is this acquisition more for other territories other than UK & Europe? What kind of shake up in operations can we envisage?

With a brief reference to other networks, I feel Affiliate Window, still independent, have progressed significantly and by doing this relatively quietly in the background, growing rapidly with a good solid base of merchants, improved interface & interesting product search developments due for launch fairly soon. Whereas DGM is unfortunately still in limbo-land, if & when they can turn it around your guess is as good as mine. Buy.at now have a good new interface & with the capital injection from last year, they are pursuing their own agenda & will certainly be a market force to reckon with in the UK. IBG (Affiliate Future), a very nice network to deal with, maybe haven’t quite got the merchant base yet but are long overdue for an interface redesign & that fresh lick of paint, their niche will be Holiday & Travel. Paidonresults independent & staying, sincerely hoping they get more larger branded names on board, but they too are ripe for cherry picking. OMG, again likeable, still haven’t quite got it, being finance focused they perhaps need to move towards a better version of the Moneysupermarket model.

I don’t feel Tradedoubler were the friendliest indy ever anyway though! Will this only increase the aloofness & make them more difficult to deal with, alienating them still further from affiliates that assisted in getting them there?

You can check out Tradedoubler’s shares on Yahoo Finance, which are currently enjoying a surge.
Yahoo Finance

When i last looked they were at 230 today, Shareholders are offered cash at 215.

Which is another thing, Yahoo would be an interesting option to enter into the fray as it would fit their existing criteria & business model? And with Google / Froogle offering their CPA product to merchants whereby they themselves would be the both network & the ONLY affiliate, will as predicted lead to interesting times ahead.

I am still deliberating whether to purchase more, hold or sell existing shares. As it currently stands the value of my existing investment has doubled. As a shareholder this looks good, as an affiliate .. well time will tell .. One concern is whether as a result will they trim the fat from their affiliate base affecting a number of livelihoods, in their Borg realm of control by having to do as they say, though against your best interest, in their pursuance of this total assimulation.

The timing of this proposed takeover is interesting to, with Google some time ago suspected & consequently rumoured to become a network, did the directors & some of the major shareholders feel it was an appropriate time to cash in their cow. If the deal is scuppered, with some major shareholders holding back for a better deal and AOL withdraw, what then? Will AOL seek someone else like Commission Junction? Will there be changes in senior management at Tradedoubler who might lose patience?

On the whole congratulations to Tradedoubler and their Shareholders, as for affiliates, we can only speculate but as ever be cautious.