Web Affiliate Marketing Blog

Good for you for standing by your views and being able to curb the swear words!

That’s shocking, is this an agency or an in-house decision Chris?

Gadget
- Sorry one swear word crept in there…. not bad considering… ;)

Matthew
- The email came from Buy.At however I would like to point out that AFAIK it is NOT their decision. No idea if it was made at merchant or agency level, but in the same email Buy.At commented;
“I hope you appreciate this bears no reflection on our attitude as a network to working with you in general.”

Steve
- Yeah it is pretty much a lessons of what not to do!

Two of the questions they ask are:

[quote]Do you have a blog? Please give the url
Do you have an A4U log in? Please give your username[/quote]

LMAO??

[quote]“I like how all the questions seem really innocent, like they just want to know so they can figure out who you are,cleverly disguising the fact that it’s all big brother inqusition tactics”[/quote]

Let’s not forget the network(s) for even allowing this has to come under scrutiny too. Not just the agency & merchant.

“To now take their bat home and say if you do not like it when we treat you like this then we will stop you from promoting us is an unbelievable way for a multi national company to behave.”

It could also be a blessing in disguise. I am hoping that other merchants will see Next as how NOT to run an affiliate programme, and will stop other merchants heading down the same route.

As far as I am concerned, they can stick their bat where the sun don’t shine :D

I dread to think what Mountain Warehouse did to you for Next to only be second bottom in the traffic light situation!

Hero

I think you have got the wrong end of the stick. I wasn’t planning on pushing the Next programme, however the saying “Money for old rope” should explain precisely why I applied.

I don’t think you can leave aside the “had some nicely SEO-ed pages up and would be a shame to let them go” comment and then go on to ask me why I would want to promote them. The fact that I have pages that generate sales without any need to push the programme, is the whole reason behind me applying for the programme on the new networks. By leaving that comment out, there would be no argument.

I think this post also serves as a catalog of errors made by Next, and demonstrates as someone put it in the A4U Forum, bullying tactics. The fact that they haven’t honoured the 7 day cookie period via Awin referrals, in my opinion, amounts to gaining sales without honouring their commitment to pay affiliates.

It’s about time that merchants like this, who abuse the industry, are shown the door by networks no matter how big the brand name is. Just by looking at the comments and the backings this post has recived, both numbers (36) and names and the representation across agency, network, affiliate and merchants, of all hierarchical levels, shows that this is a general feeling of those in the industry.

The comments and backings haven’t come from new, thin, fresh faced affiliates obilivious to the business, so I think that says a lot in itself.

“How did these jokers ever win the best new affiliate programme of the year? I’ve never really understood who voted for them anyway.”

next won as they were voted by affiliates through a closely controlled publishers choice vote.

I was very surprised, but I double checked the votes personally and they were legitimately winners.

I must say the programme was a different and more acceptable offering, run by a different network and agency.

Its now turned into a complete embarrassing farce.

Hero
“i’m not advocating how Next have been bahaving”
I’m extremely glad you’ve made that point as I did start to wonder where your argument was coming from. You can’t ask why I chose to apply for a programme, when at the same time, you want to set aside my initial reason for applying :?

Affiliates are and will continue to be a different breed. I made my decision not to promote them but to use them. There is a HUGE difference here. Anyway, I dont want this thread to become specific to the why’s and where’s, I as an individual made my decision and again will sum it up in “Money for old rope”.

Kirsty
“How did these jokers ever win the best new affiliate programme of the year?”
Yeah is a bit crazy, but hindsight is great isn’t it! As Matt has said, they were voted when they were new to the industry by affiliates, and when commission levels were acceptable. Since then there has been nothing but problems and if the reward was to be revoked I think it wouldn’t put A4U in good light in the future. One thing is for sure, they wont be winning any more awards in a hurry :)

Hi Hero,

Or as George Bush says:

“Fool me once…shame on…shame on you. Fool me twice….can’t get fooled again” :)

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1987104025700373400

Blimey, perfect material for my “how not to run an affiliate programme” talk.

This is totally crazy, and judging by “I hope you appreciate this bears no reflection on our attitude as a network to working with you in general.”, it probably was just a big name for the sale.

Learning lessons from the past, the hard way…
This is the conclusion I have come to. The big Brands at the moment hold the power to makes significant changes to our industry. This is what I learnt.
Affiliates will say they will take down links and be vocally supportive, in reality if affiliates are still making commissions, then… they will not take their links down.
Ill keep my personal opinion to myself on the rights and wrongs of this. I always believed actions speak louder then words.

I have learnt that simply removing links and moving on speaks bigger and greater volumes then publicly condemning. I have come to the conclusion that for big high street brands, affiliate marketing will always have varying degrees of conflict. A lot of the problems will stem from the fact, some times affiliates know more about online consumer behaviour, traffic aggregation and better understanding of organic search, paid search and all the clever routes to acquiring and reminding customers to come back then the merchant. I doubt is there is anyone that could contradict that.

My tact would be a gentle nudge to the powers that be at Next to seek advice from their networks that they are partnered with. The margins are there for better commissions, the network tools are there to protect their brand and to start looking at affiliates as partners rather then as a necessary evil. Next is a great brand and have products to die for and conversions are good. It is possible that maybe affiliate marketing is not right for them, it happens and we have to accept that. But we don’t have all the facts, we don’t know who, what, when and why. Of course Ill support this… but I have to wonder if this does not send people running in the opposite direction?

The message to Next would you rather pay 3.5k (ex VAT) per affiliate x 100 per month tenancy? No guarantees

Or would you rather pay 5% based on a basket transaction, acquire new customer (what’s the life time value of a next customer).

I know what I would chose, simply because I know all those great websites (glossy ones) that charge 15p + per click and wont convert. Can you afford to take those risks? Affiliate marketing minimises that risk and you get some of the best marketing talent you could ever have dreamt of :0)

Fostie hun… Agency now they are a whole other debate and I do believe You have to ask your self, who taught them about online marketing, is it worth tracking that person down and and ask, what chapters of the book in “marketing for dummies” did you miss?

I do think the role of the network is to advise, it must be, has to be for quality control reasons if nothing else. Knowing awin its probably what they did anyway.

You got to admire the network that tells a brand to take a walk :)

Hi Chris

With a comment this long, I agree, it does appear some people have too much time on their hands! I guess what it does show, is passion for the industry. If you think this is wrong, then maybe it’s not the right one for you?

I am not sure where you are hearing the the programme is doing great nor what great building has been done… oh how ignorance is bliss!

This blog post received over 100 backs on the A4U forums, by agencies, fellow affiliates, merchants and networks. Seriously this should be taken very seriously. Also, if you take the time to follow the forums, you will soon realise its a slightly bigger issue than a single affiliate with a gripe.

As for paper forms for trails – again I am confused here. You are obviously involved in the industry Chris, so you should know its not need for “paper trails. Simple”. If it is, then maybe explain as to why I don’t need to complete forms for 1000 other merchants?

I simply have the balls to stand up and say what I see, and as it transpires, others feel.

In response to “If we continue to throw stones, accuse them of stuff, and generally bicker on the net – who are we making a fool of?” I ask you;
If we roll over and accept this as a way a programme should be run, who are we making a fool of?

Thanks for your input :D

Col

Bad news about the Hatton fight, but already there is talk about (if he wins) his next fight being in New York! So get saving.

I appreciate you coming along and clearing this up from an ROEye perspective and have edited the comment in question. Apologies for this.

Thanks for this information, it was very helpful. Keep up the good work.