Category: 
Monday, 26 May 2008 @ 8:16 am (Chris Frost)
Once again merchants have missed the opportunity to make the most of bank holiday visitors to my website due to poor plannnig and communication of their special event and bank holiday sales.
I presume merchants have, somewhere in their offices, a calendar of sorts… it doesn’t have to be a special all singing all dancing calendar, just black and white or a simple photocopy will do! These low-tech gadgets tend to HIGHLIGHT when we have bank holidays in the UK and can be a very useful tool in planning ahead!
Sadly some merchants and/or account managers, have left it until the very last minute to inform affiliates about what special offers they have taking place this bank holiday. When a merchant knows something is being planned… you know like a Bank Holiday sale, why don’t they let us affiliates know in advance?
Merchants obviously have to prepare their back end for price changes, have to arrange with development teams the changes to the look and feel of graphics, and for those that have outlets, have to also prepare signage to be shown in shop windows. This is all prepared weeks in advance, yet when it comes to their business on the Internet, it is presumed we affiliates need nothing more than a couple of hours or in some cases minutes!
The problem is, what maybe some merchants don’t fully understand, is that I and other affiliates have what’s known in the trade as a newsletter. This newsletter is prepared a day or two before an event such as a bank holiday, in order that it gets sent out today. This way I can make the most of people who have registered their works email addresses, and gives them something to read waiting for the Friday 5pm bell to toll.
In order for a merchant to be listed in my newsletter, and others I guess, they need to have told me a day or two before what they have planned and have creatives (if required) in place. Failure to do so means that by the time you have sent me an email at 4pm on Friday afternoon, you have already missed the opportunity of being in my newsletter, and 9 times out of 10, I don’t have the inkling to update my site.
Now lets not be totally negative… Over the past few years things have improved immensley when it comes to providing seasonal information, allowing us to plan our sites and newsletter distributions. But there is still a lot of work to be done, in order for a merchant to make the most of what us affiliates have to offer.
HELP IS HERE
Any merchant without a calendar, pop over to Getting Personal and treat yourself… I’ve even managed to get you an exclusive £5 discount!
Other sites - don’t think about stealing this code you bstards!
Horaayy..there are 4 comment(s) for me so far ;)
Well said Chris! As the typical eternally busy affiliate, I usually don’t have time to drop everything and instantly add promotions. A weeks notice (at least) isn’t too much to ask IMHO.
You’re asking for trouble with that discount code though, lol.
I was thinking the same about Father’s Day. Whilst I saw a few coming through last week, I’m still amazed at how little is available. So frustrating.
Great timing where my point has been proved…
I and other affiliates have just received this email from Affiliate Window regarding the Wickes programme and a special deal taking place over the bank holiday weekend;
So the email was received today, Tuesday 27th May, however the offer ended yesterday… Hang on, let me jump in my Delorian and head back to when I created my newsletter so I can feature this merchant!
It does make you wonder where the hold up was, the cause of it, and why the email was released at all by AWin considering the date had passed and promo had ended
This was something that suprised me as a relative newbie… quality effort on Wickes behalf!