Voucher Code websites - Merchants, do they really...

[mike_01]

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A few questions for merchants;

What do you all think about the voucher code websites? What does your stats says about them and their performance? (Here I am referring to the website that does nothing more than just offering a discount code).

- Do they really add value to your affiliate marketing campaigns?
- Do they really help a visitor convert into a sale because you have a voucher code?
- Do they really help you have repeated sales?

I do have a voucher code website but I do promote merchants mostly from my other content/price comparison website and feeling that, at present the voucher code website (mine and many other too) aren't really doing any thing GREAT apart from offering the discount voucher code's that merchants have issued to the affiliate industry. I know that using voucher codes into your price comparison websites or content websites will surely help you have better conversion rates as you first offer them a product and then the voucher code (and not the other way round) and that’s how they have landed onto your website by searching for a product/category etc.

In the past, I have seen my sales/commissions getting declined for a simple reason that you were "not the last referrer" which in most of the cases are voucher code websites which is really annoying (if you didn't had the voucher codes for that particular merchant) for me and many other fellow affiliates.

So what if we come up with something that is more encouraging for content/price comparison affiliates to promote the merchants happily or may be give Voucher Code websites something to rethink about their marketing model and approach to the visitors/customers.

Is it not just possible to just take this "Voucher Code", "Discount Code" or "Promotional Code" off your websites (merchants off course) and;

1. Offer an additional gift (depending upon the basket value) which very much vary every week/month and can act really well as a USP and help you get happy customers & affiliates.

2. Offer discount (without any CODES) on the next purchase, depending upon the overall basket value, which will help you have returning customers.

At the moment, I can just think of these two but I am sure that there are many experts here to comment on it and add some value to the overall debate.

Come up merchants, affiliate networks, agencies and affiliates and share what do you all think about it? Is there something that can be done or shall we just leave it as it is and move on with our Christmas marketing preparations.

Let’s see how it goes from here. May be we all become a part of another revolution in the UK affiliate marketing.

[EupaLeeB]

Hi,

I am an affiliate and a merchant, so I see both sides of the coin. As a merchant I dislike vouchercode sites, as most of them add little or nothing, and you end up giving commission on a sale you would have more than likely got anyway, as a merchant I will not allow them on my program. As an affiliate they are an easy way of making money if you get ranked well in search engines. There are a number of very shady vouchercode websites out there, I doubt whether the majority of merchants are aware of many of the tactics that are being used, and the amount of revenue they are losing to sites that do little or nothing to add value. I also feel that the networks seem to do very little to stop or suspend these affiliates even though they appear to break the rules time and time again I guess its a case of don't bite the hand that feeds you, as the shady operators are more than likely making the networks large amounts of revenue. All I see it doing is damaging the whole industry long term once merchants are educated to the practices that are going on.

Lee

[heartinternet]

The reality is they do exist, and potential actively customers search for them. The concern from a merchent's perspective is losing out on sales for searches such as "[industry keyword] vouchers" and a competitor grabbing it. They are also very easy to implement and track from a technical point of view, much more than the alternatives proposed.

With regards to repeat sales, I see very little value, but then I see product quality and customer service as the primary driver at that stage not a voucher code.

[thebusiness]

Hi,

I am an affiliate and a merchant, so I see both sides of the coin. As a merchant I dislike vouchercode sites, as most of them add little or nothing, and you end up giving commission on a sale you would have more than likely got anyway, as a merchant I will not allow them on my program.

What's your merchant program - PM me if you prefer?

I agree with what you say but don't think much will change in the near future. Too many people making easy money and too many unhealthy relationships I'm afraid.
I avoid voucher merchants wherever possible.

As for the OP - I've added vouchers where applicable on my sites but I think it just encourages people to go looking for better ones. I'm particularly fed up of having to display codes for fridges when I'm trying to flog laptops too

[mike_01]

I am sure that there are people having similar thoughts about the overall voucher code industry. Merchants come up, have your say or shall we just take that you are really HAPPY with how voucher code websites are HELPING you with the sales?

[Tooled-Up.com]

We launched our Voucher code system 12 months ago and all I can report is positive. We have a large number of people using voucher codes each month and from the reporting that I do, I can see only 25% are existing customers. 75% of voucher codes used each month are new customers which I believe if we did not have the voucher code sites as affiliates, we may not have got the sale.

I think in the current financial climate (although improving) consumers actively look for ways they can save a bit of money. Any internet shopping I do, I always look for voucher codes before I make a purchase, obviously the websites original price has an impact on my purchase, but if I can save some money with one site and a VC then I will use it.

[aotagain]

If you were running an affiliate program before the launch of the VC's, then wouldn't a useful comparison to make be between affiliate generated new users before and after VC's ?

To see if the VC launch introduced a load more new customers that the previous group of affiliates was not doing.

Only isn't it currently impossible to tell if your current new visitors from VC sites were somewhere else before, because the VC site is last referrer.

ie. Isn't the point in terms of new customers to do with whether you would have got them from the existing affiliate network, rather than what proportion of them are coming from VC sites now ?

( I can understand if the VC's are required to maintain sales when other merchants are running them - but that's a separate thing from the new customer issue ).

[thebusiness]

If you were running an affiliate program before the launch of the VC's, then wouldn't a useful comparison to make be between affiliate generated new users before and after VC's

It might be that tooled-up's new customers had gone looking for a screwfix voucher and then saw a tooled-up discount or banner and did a comparison? Obviously this is good for tooled-up but maybe not so for screwfix?

The question then is that will all these new customers always be looking for a discount in future or are they generally one-off sales?

Not sure what the answer is but the real problem with vouchers is that allows a lot of fraud where no voucher even exists - until this is cleaned up (which I don't think it ever will be?) it is always going to be a struggle to convince people like me that vouchers are good thing.

[mike_01]

it is always going to be a struggle to convince people like me that vouchers are good thing.

You know, I dont see a problem with the voucher codes (if merchants are just tooooooooo reluctant to take them off) if they are used properly to add more value to your content websites or price comparison tables. The only issue is websites are meant to rank on "MERCHANT NAME Voucher Codes" and adding absolutely ZERO (a big one) value to the merchants website.

So far the response was just too poor from merchants as they dont seem to be interested to comment about it.

Does that mean they are happy with how things are happening?
Or
Just don't bother about the overall affiliate marketing and content affiliates?

[thebusiness]

So far the response was just too poor from merchants as they dont seem to be interested to comment about it.
Does that mean they are happy with how things are happening?Or
Just don't bother about the overall affiliate marketing and content affiliates?

They are scared of getting flamed

[mike_01]

LOL.

I do think so.

[aotagain]

I would like to see a 'Before and After' illustration from a merchant (or a network). No great detail. Just something to show the benefits. But its probably information that they wouldn't want to disclose for competitive reasons.
Obviously codes could work very well for one area, but not another.
So as a merchant you wouldn't really want other merchants in your area knowing.

If a merchant is running VC's now, but wasn't before, then there is an obvious test to do assessing the number and proportion of new visitors delivered by affiliates in each time period. That's just basic number crunching and business analysis.

I know I keep banging on about it, but without before and after, the rest is guesswork based on the current state of the merchant program.

So I would just appeal to merchants to understand and do the test for their own peace of mind, whether they publish anything or not doesn't really matter.