How to (not) win friends and influence people (badly)

[drivetowin]

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Just received the following from ACF

Dear Affiliate,

In order to assist us in managing the ACF affiliate programme we will be removing any affiliates that have failed to generate clicks since the beginning of December 2007. This change will be effective immediately. If you feel that you would be in a position to start promoting this programme again by sending quality traffic to the website, please do not hesitate to contact us and we will look to reinstate your membership to the programme providing that you can give enough evidence to suggest that you can send quality traffic.

To all those affiliates that this affects, we would like to thank you for your participation in the ACF campaign in the past, and wish you every success in the future.

Kind regards,
ACF Affiliate Team

OK so let's analyse this (and we'll do it slowly since BigMouthMedia (the originators of this email) clearly need educating at the lowest denominator).

In order to assist us in managing the ACF affiliate programme we will be removing any affiliates that have failed to generate clicks since the beginning of December 2007.

OK - so you may well have affiliates who have given you (or your client) free branding but hey, what the heck, those affiliates with no activity are such a hassle to manage aren't they! - each one you chop will save you all of umm, lets see, a nanosecond a year at most of management time (you do invoice your client by the nanosecond don't you?!)

This change will be effective immediately.

Thanks for the notice.

If you feel that you would be in a position to start promoting this programme again by sending quality traffic to the website, please do not hesitate to contact us and we will look to reinstate your membership to the programme providing that you can give enough evidence to suggest that you can send quality traffic.

So the traffic I haven't sent you is of zero quality - how do you know since I haven't sent you any - it could be the highest sooper dooper quality traffic in the world, but sadly, now, you will never know. I operate one of the top two motoring websites in the UK which could have featured you, but now it won't. Why should I have to give you evidence of quality traffic - do you give me evidence of quality account management - enough said...

To all those affiliates that this affects, we would like to thank you for your participation in the ACF campaign in the past, and wish you every success in the future.

Sadly the feeling is not mutual.

When you have learned how to manage an affiliate programme, please email me again - until then I'll make lots of money for your competitors and zero for you.....

[renegade]

Your sig says it all Keith, what makes me laugh is when a year or so later (when the person with the company brain cell) gets in touch asking if you'd like to join their program.

[mikey_freedom]

Why, oh why? Can reporting not be broken down to separate affiliates with no clicks (inactive) and clicks but no sales (under productive) away from affiliates making sales without booting the former groups off a programme?

I'm not with ACF but must be subscribed to a couple of hundred programmes across the board that we don't show ads for, but we usually have a site or page in the pipeline for their sector. If I get booted just because I don't promote them from the instant I sign up then I'm not going to go back cap in hand when we're putting our pages together. I often sign up to merchants as they join a network and then I can grab the links when I have a suitable spot for them. Our pages may be old school but they're straightforward content, our traffic clean and we abide by merchants' T&Cs.

An 'across the board' sweep seems a counter-productive approach altogether. Why aren't they asking why those affiliates aren't producing clicks during the period? Is it just that they're not ready yet or is it something wrong with the programme? More importantly, how can all parties work together to make it perform and worth promoting?

How many times do you have to talk about the folly of kicking affiliates in the teeth after they have given a brand a ton of free exposure or even just taken the time to subscribe to a programme, just for making no sales? Lots of these affiliates with 0 clicks will probably be starting out and a few of them may just go on to have one of the next big sites. A year down the line who knows what their site will be and how much they will be commanding for their ad space. Everyone takes these kind of emails in a different way, but newer affiliates are probably more likely to take it personally and older ones adopt the 'more fool them' position. None are likely to be that enamoured with the agency or merchant involved.

drivetowin - you comments regarding 'evidence to suggest that you can send quality traffic' made me chuckle. They illustrate exactly why the blanket approach is so wrong.

[JonLloyd]

I have never understood why you would need to cancel inactive affiliates. I can only think that the account manager is being paid by the number of affiliates on the programme and hence the merchant wants it reduced. Very short sighted in my opinion.

Even one impression over 10 years has to be worth keeping an affiliate on board. With google shuffles almost happening on a daily basis. Those inactive affiliates could be your traffic drivers in the future.

[jezaff]

Its a fair point but I am endlessly fascinated by how "hurt" people seem to be when the people they work with dont place them on a pedestal and bend over backwards. It reminds me of people who, when turned away from a nightclub, say "dont you know who I am?!".

Just to play devils advocate for a min ... Lets throw the argument the other way... is it really that much of a hassle for you to sign up to the programme again when you are actually in a position to get it running, are you really above the minutes that this will take?

As a compulsivly organised person I can relate to them wanting to clear out the inactive accounts. They probably know from experience that 99% of people who sign up and do nothing for 4 months arent really that motivated. I bet there are loads of dreamers around who plan these amazing sites and never follow through (like me for example lol !). Those in the 1% wo'nt be troubled by the massive hardship(?) of reapplying. Afterall, if the programme is good and you feel you can make money from it - surely its in your interest as well as theirs. If you end up ignoring it or signing up to a less good programme on this basis then you are cutting your nose off to spite your face - something I have very little time for. Pride is a sin afterall !

I dont mean to be antagonistic, I am just genuinly suprised at how many threads like this there are. Is it really that unreasonable? Am I missing something? Is there a cost to reapplying for example?

Its just good housekeeping. Maybe their system is managed by one poor guy and a spreadsheet ! Dont be so hurt, chin up old chap !

GL!

[ian]

Surely its cheaper to activate existing dormant affiliates rather than try to aquire new ones? A 10% / £200 bonus for the most sales and a 1 sale 1 entry competition for dormant affiliates may well get some people interested and easily cover the cost of the bonus.

Anyone who doesn't bother can be canned if ACF really want to do it. Just seems to be a waste of an email list in my opinion. I'm sure ACF's competitors could get some new affiliates by offering an incentive for those dumped by ACF.

[Travel Pixel]

I agree with Ian on this one about offering dormant affiliates an incentive to get going. I have been in that situation myself actually where I had joined up to a program and not done anything then a certain incentive was introduced which motivated me to allocate time to the program.

I can also understand, however, the need for a merchant to organise affiliates into those who push through clicks and those which are making up the numbers. A better approach would probably be to divide those groups up and then individually contact the dormant affs to see how they could work together.

Its a lot of work but the cream always rises to the top.

[leaddo]

These emails always seem to cause this type of thread, which I do agree with on both sides. It annoys the hell out of me, also controlling those members of a program has to be done. However, often the only communication one gets is a "you're not active, so goodbye" type of email.

A better approach would be to offer an incentive offered to inactive members, as suggested earlier or maybe just a polite reminder of the program and the benefits it offers.

That doesn't cost any more than a 'goodbye' email, now does it?

[gadget]

At least you got an explanation - this is what I got!

Dear xxx,

You have have been suspended from the Approved Car Finance affiliate programme. Please do not respond to this automated email, if you would like to discover the precise reasons for the suspension please contact the affiliate manager direct from your account.

Simply select the link 'Current Merchants' under the heading 'Account Management' then click the name of the merchant you would like to contact, select the option 'Contact merchant' and an email form will appear.

In the meantime we strongly advise that you temporarily remove any of this merchant's links.

[dougs]

Many merchants just dont get it...oh well

Doug
The arrogance of merchants | Doug's mouthpiece

[Global Media_Olga]

Hello everyone,

Firstly, thanks to everyone for their comments on the ACF affiliate campaign. Whilst we understand your grievances about the removal of inactive affiliates from the campaign, we would like to explain our reasons for making this decision.

Picking up on the points that Jezaff made, he's absolutely right in that we made this decision in order to make this campaign more manageable. Being a finance client there are many regulations that we have to comply with. Removing inactive affiliates from the campaign ensures that we can dedicate our time to working with affiliates that are interested in promoting this campaign so that we can optimise this for both the client and for the affiliates.

We are always working to make our campaigns as attractive for affiliates as possible, so if you have any requests for specific tools that would help you to promote ACF, please let us know and we will be very happy to provide you with these tools. Please contact us directly anytime on acfcarfinance@bigmouthmedia.com.

Best regards,

Olga

[drivetowin]

Olga

That sort of corporate spin may work with your clients but it actually does not explain your actions at all.

As one of your 'inactive' affiliates I have had not one minute of your time since signing up to the programme (no personal email, no time of you suggesting where I could promote ACF on my sites, no telephone calls, no meetings, no lunches - nada) - so how exactly does removing x number of zero management time make management more efficient?

I appreciate as a finance client you have regulations to comply with. But what is to stop me now putting up a totally non-compliant page about ACF and just having no affiliate links on it?

Some agencies work WITH their affiliates - some seldom work.....