Support - is it time to think outside of the box

[drivetowin]

This is prompted by some posts gunneradt made on a thread about Butlins but it has wider implications.

For some time, those who have attended my training seminars will know that I have put forward the idea that given that a good number of affiliates work part time, and a good number of full time affiliates work 'non-standard' hours, isn't it time that networks, agencies and merchants broke away from the support model of 9-5 Mon to Fri and thought outside of the box.

While I recognise that not all have the resources or the willpower to provide support 24/7 (I will exclude Ryan and Hero from Webgains from this discussion as I'm convinced between them they never sleep), but for the rest how about having at least some of your support staff working a flexible roster, so while 24/7 might not be possible, given the ever increasing numbers of staff at most networks these days, surely support from say 10am-10pm Mon-Fri and say 2pm-10pm at weekends ought to be in reach of most networks and the larger agencies.

I know some agencies like Nadeem at Azam provide damn near 24/7 support but a good number of others are still too close to the 9-5 model - and for merchants I can think of a handful where the support manager is available out of hours - including of course the new affiliate superheroes at sunshine.co.uk

So what's the consensus - should there be more out of hours support and assuming that there should, which networks are picking up the mantle to do something about it?

[Azam.net]

Originally Posted by drivetowin I know some agencies like Nadeem at Azam provide damn near 24/7 support

I'm not sitting here at 02:38 on Monday morning answering a support query from an affiliate right Keith?!

I have been encouraging networks and agencies for years to provide out of hours support - for their own benefit - but have given up. Every one of our webhosts provides around the clock support. Clook, for instance, who only have about 5 staff members I believe, answers all my support queries within 15 minutes in the middle of the night and on weekends, and have been doing so for over a year - it really helps complete projects - so I don't understand why networks with 50+ staff can't do so.

Some networks have set up procedures. You mention the fabulous Webgains. AF have Chris in Australia who regularly responds to queries at night, as does Graeme at POR.

Many people will know my mantra is the Customer is Always, Always, Always Right and, if many affiliates work out of hours, it the duty of Account and Affiliate Managers to provide support at the times that affiliates want. Affiliates are the ones generating the leads/sales in this industry and deserve the utmost consideration.

At the end of the day, I'm not too flustered anymore. It actually puts our Affiliate Management and other clients at a massive advantage. For example, you wouldn't believe how many people I have managed to sign-up to eDealsUK's white-label cashback site service who have rang me or grabbed me on Messenger at 7pm or 8pm. I'd have answered all their support queries by 9pm and have the contract over to them by 10pm. We'd be so far the line by that time and evening support is so important to many of them that many wouldn't even bother to investigate the alternatives

which networks are picking up the mantle to do something about it?

I'd be interested too.

I don't think most networks/agencies are even aware that ACT (Affiliate Central Time) is quite different from GMT.

OK, got an affiliate on Messenger, so must scarper...

[Gavinio]

In the spirit of things, I'm now online at 3.14am. OK, so it's only 12.14pm here in Sydney!

Maybe promoting merchants who aren't in your country is a possible answer then? Either that or networks could outsource the affiliate support to India...

Don't forget that agencies and networks also have clients to look after, and they they are in 8~6 - as are more and more affiliates these days.

[davidtan]

Or they would have a huge management issue to monitor the work of employees that are 'unsupervised' at late nights. Productivity drop in the intial stages might discourage management from proceeding with it.

[hero]

at Webgains we understand the importance of continuous support for affiliates as well as merchants. 24/7/365 support has been one of our USPs from the beginning and the core of our business along with quality customer service.
With our support system, a member of the account management team is always available to respond to your questions, be that after 6 on weekdays or over the weekend. You can raise a support ticket through your account and contact support[at]webgains.com by email or msn, whichever you prefer.

thanks very much

[jess1]

Depends on your stance about it being enforced.
Could there be a scenario where by a person with a family has to give up their weekend?
I think as we get more international affs, its a good idea but the employee should want to do lates and weekends and not made compulsory unless time and a half is given or double pay. But.. do the numbers add up at the moment to justify it?

Nadeem... you are just not normal, I know you don't sleep, Im beginning to think you have a twin, you mad machine, lol

[justhomdotcom]

Whilst we've never made a song and dance about it as a merchant we've always given 24/7 support to our affiliates.

Although being a small company those who know me, know that im never actually unplugged from the internet be it that im either at my desk , when im asleep a laptop hooked into skype next to me and always on or on the rare occasion im away from a physical connection my phone/pda is hooked into skype as well as having telephone number in both the USA and Australias diverting to our UK phone (so we cover various time zones)

[gadget]

I think it depends on what support you're after. Whilst I'd expect my hosting company to provide 247 support, that because I'd lose money if the servers went down.

As far as network support is concerned, I can't think of anything I'd actually need an urgent response to.

[Elaine]

well I have to disagree

- it is great that some network staff are so proactive. But it is usually the smaller ones - remember when Mal from Buyat never seemed to sleep and always responded to a query with a cheery positive message within 5 minutes, which went a long way to help build Buyat's image - now they play with the big boys that's no longer the case.

and, sadly I can see that this is bound to happen with those smaller up and coming networks and affiliate managers.

it is irritating when things go wrong and you don't have instant access to support - but as long as they are on the case next morning I'm OK with that and I'd rather have no support than have them outsource it

and what about the other side - if we expect them to be available 24/7 then don't we have to reciprocate - and I don't want any phone calls when I'm otherwise engaged of an evening (watching 'claggy women' aka Desperate Housewives ) or weekend when I'm shopping for that elusive handbag.

It's our choice when we work and I don't think any affiliate - whether they be of the super variety or part-timers - has the right to demand that networks/agencies be at their beck and call 24/7.

[drivetowin]

I would agree with you Elaine that those of us who have been around a while and are fortunate enough to have affiliate marketing as our main/only source of income are able to pick the hours we work but for the majority of newbies that is not the case, they have to do affiliate marketing in the evening and at weekends as it is the only time they have available to do it - and yet being newbies, by definition, are they not the ones most likely to need help and support?

I did say in my opener that 24/7 for most was probably unattainable but I really do not see why any network/agency at least cannot provide support from 10am-10pm - it doesn't have to impact on the cost base, you just need to think differently, instead of having all your support team working 9-5 you get half to work from 9am - 5pm and the other half to work from 2pm - 10pm - that way you still have 3 hours overlap for team meetings/training etc but you provide longer cover - and there are people I am sure who would rather work afternoons and evenings than work mornings (another alternative would be to have evening workers from 5pm - 10pm but that would probably not be so good). OK you may have to pay a small premium for weekend working but again it's a case of thinking laterally - could you not have one employee each weekend taking it in turn on a rota basis - online access from home is easy and they could be given a shared work mobile and hey ho, they can still do things around the house, they just need to agree to be 'on call' one weekend out of x - heck it's hardly a new idea, we were doing that when I worked for a software company over 10 years ago (except then we didn't have mobiles but the office phone redirected to our home phones).