Do Big Merchants Care about Little Affiliates?

[thegiftexperience]

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I can choose to send the sales to;
PrezzyBox
Firebox
Gizoo
PressiePlus
....
..
.

dont forget about www.thegiftexperience.co.uk, we are currently number 2 on google for 'christmas gifts' and 'gifts' we we are expecting and seeing massive increases in our sales and affiliate sales. I am going to be a very tired man by the time christmas actually comes around, Santa doesn't even work his elves as hard as we are working!

[renegade]

I wonder if anyone with a whitelabel site from iCodes or Promotions will be treated the same? That surely would cover 95% of affiliates!

This is a new challenge facing all the networks. With I think 60+ icodes sites leeky mentioned recently that's another bunch of "voucher code affiliates" that probably have other sites and have added the icodes system as an experiment.
The sensible option if networks really want to go down this road, and I hope they don't, is to insist voucher code sales are tracked on a separate account otherwise there will never been any transparency.
Networks which haven't had separate IDs and approvals per side would need to make this easy for affiliates by opening duplicate accounts with the same merchant approvals and new ID all set up ready to go because opening a new account and signing up for hundreds of merchants again isn't a practical solution.

[djbarker]

I work for a fairly big merchant (Insight - uk.insight.com - $5bn annual turnover - we're on webgains with Hero </plug>!). Have to say that any affiliate that sells our products is most valued!

I'd love to get any feedback that can help affiliates sell through us - whether they're big affiliates or small.

[geordiboyo]

What an interesting thread, being a newbie myself I can honestly say, I have had no issues with any network or merchant. If anything they have been very helpful in particular The buy.at affiliate network and Affiliate Network - Affiliate Window

I have had no issues yet around applying and getting the okay for programmes or if further advice is required on Affiliate marketing in general or a specific programme then they are always on hand to help.

Mark

[KevinEdwards]

I think putting yourself in the shoes of anyone you're looking to partner with (agency, network, merchant) goes someway to understanding their differing approaches.

I've lost count of the number of times an affiliate has contacted us as a network to ask their rejected application to a programme be reviewed only to find the information they've supplied contains scant (if any) information as to how they intend to promote the merchant.

Put yourself in the shoes of someone who is new to affiliate marketing or does it in conjunction with other online/offline channels. They need visibility as to how they're going to be promoted, certainly those more traditional retailers who consider brand equity so important.

With most suppliers a merchant has the direct relationship and engages with that one party. With affiliate marketing they engage with their supplier (the network/agency) who then engages with potentially hundreds or even thousands of additional suppliers (the affiliates). This can be a daunting prospect to many retailers.

I'm neither condemning nor condoning any merchants' approach. Remember any good network and merchant should be approachable and fair in processing applications. If you're unhappy with a more automated reply to an application or query then pick up the phone or write an empathetic email if you feel it's worth the extra effort.

If not move on, promote someone else. As an affiliate that's your prerogative.

[paullas]

If not move on, promote someone else. As an affiliate that's your prerogative.

thats a good attitude to have

[lauriebred]

I've lost count of the number of times an affiliate has contacted us as a network to ask their rejected application to a programme be reviewed only to find the information they've supplied contains scant (if any) information as to how they intend to promote the merchant.
.

Around 40+ years ago when I first started selling the companies I worked for had similar attitudes, they would only sell through certain types of stockist, retail price maintenance was firmly enforced and supermarkets were boycotted. Nowadays apart from designer (ie expensive, slow selling) goods the more stockists the better, RPM is history and supermarkets rule the roost. What does it really matter how affiliates sell products, (provided that they keep within the law) as long as they do sell them?

[babrees]

I think putting yourself in the shoes of anyone you're looking to partner with (agency, network, merchant) goes someway to understanding their differing approaches.

I've lost count of the number of times an affiliate has contacted us as a network to ask their rejected application to a programme be reviewed only to find the information they've supplied contains scant (if any) information as to how they intend to promote the merchant.

Yes, I can see that, but when affiliates have loads of sites they can't put them all in that tiny little box you supply. Nor can we say which site(s) we particularly want them for. Don't get me wrong - I love the way AWin works in that we don't have to apply to a merchant for every single site we want to use them on!!

But for instance, I was recently rejected because they said I was a voucher site - yet I don't have a voucher site listed on that account (although I do on another account with AWin)! I wanted them for my Christmas site.

[dougs]

Its got to be a nightmare getting approved. We run a pile of sites ASAP Ventures Ltd as I am sure many others do and we ahev some merchnats who have still not approved us for over a year.

Doug

[monk-i]

Seperate accounts would go some way to solving it but from the knowledge of speaking to others I have the one network that has only seemed to make this easy is Clarke's POR.

But on the other note when we are on about smaller affiliates we have all been there and the bigger affiliates start off as small ones. The bigger affiliates spawn from those roots so any merchant who overlooks them is crackers. It can take a large period of time sometimes to optimise to get the best out of a merchant. Its clear sometimes affiliates cant always provide the best information for where they are going to generate their sales from but prejudging is wrong as from past experience you might 6-12 months easily to look back as a small affiliate and find a way where you start rattling through sales to become that BIG affiliate the merchant craves.

(If some of that is crackers ive had a few drinks to drown my sorrows after being beat by the 'mackems' (unclean) in the Tyne/Wear derby )

[paullas]

well for merchants to drop comission just before the xmas rush period starts i think is a bad move and unfair tbh. small affiliates ive spoken to spent weeks trying to build sites/pages, get the indexed in google ready and then they do that . makes all the hard work seem like a waste of time.

[dougs]

mackems are unclean - fact

[aotagain]

I've lost count of the number of times an affiliate has contacted us as a network to ask their rejected application to a programme be reviewed only to find the information they've supplied contains scant (if any) information as to how they intend to promote the merchant.

As you've mentioned it ! a couple of comments about the AW interface and btw just in case you wonder I am a fan of AW...

Affiliate point of view: 'Update your account' only contains one website url possibility and the description box is tinier than the smallest thing in Smallville. So in a way not surprising (as I first did) that affiliates put in the bare minimum and also can't easily read or review what they've put.... which might be why we get:

Merchant point of view: (I can only comment on AW here) Quite a lot of affiliate applications with unobtainable or irrelevant urls, only vaguely recognisable English and oddly disturbing phrases about how they are going to promote you. It would also be handy to at least be able to drop the affiliate a quick email from the approvals page saying why they haven't been approved, but unless I've missed it there isn't one.

Can't the description box just be way bigger - I think it only takes someone to code in an increase in rows and columns - just a bit of html ? Not sure about multiple urls I guess that might need more coding as introducting more fields.

In general for most networks, there seems to be some work to do in the affiliate / merchant communication area - its a bit cumbersome at times.

[aotagain]

Although we seem to hear about the rapid successes of some affiliates, as far as I can see the biggies took a fair while to get going, so from a merchants point of view its daft to not take on the small ones - some might have full time jobs while they figure out what they are doing and build something significant - then bang, they burst onto the world, having been quietly sitting on a generic domain for several years.

[KevinEdwards]

Hi,

Thanks for the feedback on the Awin system; we're aware of the upgrades that could be made to the interface and are working on this for the next platform release.

Thanks,