Do Big Merchants Care about Little Affiliates?

[wisey08]

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Working for a rather big merchant we get about 6 or 7 applications a day for new affiliates to join us. I went through a 3 week trial of e mailing all applicants to introduce myself and find out some more information about them and how they intended to promote us. This allowed us to make contact and find out more about them but also to make sure they weren't rejected because of lack of information in their application. The problem was that out of all the e mails i sent out over the trial period not one affiliate bothered to reply to the e mail we sent them. Then those affiliates that get rejected because the original information is unclear will kick up a fuss because they have been rejected.

[SimonA]

Working for a rather big merchant we get about 6 or 7 applications a day for new affiliates to join us. I went through a 3 week trial of e mailing all applicants to introduce myself and find out some more information about them and how they intended to promote us. This allowed us to make contact and find out more about them but also to make sure they weren't rejected because of lack of information in their application. The problem was that out of all the e mails i sent out over the trial period not one affiliate bothered to reply to the e mail we sent them. Then those affiliates that get rejected because the original information is unclear will kick up a fuss because they have been rejected.

I experience exactly the same scenario. At Thomas Cook, we state clearly that applications should be supported with an email explaining the intended methods of promotion. Of the 100 applications (ish) a week that I review, I am lucky to get 2 emails. Usually these only arrive after an application has been rejected, but interestingly, it is uncommon for me to reject an application that comes with a considered application/appeal. If affiliates are serious about promoting our brands, it must surely be worthwhile spending 10 minutes constructing an email that gives me the ability to make an assessment based on a fairly leniant criteria. If that 10 minutes is not worth your while, then your probably not going to benefit from our programme anyway.

Going forward, we won't be accepting applications without clarity on their approach to affiliates marketing, and so hopefully this ratio will improve with time. We invest millions of pounds across multiple channels, and transparency is essential for us to effectively manage this spend.

[csn]

...Of the 100 applications (ish) a week that I review, I am lucky to get 2 emails...

...Going forward, we won't be accepting applications without clarity on their approach to affiliates marketing...

All I can see on CJ is:

If you would like to join this industry leading affiliate program, please contact simon.applebaum@thomascook.com

There's nothing on the page that says I need to email in order to be approved. I don't construe the above line to mean that.

(I'm considering applying and now know to email first :tup, but only through this thread).

On the broader scale of things, I only usually email account managers when I get rejected. It's interesting how many account managers don't respond to affiliates. Catch 22 - affiliates don't respond to emails sent by managers and mangers don't reply to affiliates.

[SimonA]

All I can see on CJ is:



There's nothing on the page that says I need to email in order to be approved. I don't construe the above line to mean that.

(I'm considering applying and now know to email first :tup, but only through this thread).

Its a very fair point. Have now amended the text to make our requirements clearer.

[dougs]

Sorry but we don't reply to any mails from merchants that ask for an explaination, unless we really are keen to work with them. If that is the case then we talk to them.

For simplicity we just pick to work with a merchant who has approved us already.

It's not the perfect solution, but thats what we do and I think you will find many affiliates do similar


Doug

[befuddle]

If affiliates are serious about promoting our brands, it must surely be worthwhile spending 10 minutes constructing an email.

Disagree. Time is precious and all those sites that I sign-up to but don't auto approve hardly ever get promoted by me as by the time I've received acceptance, I've (edit: lost momentum and) forgotten why I wanted to promote them in the first place.

When I sign-up to merchants it's often in waves around a theme. So it'll be like 'I'm going to sign up to all the eyecare merchants today' and not 'ooh they're a big high street brand'.

[dougs]

Same as Befuddle here.

Sorry but as a merchant you may think you are big, but from where us and obviously Befuddle sit, you are just another one of many.

I never get it myself...why not as a merchant just auto approve everyone, keep them approved. Then the ones who drive volume go and ask them.

oug

[SimonA]

Same as Befuddle here.

Sorry but as a merchant you may think you are big, but from where us and obviously Befuddle sit, you are just another one of many.

I never get it myself...why not as a merchant just auto approve everyone, keep them approved. Then the ones who drive volume go and ask them.

oug

Driving volume is the not the same as driving incremental sales. If seeing big numbers were the only criteria of our affiliate programme, then auto-approve would be our approach.

[befuddle]

If I were to get approved on volume then I'd have nobody to promote.

[dougs]

Oh Ray

I am meaning as a merchant auto approve and then track the ones who do anything that you think is interesting.

1000 affiliates signup
100 ever do anything
10 ever do anything regulary
Investigate the 10

Surely this is an easier method for everyone.

As a merchant you need to make it easy for affiliates to signup and work with you, otherwise the lazy g*ts will promote someone else.

Doug

[Travel Pixel]

If affiliates are serious about promoting our brands, it must surely be worthwhile spending 10 minutes constructing an email that gives me the ability to make an assessment based on a fairly leniant criteria. If that 10 minutes is not worth your while, then your probably not going to benefit from our programme anyway.

I wasn't even aware of this.
Having said that, by the time you have closed the 10 windows that CJ has opened and made sure you have checked every box known to man you begin to lose motivation...:tup

Good networks like AF and AW make it easy to communicate with the merchant, certainly AF is probably the best with their new interface.

Well you are aware of our website anyway I hope having been in contact by email!

Dave

[wisey08]

I never get it myself...why not as a merchant just auto approve everyone...

because unfortunately there are alot of dubious applications that come in. Only last week i had an application that only had a name with no address details and using Affiliate Network - Affiliate Window as its url. I contacted awin about it and they had no idea about it. With my affiliate hat on i see completely where you are coming from but from a merchant point of view its a line of protection against those affiliates who put false details on applications.

Chris

[babrees]

The problem was that out of all the e mails i sent out over the trial period not one affiliate bothered to reply to the e mail we sent them.

Yep, I get a standard email saying I have been approved and admit I never reply. Mainly because I believe it is standard and they aren't really interested in me, a mere very small affiliate who is simply trying hard. Even when they offer an exclusive code I don't reply, even though I would love one, because I am so small I don't think they would really be interested in giving me one.

[wisey08]

Its the smaller affililates who later become those super affiliates so its equaly important to help those as it is the smaller ones who bring in minimal sales. Both types of affiliate play an important role in affiliate marketing. Every merchant should be interested in both the super affiliates and the smaller ones to.

Chris

[Supercod]

Its the smaller affililates who later become those super affiliates so its equaly important to help those as it is the smaller ones who bring in minimal sales. Both types of affiliate play an important role in affiliate marketing. Every merchant should be interested in both the super affiliates and the smaller ones to.

Chris

I agree however everyone needs to understand that its one thing to put things in place that allow a new affiliate to take part but it has to be respected that the “big guys/gals” will get most of the time spent on them, that’s just business and the way it should be. My concern is that it looks to me that with some Networks in 2008 that you can’t even get started. The barrier to entry is actually not just money to spend on PPC or whatever; it’s the ability to actually get to promote the merchant in the first place.

Since I wrote this, I have noted that some networks seem to not like “new” affiliates keep in mind I didn’t alert any it was me involved in this small project other than the blog post and I can’t believe in the case of one network they not even got around to approving me for the network. In the time it’s taken them, I have already found alternative merchants on other networks or indeed the same merchant on another network, guess like Doug it’s them that have lost out here, not me but still annoying to think you can’t get approved for a program for no good reason.

Next time I will call them all up in advance and say, hey I am doing a project and some research in to barrier to entry for Affiliates and what “New” Affiliates can expect, I will be posting and blogging about this. I could bet hands down approvals would be flying in and when not approved a good reason given.

Another point I should add, when a Merchant is looking after their own approvals they seem to take time to check your site out and that doesn’t seem to be the case with Network staff doing it. You do have to wonder how the likes to Amazon and Google two of the biggest players seem to have a better grip on the idea of working with the new guys, maybe that’s part of the reason why they are so big.