Voucher & Discount Codes ... What are the Problems & What are the solutions?

[Qui Gon Jinn]

Tweet

There have bee several threads pertaining to voucher codes & discount codes, so any prominent ones please feel welcome to post a link to those.

Voucher & Discount Codes

1. What are the problems with voucher / discount codes?

2. What are the solutions to any problems surrounding voucher / discount codes?

3. What are the advantages of voucher / discount codes (obvious & not so obvious)?

4. What improvements could we see or request pertaining to voucher / discount codes?

[ian]

1. What are the problems with voucher / discount codes?

Forcing clicks for out of date vouchers and merchants that don't even use them.

[Colin@DVDTimes]

There have bee several threads pertaining to voucher codes & discount codes, so any prominent ones please feel welcome to post a link to those.

Voucher & Discount Codes

1. What are the problems with voucher / discount codes?

2. What are the solutions to any problems surrounding voucher / discount codes?

3. What are the advantages of voucher / discount codes (obvious & not so obvious)?

4. What improvements could we see or request pertaining to voucher / discount codes?

The issue I have isn't the codes themselves. It's the misuse and stealing of codes that is the problem and the inconsistency of merchants and networks in dealing with these problems.

I'd like to see voucher codes tied to affiliates so that if the codes are stolen and published elsewhere the site that stole them doesn't benefit from the affiliate income and the site that worked to be issued the discount code would get their rightful earnings.

We have all sorts of rules in place to ensure that any vouchers posted are allowed and we instantly remove any vouchers that aren't allowed. However there loads of well known sites without rules for what can and can't be posted that let all sorts of dodgy vouchers be posted and they get away with it.

Surely it can't be hard for networks and merchants to reject discount codes that have been referred by sites that haven't been permitted to use them?

[Qui Gon Jinn]

With voucher codes tied into individual affiliates, which seems sensible. how would you get around last click referrer & the problems surrounding it if the last click is not from the voucher code site, but a voucher code is used.

Who would be entitled to the commission? Or would it have to be one voucher code for all affiliates so that the last click referrer always win, though I can only guess this may effect affiliates who have negotiated their own deals.

A further question is, can voucher codes be requested by individual affiliates to offset their commissions, in a sense a cashback at source of purchase & deducted from affiliate commission?

[Colin@DVDTimes]

With voucher codes tied into individual affiliates, which seems sensible. how would you get around last click referrer & the problems surrounding it if the last click is not from the voucher code site, but a voucher code is used.

Who would be entitled to the commission? Or would it have to be one voucher code for all affiliates so that the last click referrer always win, though I can only guess this may effect affiliates who have negotiated their own deals.

A further question is, can voucher codes be requested by individual affiliates to offset their commissions, in a sense a cashback at source of purchase & deducted from affiliate commission?

For the first option, the money should go to the site that negotiated the voucher, not necessarily the last click referrer.

I would love the option to offset some commission against a discount for a customers - are there any merchants/networks that offer this as an option?

[Qui Gon Jinn]

For the first option, the money should go to the site that negotiated the voucher, not necessarily the last click referrer.

I am not agreeing or disagreeing, just adding questions to the mix, to keep discussion going with the following.

From that it might be interpreted that first click wins or voucher codes win regardless, whether the voucher site was the first, intermediary or last click at the expense of another affiliate who doesn't offer voucher/discount codes.

Are voucher codes simply becoming another layer whereby a suitable compromise maybe sharing the commission between last click (if a different affiliate from voucher site) & the allocated owner of that voucher in instances where both could deemed to be qualify for the commission, which then requires networks to reflect in their reporting and/or when merchants allocating commissions if batch uploading.

[kier]

For the first option, the money should go to the site that negotiated the voucher, not necessarily the last click referrer.

I would love the option to offset some commission against a discount for a customers - are there any merchants/networks that offer this as an option?

Yes absolutely, give me a buzz if you want to look at doing this.

[Colin@DVDTimes]

I am not agreeing or disagreeing, just adding questions to the mix, to keep discussion going with the following.

From that it might be interpreted that first click wins or voucher codes win regardless, whether the voucher site was the first, intermediary or last click at the expense of another affiliate who doesn't offer voucher/discount codes.

Are voucher codes simply becoming another layer whereby a suitable compromise maybe sharing the commission between last click (if a different affiliate from voucher site) & the allocated owner of that voucher in instances where both could deemed to be qualify for the commission, which then requires networks to reflect in their reporting and/or when merchants allocating commissions if batch uploading.

Just my opinion really, but if I put the time into arranging an exclusive discount with a merchant and then promote it on my site, I wouldn't be too happy about another affiliate coming along and promoting the voucher in an attempt to increase their affiliate income.

At the moment it's a free for all, and those that do the most work are the ones that suffer when a merchant withdraws a code due to abuse. The site that stole the code won't be affected as they'll just go off elsewhere and nick one from somewhere else.

[hpops]

We've got a few merchants who offer the option of offestting commissions for a higher voucher rate - and in the new year - we'll have some more!

I'm really not convinced that scrapping last referrer is the best idea for ensuring that codes aren't stolen. What if the user finds a voucher site, makes notes of a whole set of vouchers, is then convinced by a content affiliates "pitch" and purchases?

Not the only way it might be unfair either.

We're looking at using some technology to spider for inappropriate voucher use for next year and I think that this is a fairer way to maintain compliance on exclusivity

[loquax]

1. What are the problems with voucher / discount codes?

Biggest problem... the fact that a number of affiliates, some quite sizeable, literally got away with using iframes, 1x1 iframes and forced clicks for such a long time. Now whilst networks tidied things up as did the affiliates concerned when it was eventually outted - not one network made any attempt (as far as I am aware) to emphasise their position on what is and isn't acceptable where iframes/forced clicks are concerned.

No email, no links on their CMS, no clarification, nothing... what kind of message does that send out to affiliates?

I don't think forcing a customer to click a link to find a code (often which doesn't exist) is acceptable. Will networks stamp that out... not if some affiates are shifting whatever million pounds of sales there are.

When I were a lad, the whole point of affiliate marketing was to earn the sale by pre-selling to the visitor and it was then their decision to click... now it seems perfectly valid to tell a visitor "well there might be something valid if you click here, but then again there might not"! That can't be right? Can it?

Jason

[drivetowin]

Jason

100% agree with you.

I would also like to see the networks come down far harder on sites that publish codes that were never designed to be in the affiliate channel - i.e. NHS codes etc. It is not enough in my opinion that the sites in question remove affiliate links for these codes, they should be made to remove all affiliate links from their discount code site (or not rewarded for those affiliate links) if they are unable/unwilling to police their sites responsibly.

[befuddle]

I would also like to see the networks come down far harder on sites that publish codes that were never designed to be in the affiliate channel - i.e. NHS codes etc. It is not enough in my opinion that the sites in question remove affiliate links for these codes, they should be made to remove all affiliate links from their discount code site (or not rewarded for those affiliate links) if they are unable/unwilling to police their sites responsibly.

I'm thinking out loud here and my first reaction is that I don't agree.

If a site owner (affiliate or not) wants to create a site that is say the 'number one voucher code directory in the world' I think they should be able to do so by listing as many codes* as possible and be able to monetise it where appropriate ...

*except listing my Exclusive codes that is**
** unless I get paid for Exclusive code use regardless of where they were published

[ian]

I'm thinking out loud here and my first reaction is that I don't agree.

If a site owner (affiliate or not) wants to create a site that is say the 'number one voucher code directory in the world' I think they should be able to do so by listing as many codes* as possible and be able to monetise it where appropriate ...

*except listing my Exclusive codes that is**
** unless I get paid for Exclusive code use regardless of where they were published

*except listing NHS exclusive codes that is

What is the difference between your exclusive codes and the exclusive codes issues to NHS employees?

[purple]

I don't think forcing a customer to click a link to find a code (often which doesn't exist) is acceptable. Will networks stamp that out... not if some affiates are shifting whatever million pounds of sales there are.

When I were a lad, the whole point of affiliate marketing was to earn the sale by pre-selling to the visitor and it was then their decision to click... now it seems perfectly valid to tell a visitor "well there might be something valid if you click here, but then again there might not"! That can't be right? Can it?

Jason

Jason I totally agree with you on this point, my wife was doing xmas shopping at the weekend and I suggested she looked for a discount code before she buys, so we did a google search, and all these discounts sites forced you to click to reveal the code, the site then opened, and it was a struggle to actually get back to the discount code site to see if there was a code. Long story short, they did not have any valid codes, but still had burnt a cookie. These Discount sites were not the famous one which has had long threads about stealing exclusive codes.

[purple]

*except listing NHS exclusive codes that is

What is the difference between your exclusive codes and the exclusive codes issues to NHS employees?

I would be interested in the response to this.