Next Affiliate Program - The Facts

[fionah]

Dear Affiliates,

In light of recent concerns regarding the Next affiliate program the team would like to address a few issues raised over the past few months. We have made email communications and forum posts when it was relevant to do so; however we wish to reiterate our responses again and address a few new issues in one central place.

Commission Reductions

The Next Transactional program was launched in February 2007 and commission rates were initially benchmarked against competitor programs. As a result of significant growth after i-level took over its management in July 2007, it was necessary for Next to assess the commerciality of the program. Margins for different product groups promoted by affiliates were assessed to establish a realistic commission rate.

Next are moving towards product based commission tiers which will create a fairer commission level for all affiliates. Next are currently undergoing systems updates which, when completed, will allow for this structure.

It is important to be aware that Next approve 99% of sales regardless of an almost 45% return rate so that commissions can be approved daily. Sales are only rejected if there is duplication of sales against another network or if an affiliate has been found to have broken terms and conditions.

Next’s average conversion rate is currently around 6% and has an average basket value of £110 which is very competitive for a retail program.

Next bonus affiliates £6 for directories ordered with flexi account through the transactional program. On average 8% of sales result in this bonus.

Next’s EPC is currently 34p with Buy.at which is 82% higher than major competitors.

Competitor Brand Bidding

Next does undertake competitor brand bidding practices which do not conflict with trademark regulations enforced by search engines.

However, the specific example cited, where a Next ad appeared under the term www marksandspencer com, was due to expanded broad match through Google. With expanded matching, the Google AdWords system automatically runs ads on relevant keywords even if they are not in your keyword lists. Sometimes you may see competitors expanding to each other because users find them to be relevant, especially if they offer similar products/services. It was not Next’s intention to appear against this term and the issue was flagged up with Google as a result.

Network Changes

In October 2007 Next offered the program out to tender to six affiliate networks. The main reason for this was to recruit a network which had strong European connections and could facilitate Next’s forthcoming expansion into overseas markets.

As a result of the two month tender process, Affili.net and Buy.at were selected to manage the program. They were chosen because both had the capability to run programs in various parts of Europe and both demonstrated superior levels of account management and innovation in the industry.

Termination of the program with the incumbent networks was announced on 29th January 2008. This gave affiliates 31 days notice to change their links to the new networks.

Honouring cookies after program termination

The decision to not honour cookies after the date of termination on 29th February 2008 was taken by the networks alone. This decision was not discussed with Next or i-level prior to informing affiliates.

Affiliate Recruitment

Next chooses to partner with affiliates who will add value to a program by offering transparent methods of promotion. Affiliates wishing to partner with Next are required to detail their promotional methods during the application process. This is so Next can monitor how their brand is being represented online; can make suggestions which will improve performance; and address the different types of affiliates appropriately.

Recently certain affiliates have voiced negative opinions of the brand openly online. Next is open to constructive criticism regarding the management of the program and has maintained that queries will be answered directly to the affiliates concerned. It is Next’s wish not to partner affiliates who pollute natural search space with negative comments about the brand. It is also unfortunate that, although Next submitted a response to a particular blog, it was not approved by the blog author.

Program Positives

Next awards affiliates £6 bonus for new customer acquisition on the transactional program.

Due to the nature of Next’s customer base and web design, affiliates enjoy high conversion rates and basket values.

There are two ways in which affiliates can promote Next, through the transactional program and also through the directory program. The Directory program offers incremental tiered commissions from £8 - £11 per approved flexi account customer.

A product feed is now available for affiliates to use.

Creative is updated regularly and is of high quality. Specific creative requirements are available on request.

Next run regular incremental sales competitions and has offered £4000 worth of vouchers to large and small affiliates alike who have improved volume month on month.

We hope that the above has cleared up any inaccuracies published about the program. However if you do have any further queries we will be happy to address them at nextaffiliates@i-level.com.

[Qui Gon Jinn]

[mod hat off]

I just spat my tea out all over myself. Might comment on fuller later, when not busy.

Competitor Brand Bidding - Did Buy.at provide that bull, because they certaining didn t believe us or did their merchant Waterstones when book generic terms appeared for the phrase "waterstone". Off course one rule for one, one for another.

Also ads are still appearing for other marks & spencer variations intermittently .. in addition... and it has been reported (i haven't checked these yet) the links in the evenings have interesting link properties.

If you do competitor bidding yourselves, then you won't mind if merchants & affiliates reciprocate the pleasantries in paid search for those variations & misspellings you don't own or haven't registered. The Alamo here we come.

They were chosen because both had the capability to run programs in various parts of Europe and both demonstrated

I didn't know Buy.at were in Europe more than the likes of Webgains or Tradedoubler or CJ.

Re Tenders

Did you actually sit down in person & listen to all the networks tenders? Or shall I bring up my earlier posts in this pertaining to the predictable of selected networks.

superior levels of account management and innovation in the industry.

Subject to opinion i guess. But i need a refill of my cup cos my tea has pebble dashed my monitor & keyboard.

It is Next’s wish not to partner affiliates who pollute natural search space with negative comments about the brand

Ooops ... I am having spleen wobbling palpitations . .. rotfalmao ... Well thats me out, plus you have dissed probably the opinion / blog backers of over 100 experienced affiliates within the industry. Personally I think this comment alone highlights Nexts' & associated allies contempt for affiliates.

Seriously though, please could you, Next, leave the affiliate marketing space before you pollute it for vast majority of other good merchants around. And maybe only come back, when you have seriously been educated & sincerely wish to embrace affiliate marketing. We don't need Next. It's not fit for purpose.

Right now to build up that competitor keyword base

[mod hat on][wash on][wash off]

[Julie H]

I'll come back when I've stopped laughing.

[fionah]

Competitor Brand Bidding - Did Buy.at provide that bull, becuase they certaining didn t believe us or did their merchant Waterstones when book generic terms appeared for teh phrase "waterstone". Off course one rule for one, one for another. Also ads are still appearing for other marks & spencer variations intermitently.

Google advised i-level of the reasons why next appeared under the specific term.

If you do competitor bidding yourselves, then you won't mind if merchants & affiliates reciprocate the pleasantries in paid search.

Bidding against competitor terms and allowing affiliates to brand bid are two seperate issues.

I didn't know Buy.at were in Europe more than the likes of Webgains or Tradedoubler or CJ

Buy.at will be managing Nexts promotions in Ireland

Re Tenders

Did you actually sit down in person & listen to all the networks tenders? Or shall I bring up my earlier posts in this pertaining to selected networks.

The tender involved a three stage selection process which involved myself, senior i-level staff and next sitting down personally with the networks. These pitches were held at both i-levels and nexts offices.

[fionah]

Is'nt it both the network's and the agency's role to highlight situations such as these before they become an issue?

I agree that this is an issue that should have been highlighted by the network

[renegade]

Affiliate Recruitment
Recently certain affiliates have voiced negative opinions of the brand openly online. Next is open to constructive criticism regarding the management of the program and has maintained that queries will be answered directly to the affiliates concerned. It is Next’s wish not to partner affiliates who pollute natural search space with negative comments about the brand. It is also unfortunate that, although Next submitted a response to a particular blog, it was not approved by the blog author.

It's a chicken and egg situation though isn't it?

Frostie (for we all know that's who we're talking about) expressed negative opinions because Next took actions most affiliates would find unacceptable and since you are evidently NOT open to constructive criticism he took recourse to posting in his blog - which is why we have them.

I'm sure Frostie will take time out from his hectic birthday schedule to explain why he didn't approve your post.

While I'm here there's also no way I'll ever be filling out any merchant questionnaire when signing up for a new program - so any merchants thinking of doing this think carefully.

I'm happy to share information like this when we've got to know each other a bit better - you can even buy me lunch and pump for info but not up front before I see how a program performs and works for me - selfish maybe, but I've been screwed over by a number of brands over the years and not going to make those mistakes again.

[hpops]

I agree that this is an issue that should have been highlighted by the network

Interesting how the other word in getvisibles statement was left out of your agreement, surely an agency utilised to assist in a clients affiliate marketing should have a working knowledge of its nuances.

Don't i-level actually run a network (PAN) as well as employing ex-network staff.

Also, how is expanded broad match only a client not affiliate concern, it is a big reason why affiliates ads show for brands in EXACTLY the same way that your justifying for the reasons that you were shown for Marks and Spencers.

Your insistence on controlling criticism, constructive or otherwise, in my opinion discounts you from working with the internet, nevermind affiliates. The comment about polluting the search space is simply offensive. Who on earth are you/Next/anyone but Google to dictate what is relevant to a users queries. There is no pollution here, there is relevant discourse on the corporate activities of a brand, and frankly theres a large readership (internationally as well) of such things. Ensuring that your brand is represented positively in the search results can essentially only be acheived in the long run by acting positively as a brand. Any pollution relates to the actions, not the comments.

Still, made your bed and all that.

[Julie H]

I'd like to ask whether you bother checking the search engines of an evening? As I saw the same affiliate bidding on brand on google with both buy.at and affilinet links last night. Are you bothered or is it only affiliates talking negatively about Next that you are concerned about?

The questionaire really is nothing but your version of an NDA, as you wouldn't actually be able to get any affiliate to sign an NDA this is the closest you could get to one. If anybody says something you don't agree with you all start throwing your toys out of your pram, here's some news for you - you don't choose the affiliates to promote you, the affiliates choose who to promote and who to give the elbow to, looks like you've got the elbow.

[fionah]

Frostie (for we all know that's who we're talking about) expressed negative opinions because Next took actions most affiliates would find unacceptable and since you are evidently NOT open to constructive criticism he took recourse to posting in his blog - which is why we have them.

Contact details are available for affiliates to use if and when they have any concerns regarding the program. We always address any direct critisism or queries regarding the program when approached directly.

While I'm here there's also no way I'll ever be filling out any merchant questionnaire when signing up for a new program - so any merchants thinking of doing this think carefully.

It is not unreasonable for a merchant to understand where their marketing budgets are being directed.

I'm happy to share information like this when we've got to know each other a bit better - you can even buy me lunch and pump for info but not up front before I see how a program performs and works for me - selfish maybe, but I've been screwed over by a number of brands over the years and not going to make those mistakes again.

I think its important that next and i-level work work closer with affiliates going forward and we will be contacting top tier affiliates about a get together shortly.

[Julie H]

I think its important that next and i-level work work closer with affiliates going forward and we will be contacting top tier affiliates about a get together shortly.

Hey Joe, I think you've been invited out on a date!

[Qui Gon Jinn]

Google advised i-level of the reasons why next appeared under the specific term.

This is where plural comes "terms". Just cos one was highlighted on a blog, it doesn't mean it was the only one. The all seeing eye gets everywhere

Bidding against competitor terms and allowing affiliates to brand bid are two seperate issues.

My orginal reply is obviously not understood, but it's not my role to educate Next on paid search

Buy.at will be managing Nexts promotions in Ireland

Does that include Guernsey, Jersey, Scotland & Wales & Northern Ireland? Some coverage? And I do know my Geography before anyone mentions something

The tender involved a three stage selection process which involved myself, senior i-level staff and next sitting down personally with the networks. These pitches were held at both i-levels and nexts offices.

May I ask who are the CURRENT junior & senior i-level staff who deal with the affiliate marketing channel

I think its important that next and i-level work work closer with affiliates going forward and we will be contacting top tier affiliates about a get together shortly.

But there is a whole group of top tier affiliates who you just said pollute the space.

Fiona please note these questions are directed at i-level atm, not you personally as I appreciate you are the messenger, but are i-level going to take responsibility for anything, cos in my book i-levels previous track record of programs hasn't been that great. Be an adult for crying out loud, when guilty parties should shoulder the blame like an adult & stop trying deflect the attention & blame elsewhere.

But I have visualisations of all hands to the deck, logged in under one assumed username, several people crowded around a single monitor or video conferencing , brain storming to come up with suitable replies & only answering the "selected" questions they want to, frantically thumbing through the book of affiliate rebuttal or flowcharts for some form of answer.

[Elaine]

Wonder why you've suddenly decided to clear the air - this post should have been made way back in December- but to address each point :-

From an affiliate point of view Sean from MVi was much more proactive with pushing this programme to Affiliates than I-level have ever been.

Product based commissions - this was on the agenda last August but ignored in the discussions in January. Would it not have been prudent to offer those Affiliates who did not attract reversals some type of bonus, instead of simply 'lumping' us all together?
Nobody has ever denied that Next has an excellent conversation rate and products and should be among the market leaders of this industry - and would have been if not for the diabolical management.

Competitor Brand Bidding - complete novice at this although this scenario does happen (Childrens Rooms were threatened with legal action by one of our main competitors!!)

Network changes - as this caused such a lot of negative comment would it not have been wise to explain this procedure when announcing the change over?

Honouring cookies - maybe Affiliate Window would like to comment on this?

Affiliate Recruitment - this still comes across as incredibly arrogant and unless you're intending to police every affiliate/website that applies and double check every form - which would mean extra staff from somewhere - ergo another reduction in commission levels!! - then it means absolutely nothing - you're just playing Big Brother AND you still don't get it - it's my website, I'm the one holding those sought after positions in Google - either PPC or organic - and I get to choose which merchants I want to work with - AFFILIATES ARE NOT HOLDING THEIR BREATHS WAITING TO BE CHOSEN BY NEXT.

Constructive Criticism - I've never had any reply to my postings or blogs from I-level or Next and I did wait a few weeks before posting in the hope that we could have saved the situation - it would be interesting to see what reply was not approved by whom??

If you don't want the natural search polluted by negative comments then start by treating Affiliates with some dignity and credit them with a few brains because whoever's in charge of this programme certainly appears to hold affiliates in total contemtp!

[fionah]

Don't i-level actually run a network (PAN) as well as employing ex-network staff.

Next do not currently run any activity through PAN. PAN is an independent company which is an independant network operator. They are an external supplier to i-level in the exact same way as Buy.at, Affili.net, and any other UK network operator that we may consider partnering our clients with

Also, how is expanded broad match only a client not affiliate concern, it is a big reason why affiliates ads show for brands in EXACTLY the same way that your justifying for the reasons that you were shown for Marks and Spencers.

No affiliates who have been found brand bidding against next terms have identified expanded broad match as the reason whilst i-level have managed the program. Affiliates found brand bidding are addressed on a case by case basis and are given the opportunity to remove their ads if we feel that there is a reasonable explanation.

[Shane]

Hi Fionah, Nice to finally see a response covering the points, am sure others will have far more to say than I but one point stood out for me.

Competitor Brand Bidding

where a Next ad appeared under the term www marksandspencer com, was due to expanded broad match through Google. .......//...... It was not Next’s intention to appear against this term and the issue was flagged up with Google as a result

"flagged up" !? Google aren't going to do anything about this except suggest you remove broad match and use phrase or exact match instead or negative match the M&S terms.

Currently you can't turn expanded broad match off if using broad matched keywords and they won't tell you specifically what you could show for so expecting google to do something about it suggests some naivety and a lack of knowledge regarding how adwords works, on the part of the person getting in touch with them

your ad is still showing on that term (and many more M&S related ones) even now every 5th or so impression for me, perhaps for once it's an agencies turn to add a negative keyword

on the score of polluting the search space.. it's analogy time :

Affiliate marketing program reputation/ public relations is like a sewage or wine tap flowing into a lake.. the tap is small and when flowing for a small time it makes no difference to the lake but if left to run for a long time without interruption the lake is eventually polluted or sweetened, it depends what is flowing out of the tap and how long it's left to run untouched !

For Next it wasn't wine and it was left running way too long, and now the backlash has evolved to a negative vibe for them, the solution as far as Next/I-level are concerned is to pull out the fish that "behaved" and shun those that whinged about the pollution... a VERY short sighted view IMO

well at least there's a dialogue going now although with words like "pollute" being thrown about I still think it's heading for a scuffle behind the bike shed at playtime

[fionah]

Product based commissions - this was on the agenda last August but ignored in the discussions in January. Would it not have been prudent to offer those Affiliates who did not attract reversals some type of bonus, instead of simply 'lumping' us all together?
Nobody has ever denied that Next has an excellent conversation rate and products and should be among the market leaders of this industry - and would have been if not for the diabolical management.

Elaine, Thanks for your suggestion on bonusing affiliates with low reversal rates and its a good idea which I will suggest to next. I'm usure at present how this will work from a reporting standpoint but I will let you know. However, you may remember that in your particular circumstance we were in the middle of negotiating specific commission rates for you due to the nature of your promotions. Unfortunatly before any agreement could be settled you took the decision not to work with next.

Network changes - as this caused such a lot of negative comment would it not have been wise to explain this procedure when announcing the change over?

We did not feel it was nessesary to inform affiliates of the precise selection process at the time no.

Constructive Criticism - I've never had any reply to my postings or blogs from I-level or Next

Its unfortunate that you do not remember however I have responded to a post from you in the past and as I have mentioned above, were managing negotiations on your behalf to next.