Should We Ignore Voucher Code Cookies?

[channel5]

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And trying to compensate everyone who is involved in the sale is sheer lunacy - we'll end up with thousands and thousands of tiny commissions, the logistics alone would be a nightmare.

Every cookie drop is already recorded by the networks, it is a simple matter to award the commission as a split between those sites that dropped a cookie in the leadup to a sale. And it would all be automated.. what's the nightmare in it?

[channel5]

Merchants (rightly, IMHO) perceive content affiliates to be the most value add affiliates - nothing** cheers me up more than to see an affiliate who has got off their own back and written a good review about a product which ranks in SERPS and gets sales. Merchants love it, these kind of things actively encourage customers to purchase the product in question; third party points of view and multiple natural search placements are something that the merchant can't really offer themselves, and hence where an affiliate programme is vital. If they wanted to offer cashback or discount vouchers, it's something they could offer on their own site if needs be via a reward progamme - who needs the affiliate?!

This quote basically nails the entire issue ... totally agree

[getvisible]

This quote basically nails the entire issue ... totally agree

ditto! The affiliate is adding NO value. The user is IN the shopping cart already. They've been "SOLD TO" they're just imputing their credit card details. How can an affiliate add value to that bit? They can't!

Do any of these uber-code sites have proper, thought out reviews? I know a handful like Cantbarsed do add value, but most don't.

Right, I'm off to write some reviews of some merchant's products to say how great they are. I may be gone a while.

[mejorantes]

One big problem right now is Affiliates are playing the game of monkey see, monkey do and it's understandable but really needs to stop. You either have a code or you don't, if you don't and you have a page live for the merchant (maybe your waiting for them to issue a new one, fine) you can't say click here for codes and not have a valid one, it’s a form of cookie stuffing and causes customers to be upset with Merchants when they can’t find what they are promised.

How about the 'click here to see discounts'? I have seen this implemented on a number of code sites and when you click through there may be a line of text advising that this week the merchant is having a sale on blue widgets. Surely this tactic needs to be stamped out.

[mattg]

Every cookie drop is already recorded by the networks, it is a simple matter to award the commission as a split between those sites that dropped a cookie in the leadup to a sale. And it would all be automated.. what's the nightmare in it?

In practice it is likely to be complex to implement, opaque to follow, and the business logic somewhat tortuous.

The likely outcome is someone will work out how to exploit the flaws in the logic and we'll be back to square one, much as the dedicated code sites basically exploit the current processes of last cookie wins.

[getvisible]

The likely outcome is someone will work out how to exploit the flaws in the logic and we'll be back to square one, much as the dedicated code sites basically exploit the current processes of last cookie wins.

Let's not bother then shall we?

The process to remove spyware from the industry has been a tortuous one. It may not have been 100% successful, but the industry is much better for those efforts by a few affiliates bringing it to light and then networks, agencies and networks bringing it to reality.

Brand bidding used to be open season, merchants have generally clamped down on it (with a few exceptions) as it allows them pay affiliates for incremental, non-achievable sales.

Some merchants have clamped down on cash-back sites because they have an opinion of their worth.

Weather you, I or other affiliates make money from any of these methods, affiliates will exploit any opportunity that is presented them. The job of the merchant is to assess these methods and determine if it adds value to their business.

Any actions that don't add value and just acts as another overhead should have valid and workable solutions to mitigate them implemented. (damn I sounded like QCJ!)

[Mitchy]

Let's not bother then shall we?

Weather you, I or other affiliates make money from any of these methods, affiliates will exploit any opportunity that is presented them. The job of the merchant is to assess these methods and determine if it adds value to their business.

Completely agree Lee.

But what if the merchant doesn't have a clue as to how the voucher code sites produce so many sales? Ie, they don't understand the methods/mechanisms so can't start to determine if it adds value. Who's going to tell them?!

I believe that the vast majority of merchants don't have a clue. Of the ones that understand whats going on, they either don't care as long as the ONLINE channel as a whole produces sales or they are doing / did something about it - Dan @ Alpharooms (one of the best AM's around, very savvy and quick to change the Alpharooms Ts+Cs RE: discount codes) & Elaine @ Childrens Room.

[mattg]

Let's not bother then shall we?

No if it's not going to work, let's not bother, let's try and find a better way. Are we in agreement then?

[Hero]

Let's not bother then shall we?

Well, the examples you bring up are not even close to being similar to this situation. The discussion here is whether to completely change the basis that all online channels (affiliates included) works. If you're talking about whether voucher sites should be removed from a program, that's different, but changing the rewarding method is quite a big issue, as can be seen from this thread. The issues this would create and the loopholes have already been pinpointed - they are very obvious. Exploitation is there wide open (1x1 pixels in every page dropping cookies to show that the affiliate has been part of the customer path in hope to get that 1p worth of commission springs to mind).

No action can be taken until an analysis is done, mainly from the merchant side, showcasing what value vouchers offer. Not within the affiliate channel, but overall. We are only one part of the online marketing mix, and we need to have a holistic approach - if vouchers are good overall for the merchant, they will be good for them through affiliates as well. If they don't add any value, they will be banned from being used via affiliates.

[befuddle]

What's the big deal with just doing reviews? I can pop off to ContentNow and pay £180 for some for where I've only got a long term exclusive code available ... (which now sounds like a plan) ... but they may only get in the way of what the customer is after on my site, which is the discount.

[getvisible]

Well, the examples you bring up are not even close to being similar to this situation. The discussion here is whether to completely change the basis that all online channels (affiliates included) works.

Don't be quick to comment. I was drawing comparisons between the PROCESS of EVALUATING the methods used by affiliates - NOT the METHODS themselves.

get it now?

[getvisible]

What's the big deal with just doing reviews? I can pop off to ContentNow and pay £180 for some for where I've only got a long term exclusive code available ... (which now sounds like a plan) ... but they may only get in the way of what the customer is after on my site, which is the discount.

I give up!:cry

[Leeky]

I think someone else has already posted the obvious solution to this on page 1 or 2 of the thread - "stop click to reveal across the board"

There is nothing at all wrong with 'Click to reveal' as long as the click to reveal actually reveals a code. If no code is present then it should be clearly displayed as such, and in that case click to reveal should not be used.

This is how the icodes sites now operate, and if anyone adds a non existant code it is removed asap.

Lee

[aotagain]

Just to play devil's advocate...

Is it necessarily a good thing to start adding codes to a content site, without actually knowing what your visitors are like in the first place ?

Like conversion testing but conducted without research or measurement, it could just be guesswork to try to get visitors to stay who you think might go. You might prompt visitors to go, who were going to stay.

If you look at the stats that someone posted earlier, suppose 80% of your visitors are the non-code-seeking types. You could really mess that up by putting the idea into their heads.

[getvisible]

Just to play devil's advocate...

Is it necessarily a good thing to start adding codes to a content site, without actually knowing what your visitors are like in the first place ?

Like conversion testing but conducted without research or measurement, it could just be guesswork to try to get visitors to stay who you think might go. You might prompt visitors to go, who were going to stay.

If you look at the stats that someone posted earlier, suppose 80% of your visitors are the non-code-seeking types. You could really mess that up by putting the idea into their heads.

na

I've done my best business by far with adding discount codes to unique content.

There's two ways I do it. On product based pages I'd show where the product can be bought and add the code and details next to it. That works extremely well

The other way I do it is on theme based sites where I'll have shed loads of content about a theme and add a selection of merchants and codes at the top.

It both cases the conversion rates were well over 12% for the vast majority of the merhcants.

Its about putting in a bit of effort in.

I used to make an absolute fortune by stuffing sites with keywords, creating pages that offer the user no value and spam the heck out of things. I now do very well out of creating long term sites that add value.

I remember the day when I had about 5,000 mortgage pages and one of them was "halal mortgages" and I just spun out a load of auto generated content and listed Virgin One as a potential supplier of Halal mortgages. I got a call from them as people were going to Virgin one when there was no relevant mortgages for them. I made a fortune from the pages but it was no good for either the merchant or the visitor.

A bit like what is happening now with a few sites me thinks.