Digital Direct / Sound and Vision phone number leakage

[nickhx]

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I see that VBA (owners of the Digital Direct and Sound and Vision websites) have recently incorporated large banners on both sites with phone numbers urging customers to call them, even when awin affiliate links are used.

Obviously, this will lead to a seriously leakage of online traffic and the awin stats confirms that the conversion rate has dropped since the switch.

Will something be done to remove these anytime soon for affiliate traffic? We have decided to remove both of these retailers from our site in the meantime.

Here are some examples for anyone who is interested:

http://www.digitaldirect.co.uk/sony/kdl-40w5500u.html

and for S&V (checkout the phone number right under the buy now button!)

http://www.soundandvision.co.uk/dvd/...s/sony-bdps350

[MFrost]

Hi

I am currently working with the merchant in order to resolve this issue. I'll let you know as soon as this has been resolved.

Kind regards

Mark
Affiliate Window

[milojones]

I've noticed the conversion rate drop also. Thanks Mark for looking into this so quickly, let's hope they can come up with a fair solution quickly.
Also have you noticed how small and out of the way the 'BUY' button seems to be, the page nickhx gives the example of above really does seem geared towards phoning rather than buying online.

[nickhx]

Thanks Mark for following this up.

[milojones]

Any update on what's happening with this Mark? Nothing seems to have changed on the site yet?

[MFrost]

Hi,

This issue is currently been looked at by Digital Direct. I will get an update asap.

Kind regards

Mark
Affiliate Window

[VBA_LTD]

Hi Nickhx,

Firstly, I would like to thank you for raising your concerns, it's a shame you didn't come to us directly, but I would like to take this opportunity to clarify our reasons for having the contact numbers displayed.

Our customer research has shown that consumers are more confident to make purchases online with the simple addition of a contact number on page. We have found that many customers call our team for any advice they may require prior to their online order.

Having our sales contact details displayed on the sites has not resulted in a noticeable increase in phone sales which reinforces our research.

Prior to showing the phone numbers we confirmed with Affiliate Window that their Terms & Conditions do not prohibit telephone numbers from being displayed on affiliate links.

We also checked other merchants within our market sector and found examples of them displaying telephone numbers on their affiliate links such as Comet, Priceless, Direct TVs, Digico, Electricshop.com and The Flat TV Company; therefore we feel that it is reasonable for us to also display these details.

Regarding the size of the buy button, I can confirm that that this has not been amended for over 12 months, therefore, it does not seem fair to assume this without any evidence.

However, we do value all the efforts of all our affiliates and would like to maintain our relationships, so if you would like to discuss this or any other issues, I can be contacted at: matthew.atkins@vba.ltd.uk or via Mark Frost at Affiliate Window (mark.frost@affiliatewindow.com)

Regards

Matt

Digital Direct/Sound & Vision

[andrew114]

Well, I'm afraid that the prominence of competitor's phone numbers is not in the same league as on the Digital Direct's and Sound & Vision websites.

As it looks like there is no hope of any changes on the horizon I am now in the process of removing these merchants from all my sites.

[milojones]

Hi Matt,
Thanks for the reply. With regards to Digital Direct I think the main issue at least for me is that the page seems set up for telephone sales more than buying online.

If we take alook at the example nickhx mentioned:

Sony KDL-40W5500U LCD Television - Buy from Digital Direct

Not only do you have the phone number displayed extra large in the header but you have a large banner above every product with large letters saying 'SALES LINE' I feel this is more of an issue than the number at the very top of the site.

You mentioned examples of your competiters, just look at how big the number is on the comet site for example it's tiny and tbh I think it's ok to have as I feel the rest of the page is geared towards making the sale online, the same with another example you gave direct TV's, a number at the top of the screen, but it's not crying out sales line and also they have a nice large 'BUY BUTTON' right next to the product and all above the fold. The tiny buy button on digital direct is just below the fold.

When I mentioned the size of the Buy Button I was only trying to point out that in relation to other sites and the way digital direct's landing page is set up it's not affiliate friendly.
Just take a look at these examples all for the same TV:
Sony KDL40W5500U 40 Inch FUll 1080p LCD TV KDL40W5500U - Direct TVs
Accessories for SONY KDL40W5500U & SONY BDPS350 Package | Comet
SONY KDL40W5500 40 INCH LCD TV : SONYLCD TV 40 Inch
then look at the digital direct site above, surely you can see we have some point and something worth looking at again?

[nickhx]

Hi Matt,

Can you respond to milojones's comments (which reflect our concerns as well) please?

Thanks
Nick
Posted via my Mobile Device

[VBA_LTD]

With regards to the Buy button, as we previously stated, this has not been changed in the last 12 months, our Buy button includes both the shopping trolley icon and the word ‘buy’. This is not to say that this will not be looked at again, but I have to wonder why this issue has only been raised now.

Incidentally, the Buy button is above the fold on my screen but I suspect that this may depend on the users screen resolution.

The Sales line/Live chat banner is to let customers know that we are available until 11pm, as there are currently no other online AV retailers open until this time it is important that our customers are aware of this, especially due to the amount of online traffic in the evenings.

In my previous post I invited any further questions or discussions either directly with myself by email or via Affiliate Window, as this offer wasn’t taken up I was under the impression I had answered your concerns…

However, we are still analysing this and may yet make changes based on your comments. The issue is that as we have put time and money into our research, we need to take careful consideration before making decisions on further changes to the site.

We would be grateful if you would allow us more time to analyse your comments and we will respond in due course.

[NearlyHomeTime]

Was there any response to this?

Would appreciate some feedback on thie from VBA.

[VBA_LTD]

We have been monitoring the sales via the Digital Direct & Sound & Vision affiliate programmes against the total level of business since this subject was raised in June.

Having the telephone numbers displayed on affiliate link pages has not resulted in any definitive shift in online orders to telephone orders.

As our previous research has shown, customer confidence in online purchasing is higher when a contact number is displayed, rather than having to spend time searching a site for the details. Even if they never call the number the fact that it is there is a reassurance.

We also receive many calls from customers who purchase online to check an item is in stock, delivery times or more information on a particular product. We even get people who call just to see how long it takes to get an answer, which goes back to the customer’s confidence in purchasing.

Our findings show no reason for the contact number to be removed at this time, however, I invite anyone who wishes to discuss this or any other matter further to contact me directly.

Kind regards

Matt

matthew.atkins@vba.ltd.uk

[katrat87]

We also checked other merchants within our market sector and found examples of them displaying telephone numbers on their affiliate links such as Comet, Priceless, Direct TVs, Digico, Electricshop.com and The Flat TV Company; therefore we feel that it is reasonable for us to also display these details.

To clarify:

electricshop.com DO NOT display telephone numbers for affiliate referred traffic

If anyone is aware of this happening, please contact me directly on affiliates [at] electricshop.com and it will be rectified.

Thanks

Kath

Affiliate Manager for electricshop.com

[nickhx]

Thanks Kath -- good to know that some merchants understand the issue from an affiliate's perspective and are happy to address this to our benefit.


Matt -- on a separate note, you used to display the delivery cost for the user when they clicked through to the Digital Direct site. This is now buried in the checkout process, and the user is required to enter their postcode, before a delivery charge is shown.

Given that your delivery charges are often quite high (anything up to £50), is it possible to include this information in your feed, so that the total cost (including delivery) can be displayed on price comparison sites?

Thanks