NTL target - Reach 5 sales or be removed..

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[babafette]

NTL seem to be following Virgin.net's lead and I'm not very impressed to be honest.

[3wdl]

Personally speaking, I think it's a very stupid idea and I just don't understand why anyone would come up with that "brainwave".

Sure, they may be looking at it being a way to Incentivise affiliates who are producing a low amount of sales, but is giving them a threat (Give us the money or get booted) really the best they could have come up with?

I’m doing a bit of broadband stuff at the moment but I would certainly stay away from NTL if this is the kind of thing they are going to come out with – there are plenty of competitors out there in the broadband market to promote instead.

Just my 2p.

James

[Malcolm Cowley]

Hi

Decisions like this are designed to ruffle some feathers and intiate a response from people who are dormant on the account.

5 sales is nothing to acheive and is also nothing like the Virgin.net program terms when they slimmed down their inactive affiliates.

If your not promoting a program then it shouldn't bother you.

If you want to promote the program in future then great stuff let me know as many of you including you have and my reply would be to get in touch when you can do 5 sales a month and we will happily re approve you.

My best advice would be do not sign up to a program until you are going to promote it - if you do not have any traffic then as you suggest above but don't seem to want to do link to the merchant direct in the meantime to complete your SEO. Get some tracking links on your direct link and when its generating some traffic re apply to the merchant.

The chances of you losing any significant money doing this are slim as long as you monitor it.

Why people get some hung up on being removed from a program is beyond me its no given right to be approved for every program under the sun this is business and the merchants are here to do business with people who want to do business with them too - when your talking about 1000 people its hard to seperate out those who might want to and those who signed up for a future reason that might never happen so every now and then all merchants should have a clean up so they can see where they are at.



Mal

[Paul Wright]

What are the key benefits of kicking non active affiliates?

Assuming that they remove you, what happens if you then decide to promote them in the future but have now had your account suspended?

Are “new” applications treated in the same manner? i.e. you can only sign up if they know you will hit a minimum target?

Is this thier way of closing the application loop and working with current top affiliates only?

I understand that there’s a need to give priority to those that deliver the volume but if you have 20 or so affiliates making 1 sale a month what’s the advantage of removing them? More to the point why would you?

Imagine if google turned round and said, sorry you can’t have an adwords account as you only spend £20 a month and don’t deserve the time and resources it would take to service you.

I’m not complaining about NTL's decision as I don’t promote them personally, and as you say Mal it's no biggy to either party but I would point the same questions towards any affiliate manager as i'm interested in why this tatic would be adopted.

Does seem a little odd that they will not manage affiliates who produce very little traffic though.

[Mogga]

Absolutely. Please tell me also how I can make 5 sales a month.

[leaddo]

If you manage to make the five, 'easy' sales next month, are we then judged the following month in the same way and threatened with cancellation from the programme each and every month that follows?

If each merchant does this I might as well give up now! Anyone else in the same situation?

[Malcolm Cowley]

Hi

Look guys blame me if you want but don't lump it all on the merchant - the brainwave as James so eloquently put it is as much mine as it is theirs.

We want a clean slate and we will have one come the end of March

If anyone wants to re apply because they WANT to do sales then feel free there is no closed program here merely a program wanting to know the people on board want to drive sales for them.

Mal

[3wdl]

Hi Mal,

I hope you (or anyone at NTL!) did not take offense with my posting! I was merely trying to understand why you wish to kick off the smaller affiliates who may be making just under the 5 sales per month mark or may have signed up in preperation to launching a site with relevent affiliate links.

Like Paul I just felt it was a little odd, but good luck with the program all the same.

Cheers
James

[drivetowin]

Mal

I have to say that hearing you have 'recommended' this to the merchant is disappointing

Maybe you would be happy if I 'recommended' to them that they change network - no - I thought not!

It is a very short sighted policy and certainly for seo based sites I would seriously dispute that 5 sales a month is 'not difficult' - if it were that easy I'm sure I'd be doing it month after month. It may be easy for ppc guys but its most certainly not easy for seo.

I hope that you and NTL will see the error of your ways but somehow I doubt it.

Would it not have been better just to ask everyone who is doing less than 6 sales per month to confirm if/where they are promoting NTL and as long as there is some active promotion then leave them be.

I don't quite understand the logic of 'reapply when you think you're ready to do 5 sales a month' - I'm ready to do 5 sales a month now, always have been, always will be....... so presumably that means all I need to do on April 1st is reapply then?

[loquax]

As the top guys are already generating loads of sales, couldn't some time be invested trying to help nurture and help the smaller guys? New creative? Content units? Promotional text?

Have NTL done that already and it hasn't worked?

If kicking off affiliates is the best solution then fair dos I guess.

Jason

[leaddo]

Keith I agree, I'm ready to do 5 sales a month for everyone I promote. I'd be happy with 1 sale from all of them each month, but it just isn't going to happen, I don't do ppc.

[Malcolm Cowley]

Hi

Human judgement will be used when the cut off point comes. If people are trying to get sales and falling just short of the 5 required then we are not going to be stuck to that number.

Affiliates doing no sales whatsoever will be removed unless a good case is made as to why they should be left on the program to require managment.

There seems to be some confusion that affiliates doing no sales and not sending in emails require no managment? - these are huge brands we are dealing with not mom and pop affiliate programs - I have a small aff program myself and this line of action would not fit that program much in the same way it would not fit yours Keith but that advice falls well short when dealing with a big brand and I think thats where are views are clashing.

Brands need more control and more control needs more managment and this is not possible to be effective for all if its spread thinly over 600 affiliates. If those 600 affiliates were sending 5 sales a month then it might be possible to resource the account more to the level of managment it would need but they are not and therefore represent at best a drain on managment and at worse a brand risk. If an affiliate is sending one sale a month then it would come down to a judgement call.

Mal

[Mogga]

There seems to be some confusion that affiliates doing no sales and not sending in emails require no managment? - these are huge brands we are dealing with not mom and pop affiliate programs
Mal

What management do you do differently for mom and pop affiliate programs?

As I have said before in these things - keep the "lower sales affiliates" by issuing auto-updated text and graphics only to them.
If you want to be very restrictive allow no personal comment or review type either.

Affiliates doing no sales whatsoever will be removed unless a good case is made as to why they should be left on the program to require managment.

OK, leave me on the program - I'll use a auto-updated banner and text link only. I will require no management at all. Why is this not a viable option?

[Malcolm Cowley]

Hi

As said somewhere before its not just a black and white thing and human judgement will be used.

We know you and if you say thats all you will use then great I beleive you and would try it out.

As said in another thread not everyone will follow those rules and we still get affiliates hard coding banners never mind text so we can't apply this thinking en masse but on an individual basis yeah why not as you say its no harm to anyone.

Mal