B&Q culling affiliates

[drivetowin]

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Just received this from B&Q via AW:

Dear Affiliate Partner,

B&Q is currently under going a review of their affiliate activities. We are looking to ensure B&Q partners with Affiliates driving high volume traffic and sales to diy.com.

As part of this process we are looking to remove affiliates who are not delivering the desired threshold on these metrics from the program.

After reviewing the clicks and sales delivered from your website in the last 3 months, you have not met our minimum threshold. Thus, it is with regret that we will be suspending you from the B&Q program. This will take effect 7 days from receipt of this email.

Please ensure that all B&Q advertising material including banners, text copy, XML information and logos are removed from your website.

If you are looking to increase your marketing activities for diy.com over the coming months and feel the clicks and sales measured are not reflective of your potential performance – please get in contact with one of the B&Q affiliate marketing team to discuss your potential options.

Please don’t hesitate to contact a member of our Affiliate team regarding any queries or questions. However if wish to do so please ensure you quote your Affiliate ID.

______________________

Looks to me like a media agency who don't have the first idea how affiliates work - given that one of the email addresses is for mayer-interactive - who are a new agency on me.

I am disappointed with AW in this instance though that they have not educated the client that culling affiliates is really not a good idea..

So would someone from AW or Mayer-Interactive like to explain what exactly they think culling affiliates will achieve -

Please don't give me the line that 'it will free up more resource to work with our performing affiliates' - I have not had one phone call or personal communication in at least the last 12 months on the B&Q programme so I have not taken up any resource.

It can't be to make your AWIN index look better because that ignores non-performing affiliates anyway.

So what, exactly does it achieve? You obviously believe there is some measurable benefit to your client from this cull, so please, enlighten me, what is this miraculous benefit that you believe you have discovered?

[Qui Gon Jinn]

On the flip side ... it will free up more resource for affiliates to work with better understanding merchants & agencies?

I agree with your point though Keith, I think an email went out about a week ago pre warning about this email.

Still there are a few other goody alternatives on AW

[goaty]

I got the same e-mail, I responded to try and explain that their actions were extremely narrow minded, I have also removed all their products from all of my sites.

How sweet it would be if their top performing affiliates took a dim view of this and ditched them !

Probably a new manager that understands nothing, but feels compelled to do something to justify their existence!

Goaty

[Simsi]

Strikes me the sensible thing to do would be to nurture those not driving traffic and try to assist them, not turn them away. A very short-sighted approach and bad PR too. I'm not in that field, but if I ever find myself there, I wouldn't affiliate to B&Q having read that.

Another question: is it CPA or an ongoing Revenue share? If it's the latter, one assumes they honour existing customer commissions?

[fionam]

For any B&Q ex or current affiliates looking for alternatives - I run the Wickes affiliate programme, we offer 4% commission, with a 30 day cookie. If you are interested in the programme please feel free to give me a shout with any questions, or sign up on AW here

On the flip side ... it will free up more resource for affiliates to work with better understanding merchants & agencies?

I agree with your point though Keith, I think an email went out about a week ago pre warning about this email.

Still there are a few other goody alternatives on AW

[Frostie]

Searches on my site for "BandQ", "B And Q", "B&Q" or "B & Q" now redirects users to my Wickes portion. Happy days

EDIT
Just to make this clear so not to cause controversy....
WICKES shows on MY SITE only when a visitor searches for terms such as;
DIY
Home Improvements
B&Q

I am not bidding on B&Q and directing people to the Wickes website, however at the sametime, if I am obtaining visitors by Google Bidding on HOME IMPROVEMENTS I dont want that someone to search my site for "B&Q", find nothing and leave. That would simply be madness when I have a perfectly good affiliation with an alternative home improvement/diy store. So I say 'Sorry we aint got any B&Q details, however we do have Wickes that offer similar goods and services' type of thing.

The plan is that this is only in place until I get chance to appeal and/if I am accepted back on the program.

[breathe]

OK, I'm going to play devil's advocate on this one, so if you have a bunch of affiliates on your program who do not deliver the results that you expect then surely those affiliate bring down the programs EPC and therefore make the program look unattractive to new affiliates.

In the case of an agency, if they remove affiliates that send traffic but don't convert into sales then keep the affiliates that convert traffic into sales well then they affect the EPC and therefore can say to the client that they have "improved" the program.

And I would like to add that I have nothing to do with the B & Q program but I can see the logic. If I have this wrong please explain.

[purple]

For any B&Q ex or current affiliates looking for alternatives - I run the Wickes affiliate programme, we offer 4% commission, with a 30 day cookie. If you are interested in the programme please feel free to give me a shout with any questions, or sign up on AW here

Do you have a product feed with images!!! as I have a DIY feed site which might be wanting a new merchant to feel a void

[aclements10]

Hi All

B&Q are keen to work closely with their top performing affiliates to ensure they have all the resouce and tools necessary to be successful on the campaign. They are committed to establishing key partnerships to move their program forward and would be delighted to help those who are looking to actively promote the B&Q program.

As I am sure you can appreciate, a program as large and well established as B&Q attracts a lot of affiliate applications. Many of the applicants that are accpeted onto B&Q never send through any traffic. To ensure efficient management and to help identify affiliates that are actively interested in promoting B&Q it is necessary to contact the affiliate base from time to time and ask how they intend to promote B&Q in the future. Those who do not respond or declare an interest in further developing their relationship with the program are removed from the campaign. Anyone effected by this is more than welcome to re-apply if and when the program becomes of interest.

This also allows us to identify affiliates that may be abusing the B&Q brand with unauthorised sites and links and makes it easier to police the representation of the B&Q brand through the affiliate channel.

Affiliates that have sent less than 1,000 clicks to the program in the last three months have been contacted as part of this process. Each of those affiliates has the opportunity to put forward their interest and ideas for the program and discuss how they can continue working with B&Q in the future.

I would like to stress that under no circumstances do B&Q want to exclude affiliates who are keen to work at driving traffic and sales to their site. If any affiliate is interested in working more closely with B&Q please get in touch and B&Q, working alongside Affiliate Window and Mayer Interactive, would be pleased to assist.

Please contact either:

Julie Wood
jwood@affiliatewindow.com

Nikki Smith
nikki.smith@mayer-interactive.co.uk

Should you have any other queries regarding this issue please do not hesitate to contact me on the details below.

Kind Regards
Anthony

Anthony Clements
Affiliate Window
Tel: 020 8269 4846
Email: aclements@affiliatewindow.com
MSN: aclements10@hotmail.com

[MattSweet]

...if you have a bunch of affiliates on your program who do not deliver the results that you expect then surely those affiliate bring down the programs EPC and therefore make the program look unattractive to new affiliates.

In the case of an agency, if they remove affiliates that send traffic but don't convert into sales then keep the affiliates that convert traffic into sales well then they affect the EPC and therefore can say to the client that they have "improved" the program.

Its a good question, but it all boils down to statistic proving whatever you want them to prove. EPCs can be misleading as the figure varies so much across affiliate types. In theory you could have a great EPC by only having brand bidders and cashback sites on your programme.

When calculating EPCs we take into account affiliates with high click volumes and also try and indicate EPCs by affiliate type if necessary. Most affiliates will understand EPCs can be misleading as it is hard to sum up a programme with just one figure...

I also question the wisdom of 'cleanups' such as this one, but then again I don't know the details! In my opinion, in retail its best to have as many affiliates as possible on your programme (unless you've got brand objectives and policies that require tight control) as 50 one-sale affiliates are as valuable as one 50-sale affiliate in terms of bottom line. It's different in other sectors such as finance and other lead based programmes.

[drivetowin]

Anthony

Thanks for the explanation and I will be sending an email to continue working with B&Q.

However, it doesn't change the fact that every time a merchant culls affiliates we hear the same garbage (and this isn't a pop at AW, other networks have spouted the same garbage), that culling affiliates allows the management of the programme to be more efficient - no it doesn't!! - if the affiliate manager and/or the network was spending even 5 minutes a month communicating with each inactive affiliate I would agree with you but they don't - the only efficiency is removing one line for each affiliate from a report - and attempting to blind your clients with science by saying 'ah, but we are being more efficient'

It also does nothing at all to remove unauthorised links or branding - if I wanted I could still have B&Q branding on a website saying that B&Q are cr*p (not that I would, this is just for illustration!!) - link to them via a non-affiliate link, and how exactly does removing x hundred other affiliates stop me from doing that? - come to that, if the criteria used to remove affiliates is 1,000 clicks in 3 months, presumably I could have a site saying B&Q are cr*p, via an affiliate link, and yet I would not be culled from the programme.

I'm not disputing that B&Q need to motivate their affiliates and work closer with them, I just don't believe a cull is the way to do it.

[DavidCartlidge]

Affiliates that have sent less than 1,000 clicks to the program in the last three months have been contacted as part of this process. Each of those affiliates has the opportunity to put forward their interest and ideas for the program and discuss how they can continue working with B&Q in the future.

999 clicks and 200 orders and out you go.... 5000 clicks and 10 orders and in you stay.... baby and bathwater spring to mind

I would like to stress that under no circumstances do B&Q want to exclude affiliates who are keen to work at driving traffic and sales to their site.

Seems that they do if the affiliate is keen to drive 300 visitors a month...

[Frostie]

I'm not disputing that B&Q need to motivate their affiliates and work closer with them, I just don't believe a cull is the way to do it.

Agree. Instead of saying 'You aren't sending us enough clicks bye bye' maybe they should target us with an email along the lines of 'You aren't sending us enough clicks. Why is this and what can we do to help you?'. If a merchant doesn't think I am worth the time or effort in investment, then why should I spend the time or effort in re-applying for a program that doesn't invest in me?

I would also like to reisterate, this is in no way a pop at B&Q or Awin it is a general across the board question. There are plenty of affiliates for a merchant to choose from, but alas, there are plenty of merchants for an affiliate to choose from also.

[Mogga]

Has anyone actually tried to use the B&Q site?

It's appalling. I'm surprised anyone buys anything from it. The drop down menus get stuck and then you can't use the search box and then half the time the site is so slow it's like wading through glue.

I've been looking for stuff on there this week and have been using it in a consumer mindset and have been so frustrated I've nearly thrown my laptop across the room.

Their site on google also uses loads of spammy landing pages which make it even harder to find stuff if you're genuinely looking for items.

If I get ditched then it's not the biggest loss :

Merchant Performance

Awin Index (CAVE DATA): 64.69

Conversion rate: 0.35%

[uretopia]

Has anyone actually tried to use the B&Q site?

It's appalling. I'm surprised anyone buys anything from it. The drop down menus get stuck and then you can't use the search box and then half the time the site is so slow it's like wading through glue.

You're right, it's not a nice site to use.

I was looking at garden furniture recently and was shocked at how many of the items on the site weren't even available online and you had to contact a local branch. That's nice for B&Q but it doesn't exactly make me as an affiliate want to bother trying to generate traffic for them. Maybe they should consider making their offering more attractive to affiliates instead of kicking off and alienating less active ones who *might* be in a position to do business with them in the future.