I'm a Merchant on AffiliateWindow - Advice?

internetheaven · 26-05-04

I will be launching a merchant program on AffiliateWindow.com which is due to go live next week. I was wondering if any of your affiliates could give me feedback or ideas on a problem I have in commission levels:

Due to the structure of our Scottish system we will be unable to pay commission for Scottish customers (legal technicality that trading standards won't allow at present but we are fighting against). Obviously we want our affiliates to get as much as possible from us so to compensate for this we have doubled the amount of commission we were originally going to offer for customers from England & Wales.

What do you think? Obviously there will be a more indepth explanation available when the program is launched next week but would you sign up to a system that offered a decent commission on English and Welsh leads if they couldn't pay you for Scottish leads?

Feedback from this will affect our offering when we go live.

999gi · 26-05-04

Sounds fair to me
I always thought that Scots were worthless anyway (runs for cover)

internetheaven · 26-05-04

I realise that was only in jest - and if I were you I'd hide for a while!!

- but it did raise a valid point. I realise that I did not state my sorrow for the fact that I am unable to treat our Scottish customers the same as our English and Welsh ones.

Hopefully by stating that I am Scottish, (born and bred Aberdonian and proud owner of three family tartan kilts) and that this company is based in Scotland (Montrose) I'll get my point across that this is in no way discriminating against our Scottish customers.

Thanks for your feedback and glad to hear your okay with the concept.

999gi · 26-05-04

Just to clarify you are saying that you can have scottish customers just you cant pay commission on them.

So if an affiliate markets to the general public then they could expect a proportion of the traffic they send you to go unrewarded despite you benefiting. Hence you're paying more for the non-scottish customers to compensate.

Its all a bit difficult without knowing what you are selling, but assuming that its something that is equally appealing to all (i.e. not kilts, sporrans, haggis or tickets to Rangers matches) then it should be fine.

If you dont hear from me again for a while then its probably because Im having one of said haggis's removed from my person .:eek:

internetheaven · 03-06-04

Ha! Never go up against an Aberdonian! We've pushed the boundaries on this one, credit must go to our solicitors who came up with the idea.

We will be able to provide equal commissions for leads provided from Scotland, England and Wales. The law hasn't changed, it's just so old that the loop-holes are bigger than Richard Branson's wallet!

So, I'm now alot happier and the program can finally be launched. I'll post again tomorrow after the launch to explain more fully about the legal situation.

Thanks for your patience
Mike Beverley
Director
Internet Heaven

internetheaven · 09-06-04

I've placed a full explanation of how we are involved in the personal injury claims arena in another thread in this forum. Here I thought I should answer as to why we previously may not have been able to pay affiliates for Scottish claims.

The legal systems in England and Scotland are very different and one example is that although in England anyone can be a claims referrer and receive payment for it, in Scotland there are strict guidelines as to who can refer personal injury cases and you are not legally allowed to receive a fee for it.

Therefore, we would have been classed as part of the case handling team and would have received a small 'bonus' at the end of a case. In this way it would be 2-3 years before we would be receiving any funds from Scottish cases that we were to pursue. As you can imagine, if we were an electrical store that paid affiliates for sales when the customer wasn't paying us for the next three years we would be bankrupt within the first month!!

Therefore we have found a way around this to be 'subsidised' at the beginning of the case and therefore have the funds to pay affiliates upfront.

If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact me or use the contact form on the site:

http://www.claims4free.co.uk

Thanks
Michael Beverley
Internet Heaven
Claims4Free.co.uk

bulbo · 10-06-04

It is almost perfectly normal for certain merchants to leave commissions in the "Pending" section for up to three years anyway...

:P

internetheaven · 02-07-04

We haven't had the fastest number of sign-ups, well, not nearly as much as we were hoping for and the leads are barely trickling through.

Our banner click-through rate is good - up to 9.98% on the 120x60 banners

We have a good conversion rate of 3-4% which means an EPC of £30-£40

Our name is well respected with over 150 solicitors firms in our system and some of the strongest litigation names in the business backing us.

What is it that is putting people off our program? I've tried tripling the commission for good performers is there anything else you can suggest?

Thanks
Mike

Graham@Buyagift · 02-07-04

Morning Mike.

Firstly don't panic.

Secondly, take click through rates with a pinch of salt as not all links track the impression, skewing your stats.

Thirdly keep at it - with conversions like that people will move to your program in time - you can't expect overnight success.

Fourthly - get yourself along to the Get2Gether in Gloucester at the end of this month and network!

Graham

internetheaven · 05-07-04

Thanks for all the input so far, I've made a few alterations to the program in the hope that this will have an effect:

Firstly I've increased the levels of commissions, this allows affiliates to earn up to triple commission if they perform well. Do performance incentives really work in getting affiliates to market a program harder or not?

Also, everyone has been insulting the current banners - 'drab', 'lifeless' etc. - so I took the liberty of having three new full sets drawn up which are now live on the system. They are more colourful and 'move around' alot more. I had no idea that affiliates were so picky about the colour of the banners they use! Anyway, I hope they meet approval, if you could give any hints on styling that affiliate prefer I'd appreciate it:

http://www.claims4free.co.uk/images.html

Thanks again
Michael Beverley
Claims4Free.co.uk