IAB Affiliate Council revised Voucher Code Guidelines

[mattb811]

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Following feedback from many affiliates and merchants, we have revised the voucher code guidelines to make them easier for affiliates to interpret and therefore achieve compliance.

I am happy to say that the vast majority of major voucher code sites have embraced the code and are compliant, and the clarification of the guidelines should enable merchants to be more secure in how their codes are being used and therefore more comfortable in using the voucher code channel.

The new code reads as follows:

IAB Affiliate Marketing Council
Voucher Code Best Use Guidelines

The aim of the IAB’s affiliate marketing council code of best practice for voucher code sites is to ensure that traffic from affiliate sites sent to merchants is not done in a misleading or confusing way and that consumers receive a good user experience. To this end all of the undersigned networks are committed to enforcing the following guidelines:

1. Affiliates must not use a mechanism whereby users are encouraged to click to interact with content where it is unclear or confusing what the outcome will be. For example:

i) Using “click to reveal code” and opening the site when no valid code is present or an offer/deal/sale is presented instead, without this being made clear before the click.

ii) Using “click to copy code” and opening the site when no valid code is available

iii) Opening the merchant’s site without making it clear that this will occur

2. Voucher code affiliates must clearly detail the nature of the voucher or offer/deal/sale before a user clicks to interact with it (by revealing, copying, visiting the merchant site etc)

3. A valid code is defined as a code that has been legitimately issued by a merchant for your use online. This code will have an activation date and, where provided, a deactivation date. When a code has expired it must either be removed or the fact that it has expired must be clearly stated in writing, not simply by listing the expiry date.

4. Sites displaying voucher codes must contain clear categorization and separation between deals/offers/sales and voucher codes.

5. Any affiliate judged by one of the participating networks to be contravening the code will be referred to the IAB’s Affiliate Marketing Council and all members will agree on a course of action. The discretion of the council will be used when determining what is judged as misleading or confusing and is not confined to the examples above.

If anyone has any feedback or suggestions please feel free to leave a comment or get in touch privately via the dedicated voucher code email address.

Thanks,

Matt

[dgoodchild]

Are all UK networks signed up to the new guidelines ?

[KieronD]

Can you clarify this please:

"When a code has expired it must either be removed or the fact that it has expired must be clearly stated in writing, not simply by listing the expiry date"

So if I was to publish the following on my site would I be breaking the guidelines?

"Save 10% on all children’s books at Waterstones using discount code NA2738. Hurry though as this offer expires at midnight 23rd February 2009."

[kier]

I think that would be fine Kieron.

[mattb811]

Daniel - The following networks are signed up to the code: Affiliate Future, Affiliate Window, Affilinet, Commission Junction, DGM, Linkshare, OMG, Platform A's buy.at, Tradedoubler, Webgains and Zanox.

Kieron - What we found was happening was that affiliates were displaying expiry dates in very small font or greyed out so that this was not clear to users. Therefore the code was written in this way to ensure that users are not mislead in any way. There is room for discretion in this and if a network is happy that it's codes are being displayed in an ethical way then there will be no problem. Therefore I think as long as you are quite explicit in the way you display the expiry date then you're fine. However the code has to be designed in such a way as to avoid ambiguity.

Thanks,

Matt

[Hero]

@Kieron: Once the promo has expired, you either need to take it off or mark it as expired.

@daniel: yes, all major UK networks are subscribed to the guidelines

[aaclapham]

"Save 10% on all children’s books at Waterstones using discount code NA2738. Hurry though as this offer expires at midnight 23rd February 2009."

Providing the expiry date above is in a clear and visible font I cannot see a problem, however if you are asking people to then go back through thousands of blog posts marking expired next to them, I do then think you will have a huge problem getting affiliates to do it!!

Discount sites have everything automated, however most merchants want to use content sites for voucher codes and you are giving the content affiliate a huge burden.

[KieronD]

Kieron - What we found was happening was that affiliates were displaying expiry dates in very small font or greyed out so that this was not clear to users. Therefore the code was written in this way to ensure that users are not mislead in any way. There is room for discretion in this and if a network is happy that it's codes are being displayed in an ethical way then there will be no problem. Therefore I think as long as you are quite explicit in the way you display the expiry date then you're fine. However the code has to be designed in such a way as to avoid ambiguity.

Matt that's a good response and I'm very pleased with it. My expiry dates are never greyed out or displayed using tiny fonts or in any way concealed from my users.

Hero: You said - "@Kieron: Once the promo has expired, you either need to take it off or mark it as expired. "

This is in contradicition to what both Matt and Kier have said and highlights my entire reason for making this post.

If some networks think it is fine and some obviosuly think it's not, then how on earth do we affiliate stick to guidelines if even the networks can't agree on something? What makes it even more worring is that you and Kier work for the same network and can't even seem to agree!!!

Matt - I think this part of the guidelines needs to be fine-tuned and expanded upon a little bit.

[befuddle]

I'm screwed then

[mattb811]

I just want to clarify on the process by which the council is working to assist affiliates in being compliant.

Each individual network is responsible for ensuring that its merchants are represented in accordance with the code by their affiliates. If a network feels that an affiliate is in breach for one of it's merchants then the first step is for that network to speak directly to the affiliate and attempt to resolve the issue.

If this cannot be done then the network in question will bring this to the attention of the wider council, who will collectively take a view on whether this is in breach of the guidelines or "misleading or confusing". Where there is agreement by the council, then an official warning will be issued by the council. At this point, the affiliate then has 7 days to work with the council on becoming compliant, and if they fail to have demonstrated significant movement towards becoming compliant then they will be suspended from all participating networks for three weeks or until compliant, whichever is the longer.

I hope this reassures people that this is meant to be a collaborative process, not a set of draconian laws laid down. Please speak to your network if you are unsure as to what is permitted and what isn't.

Thanks,

Matt

[KieronD]

Each individual network is responsible for ensuring that its merchants are represented in accordance with the code by their affiliates. If a network feels that an affiliate is in breach for one of it's merchants then the first step is for that network to speak directly to the affiliate and attempt to resolve the issue.

Matt that's great in principle. But if each network interprets the rules differently then it's just going to lead to further confusion, as seen in this thread. For this reason I believe the topic discussed in my previous posts needs greater clarification so that both affiliate and networks can work within the guidelines.

[befuddle]

Discount sites have everything automated

No they don't

[Hero]

sorry, this is me having had a long day and getting confused myself

apologies if my comment caused confusion :cry :cry

[confuscius]

Expired voucher codes can be and are still very misleading.

The requirement is to clearly state in the text that the code has expired , no problem, very clear IF the visitor bothers to read the text BUT what about all the oversized 'click here', 'x% off', etc, etc graphics buttons that are just left surrounding the disproportionately sized text. They are simply image bait to set a cookie.

Expired voucher codes should be required to be removed immediately they expire and until the IAB takes this decision the debate will continue.

[edwyn123]

Hi all,

I think it's important to realise that the nature of these extensions is just to provide greater transparency for merchants and to improve user journeys.

We are keen for affiliates to enter in to the spirit of these guidelines and avoid misleading anyone. Issues such as out of propotion "click here" buttons are exactly why we've agreed that expiry must be clearly stated. We appreciate this is a subjective thing but any contentious issues will always be referred to the IAB and reviewed on a case by case basis.

On a final note, all decisions made on enforcing changes will be agreed to by all networks, this will ensure that enforcements are regulated and fair accross all affiliate sites.

Cheers

Edwyn