IAB Best Practice Suggestions....my thoughts

[ian]

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Based on the article in Revolution, these are the initial suggestions for the IAB AMC code of conduct:

Spyware (including dropping cookies without clicks)
Contact Details
Terms and Conditions
Tracking
Service level Agreements
Account Management
Traffic Quality
Open Networks

Personaly speaking I don't see regulation ever working as there are too many parties involved that can screw things up for each other, but a published 'top trump' system based on the IAB code of conduct would do me just fine.

That way, I can decide who I want to work with based on the network and merchants top trump scores. i.e. If merchant A is with 2 or more networks, and network A has a good compensation policy for tracking being down, then I go with merchant A on network A

Networks and merchants then have sound financial reasons to improve their top trump ratings, and the industry moves forward.

There aren't that many networks, so a review panel could easily update the ratings once a month, and add brief review notes as to why. i.e. Network A's compensation policy upgraded after downtime compensation given for merchant a and b. Networks are then measured on how they manage their own merchant contracts. Networks would get poor 'compensation' top trump rating if they allow merchants to walk away from cookie notice periods when shutting down a program

For me, its about visibilty. If networks and merchants want to run things a certain way thats fine, but if it goes against the basic code of conduct, then they are flagged as such.

As an affiliate, I want affiliates to monitor the situaton (under IAB AMC guidance) and I'm sure if asked, a large % of A4U members would come up with the same people to be on such a panel.......getvisible, drivetowin, ukoffer, and matt for their industry knowledge and well thought out work on A4U, and someone from one of the big cashback sites as they will offer invaluable information regarding tracking errors and compensation.


ps
If the IAB aren't too busy, could they get a system that collates an archive of merchant T&Cs so we don't get caught out by sneaky policy changes.

[iaber]

Thanks Ian.
I'll include this in the next meeting.
Dan