Why bother having a program if you're going to reject affiliates within hours ?

[aotagain]

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Someone do something for goodness sake.

I apply to 3 hotel programs, read all the T&C's.
Declined within a couple of hours.
Been on the network for years - not a superaffiliate for which I humbly apologise.
Ridiculous.

Don't they need any more business ?

And while I'm at it stop sending me 'what's hot' emails and pay attention to WHAT I ACTUALLY WANT please.
Now look, I've gone and thrown the dummy out onto the road...

[dougs]

Because your site is not suitable as far a the are concerned.

Doug

[Leeky]

Because your site is not suitable as far a the are concerned.

Doug

Thats not always the case.

They maybe not wanting anymore affiliates at this point.
The affiliate may not be big enough for them
They maybe skint and can't afford more payouts
The person who approves / rejects maybe useless at their job
They maybe "experimenting" at the point of application
They maybe with buy.at

Lee

[aotagain]

Usually when I phone them direct, they have a look and go "oh, right - don't know why we rejected that, hold on a moment and we'll just approve it".
Quite often its the network thats done it, so I just phone the company and take that route.

Its never, ever been because of the site and I've applied to a shed load of programs.
However, the pattern does seem to appear around 3 networks.

Just don't want to have to get on the phone, fight the interface and the network 'obstruction' of 'send us an email, blah blah' a load of times. If they've got some sort of limit, they should say so, or at least ask for some sort of clarification, if the network system allows it.

I'd really like to be able to promote these merchants.
No I can't send sales tommorrow morning.
Doing things properly takes time, unlike throwing up any old 'me-too' site.

[aotagain]

Actually, here's a constructive and simple suggestion I hope.

What would be nice is a little box where when you re-apply to a program, you can put a quick explanation in to the merchant. Rather than going on an email phone number hunt.

I think this would work well in circumstances where an affiliate is planning something which is not a direct or visible site, or doesn't obviously fit with an existing site, or is hidden away in a site, or is some sort of email to registered users etc. etc.

Goes for all networks actually - imo the general communication using the network interfaces between affiliates and merchants is a little primitive at times.

[Lawcom]

I'm guessing we've all had these kind of problems and I've found the same difficulties with a site ( not yet launched) it's about a week away, just need to populate the links with lovely things for people to buy off merchants and rejection, not everywhere, in fact more just a couple that I thought were a great fit, and they are..

But rather than get back to you with any questions, it's just refused, no reason. no come back, no sense, it really is very rude... it's that really how you should deal with someone who is saying , hey ! let's do business..

I've ended up sending numerous emails,explainations, what the business plan is, what the site is about, why it is a good fit, screen shots etc etc , they network says, I understand, no problem, I'll sort it, and nothing !!

In the end I'm out of time waiting for these guys and have to go else where..

mmm that turned in to more of a rant than I intended

They way the merchants and the networks treat you in cases like this is just plain rude and bad business..

[Daniel Powel]

Hi Aotagain,

Thanks you for posting. I am sorry you've had some difficulty getting on some programs. I'd like to provide some clarity and offer assistance if I can.

Merchants have varying criteria for accepting affiliates on to their programs. Some of these criteria are automatically vetted by accept/decline rules and other criteria are monitored by someone; either working for the merchant or the network (it all depends on how their service levels are set up).

Automatic criteria will often vet things like publishers size, country, business model, conversion etc. Merchant use this functionality either because there are certain types of publishers the choose not to work with or they want to limit the number of applications they receive (work load).

For programs that are scanned by fully or partially by a person, many of the same criteria can apply. However, in the instance the person will also be looking carefully at the promotion method and whether the affiliate’s target audience/product offering is applicable. For many hotel merchants, branding is a sensitive topic, so they may want to reject affiliates that appear to sell unrelated products of services.

All that said, if you are rejected, it by no means indicates that you will not be allowed to work with the merchant. You can drop the merchant or us a line requesting reconsideration. Usually a bit of explanation can clear things up and get things moving.

As mentioned above, to avoid future rejections, it’s helpful to have your description and working websites as up to date as possible. This could help avoid unnecessary declines. I do not have your account number handy, so I am not sure if this is applicable for you.

We are keen to give you a hand with these merchants. I’ve included my contact information below. If you could drop me a line with your account number and the relevant merchants, I will have the appropriate account managers have a look at your requests. They will know the merchants criteria and will be able to provide you with the assistance you require.

Thank you,

Daniel Powel
Head of Account Management, UK and Ireland

Commission Junction, a ValueClick Company
Oxford House
182 Upper Richmond Road
London SW15 2SH
P: +44 (0)20 8785 5825
F: +44 (0)20 8785 5444
dpowel@cj.com

[aotagain]

Thanks Daniel that has tempered my rant a bit - I'll email you.

I guess this has been covered umpteen times in other threads, but I still cannot quite get my head around what seems to be a negative approach from merchants. ie. it kind of assumes affiliates aren't suitable until they prove otherwise, rather than assuming they are suitable until they make a bodge of it.

Personally I think this is one way of guaranteeing that a brand will never develop its reach into new, unusual or innovative areas.

I appreciate you probably can't do much about this, although I have to say the 'brand' pre-selection problem only seems to crop up with CJ, TD and sometimes BuyAt.

Plus really, if small merchants have the time to have a reasonable look at sites, I'm sure the larger ones have as well.

There's also a catch 22 issue. I can't develop some initiatives until I know I can get the merchants on board and the merchants won't approve until I explain what I'm going to do. I'm afraid part of the developments I have in mind are obvious, but the others are not developments which I want anyone to know about for competitive reasons. I can say what I won't be doing, but not really prepared to go through the business plan.

I hope the merchants can approve and then kick me out later if they don't like it.

[Newbie489615]

I have to agree with the OP, I've had similar experiences with buy.at, LinkShare (who kicked me off their network after two weeks refusing to specify reasons) and in a couple of instances with CJ.

I must admit though that CJ's team have been extremely helpful with getting approval with specific merchants - I felt real support from them! :tup

[Lawcom]

Well I've just about had it with NET-A-PORTER ... jeez ..

When you know your site is a perfect match, perfect synergy, based on over 20 years in the business and the vision of what you are doing, and then you are quite specific about the merchants you choose as there is no point trying to sell products that wont sell, it just takes up space and valuable time..

And because it's not quite what they've done in the past, the merchant or rather their AM doesn't get it, they can refuse you..

When, what has the AM ever done except manage affiliates, no experience in online selling or UI or SEO or online marketing strategies or even HCI .. nothing ! no experience at all in how to sell online, yet they are the ones who are effectively judging you .. grrrrrr !

[gallito89]

Well that is one of the great things about being a merchant... You make the decisions as to who gets to promote your products. That is one luxury I am not afforded via ClickBank.

[aotagain]

Well the problem seems very simple to me. If you're an AM for a merchant or for that matter someone 'setting the rules' there are only 4 questions to ask imo:

1. Is it possible that this affiliate might give us extra sales ?
( I don't think this takes a rocket science degree to judge )
2. Do I give a new application the benefit of the doubt ie. look for reasons to accept ?
3. If I approve and its a bad affiliate, will it destroy my brand overnight ? - typed with only a little sarcasm ;-)
4. If I decline, will a line of sales be closed for ever because I've prejudged an affiliate ?

and 2 actions:

1. Accept or decline
2. If its 'decline', cover my tracks by inviting an explanation direct to me, so that if I've misjudged it and that affiliate turns out to be potentially super duper, I can still get them.

and one absolute no-no:
"Computer says no" or
"We are sorry to say that on this occasion your application has been unsuccessful"

Its not a job application. As Lawcom says, its a business proposal.

[aotagain]

Daniel,
I'm afraid although this shouldn't be occupying your time, I'm going to have to phone you to try to sort it out.

The thing I'm afraid I have difficulty forgiving is that someone somewhere is just clicking a damn button and not having the courtesy to at least email me back or pick up the phone, even though I've gone to the trouble of describing my plans separately. (I don't mean an email just saying 'we've looked at your plans and unfortunately on this occasion etc. etc....)

You and I and all your colleagues are all busy I know and perhaps I don't have all the facts, but this is occupying way more time for everybody than it should.

( I assume these hotel chains are not fully booked throughout the year - even the posh ones ? ) One of them makes a big thing of their brand, implying that its some sort of privilege to work with them and yet also states that their best affiliates are discount / coupon sites !!! Quite frankly in the current economic climate I am flabbergasted to just get declined offers in the declined section, with no email appearing.

I can promise you that whatever website content includes these hotels, will be in the best possible taste. It would be nice to work with them, but I'm starting to wonder how they really treat their customers, if their programs work on this basis.

Bob.

btw I've seen Hotel Babylon and I believe everything that I see on TV ;-)

[aotagain]

OK I've calmed down now. Everything is being sorted.
Must remember not to go online when I'm tired and frustrated !

Nice to be able to pick up the phone and talk to someone.
Thanks for your help Daniel.