DGM Pro still not working...

[Jeff]

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I pretty much abandoned DGM last year, before the DGM Pro fiasco. I'd seen them going downhill for a while, I sold my shares the year before and couldn't see any sign that things were improving.

When the DGM pro thing happened it was the final straw, I removed all DGM links from my current sites and decided to concentrate on the other networks. Even newcomers like Webgains had overtaken them.


I logged in tonight for the first time in ages just to see if I'm making any sales from long abandoned sites, and was pleased to see I am still making the occasional sale.
So I thought I'd better make sure they have my bank details, and I discovered the sort code hadn't copied across properly from their old system.

So that was a poor start.

Then I decided to see what reporting options were available on the 'new' system. I ran a report and clicked on the 'More Options' button, and the system logged me out. I logged in and tried again, and it logged me out again.
After a bit of testing I realised that if I use their secure login (which I needed to do to change my sort code), the More Options button logs you out, but if you use the insecure login the More Options button works.


So then I decided to look at the Creative Summary report, to see a message that says "Network Ids have been removed from the creative summary due to technical issues that we are currently resolving. We hope this to be resolved in the new year."
I wonder which "new year" they're talking about. It's APRIL, have they given up trying to fix that bit and just not bothered to change the message?


Then I looked to see if they had any interesting new merchants, and I saw a few I thought might be OK, and decided to look to see if they had any product feeds. The old system had the feeds listed on a separate page, which was linked from the main page, but I couldn't find any reference to this. So I used their help pages, and did a search. It gave me some information about setting up feeds as a merchant, but nothing about using feeds as an affiliate.

So I decided to look at the creative for a merchant to see if there was product feed info there. I know there used to be a feed for Comet, so I told it to list the creative for Comet. I received an error message that said " Sorry there has been an error. The DGM development team has been notified.".
I thought maybe the 'XML banner' listed under the creative type might be something to do with product feeds, so I asked it to search for these for all merchants. I got the same error message. I did eventually manage to see banners for some merchants, but nothing about product feeds.

So I came here and searched the forums, and found a thread from December, where someone had asked the question about product feeds, and was given a link to the right page on the DGM site. But there appears to be no link to the page anywhere on DGM's site, so presumably they don't want people to use it. I wonder how many merchants are disappointed with the takeup of the product feeds they provide, not realising that DGM are 'hiding' them from affiliates.



It's now around 8 months since the much hyped launch of DGM Pro, it's still full of bugs and difficult to use.

How long do they need to fix it?

If such a basic and important part of their business isn't functioning properly they should have put the necessary resources to it and fixed it as soon as possible.
The fact that they haven't done this makes me think they have deep rooted problems, and despite a few promising new merchants I don't feel confident enough to go back to them at this time.

I started using DGM in 2000, if I'm having problems trying to use their site I hate to think what a newcomer must make of it.


I wonder if anyone from DGM will be bothered to reply to this?

I haven't emailed them, I've rarely had replies from them in the past, and I think there should be a public response to this.
From one or two things I've read on here it looks to me like they're just burying their heads in the sand and hoping the problems just go away.

[Jeff]

Well it's only taken me an hour or so, but I've finally found the link to the product feed info page on DGM Pro. To find it you have to click on Manage, then Campaign information, then Product Feeds & Deep Links. So it takes three times as long to reach it as it used to on the old system - that's if you know where to look, and it's hardly intuitive.

Of the seven feeds with a date in the 'last updated' box, four of them were last updated over a year ago

[pericom]

I agree I was on the system today thinking how crap it is.

Even the older system was better at least it worked and was fast.

Its hard to list mechants and view their details. Also too much is emphasis is given to content units and creative sizes.

I dont care about sizes or what content unit they are in! Also I dont like how you cant see the links straight away and have to wait to see link results when you put them on your site.

The whole Business Categories section and how you see billions of creatives appear is also unhelpful.

DGM your system needs a full replacement.

[1st Stop]

When we started in the industry the old DGM System was working and everything was fine.

Since it moved to the new system its been nothing but a haven of problems!

In the best times of DGM we puled 10k with them now we are lucky if we hit
1k.

I just think that if it was up to me i would have just updated the old working system and evolved it!

Its just a shame, the network could have so much potential.

[KevinEdwards]

Hi,

I won't reply to specific comments here as they've all been documented and responded to in varying degrees but a new version of dgmPro, which will again be upgraded later in the year, will be launched shortly. This will hopefully address a number of concerns regarding XML, navigability and reporting.

Thanks,

[1st Stop]

Thanks for the swift reply Kevin

I look forward to using a new system that works.

All I ask is the guys at DGM test it to destruction so that affiliates and merchants can both hit the ground running instead of landing flat on our faces.

Keep smilin!

[Olivier]

Kevin - any time scale on the upgrade?

[KevinEdwards]

Hi,

Thanks for your comments. We have rolled out some new functionality to a selection of affiliates who have been using the interface for the last few weeks.

All comments will be taken on board as we evolve the interface longer term.

Thanks,

[KevinEdwards]

Hi Olivier,

I'm conscious that we haven't pinned down an exact date and have been saying 'shortly' for a few months now, but it will be soon.

Thanks,

[Matthew Wood]

It does work - its just the usability that is very very poor.

[KieronD]

It does work - its just the usability that is very very poor.

Agreed. What really disappoints me is that none of the *very very basic problems* have been dealt with since DGM Pro was lanched, what a year ago?

Its all well and good launching DGM Pro version 2 or whatever to a few publishers but how about fixing some really basic stuff for us all?

[Michelle Gilmore]

Dear All,

Thanks for all your comments. As Kevin has mentioned,we are near completion of dgmPro version 1.1 and will be sending out communication shortly regarding the expected launch date.

Kind regards

Michelle

[Mc661]

I cant see how somthing can be "still not working" if it never worked in the first place?

Oh and it seems no one at DGM can be bothered to respond to their emails. AND YES I can backup my statements this time!

[Berrisford]

Please feel free to forward me any emails and I will make sure they are dealt with.

Kind regards

Rob

[Michelle Gilmore]

All,

Just to clarify Robs message above,

If you have an Advertiser specific question please get in touch with the Advertiser Account Manager. In the event you don't know who the Account Manager is please contact the Publishing Team, who will happily point you in the right direction. Similarly, if you have any technical, integration or financial questions please contact the following members of the Publishing Team;



Stephanie Small
stephanie.small@dgm-uk.com
0207 693 5915

Eleni Read
eleni.read@dgm-uk.com

Kind regards,