3 Mobile Affiliates - Worst Performing Mobile Merchant?

[mobiles4everyone]

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Click to order conversion rate for 3 is about average when compared to 22 other mobile merchants. Approval rate was almost acceptable for March and April, but has gone silly again. My last six months approval rates:

43% March
46% April
33% May
30% June
14% July
24% August

Slightly better than some people but still very unpredictable. I've started to exclude deals that appear to always have a 100% decline rate!

[komodo]

I have to say these stats are truely shocking, for someone who's starting out in this area it's quite a concern.

Am I right is saying these figures are for just mobile phone sales ? Does anybody have stats for just mobile broadband ? i.e. are 3 crap in general or more bothered about their mobile broadband sales ?

[BruceyBonus]

My saga continues. Just a re-cap, I used a "cashback" website as I don't have an affiliate relationship with 3. The sale was made in September 2008 and was rejected in December. Despite having been assured that the transaction is showing as approved at buy.at, the cashback website still haven't received any commission for the sale.

I've been a member of this cashback website for over 4 years so I trust them to pass on the commission correctly. It is now eight months since the sale and this is what the cashback site said last week: "Unfortunately the merchant has rejected your claim on this occasion. However, as you have provided all the information required of you, and we have verified that you clicked through the site, we have referred the claim back to the merchant."

I've been doing both cashback sites and a little affiliate marketing for a while so I know how these things work. There is absolutely no way this sale would have been attributed to any other affiliate or marketing channel. Since buying the £50 dongle, I've put £180.00 worth of top-ups on there, so they can't exactly say the sale was fraudulent/just for the commission.

A quick update. My claim at the cashback website is now showing as rejected. This comes over a year since the purchase was made, despite Adam confirming that the transaction was showing as approved on buy.at.

The purchase was completely genuine and there was no chance that another affiliate's link was used. In addition, no coupon code or special offers were used so there is absolutely no valid reason why 3 would reject this transaction.

[Ballswinger]

Quick update:

Thought my stats looked Christmassy with lots of Red and not so much Green



Andrew

[3_Mobile]

Quick update:

Thought my stats looked Christmassy with lots of Red and not so much Green



Andrew

Hi Andrew,

I've had a look at the mix of products you've been driving on Contract Handset, which appears to take the bulk of your promotion.

I have to say that I'm not surprised on the low approval rate as every phone is top end (therefore high handset cost, therefore high credit risk).

If it's possible to steer your consumers to the mid-range handsets you'll get a much, much better approval rate and higher earnings overall. Have a word with Andy at the Helpdesk - he'll give you some product pointers based on what's converting right now.

To give you an idea, here's my current contract handset ranking which takes into account current connections, handset cost (so how likely it is to approve) and potential audience (how many consumers after it). Since we started using it as a trial we've seen some great results overall. I'm currently trying to work out how we can turn this into an automated feed.

Handset (in order of suitability) Recommended Tariff
1) Nokia 5800 £25 Internet Texter
2) SE T715 MM500
3) LG GW520 £15 Internet Texter
4) Nokia E71 MM300
5) Samsung S5600 Preston £20 Internet Texter
6) Samsung Tocco £20 Internet Texter
7) SE C903 £20 Internet Texter
8) SE Satio MM300
9) Nokia 6700 £20 Internet Texter
10) Nokia E63 £20 Internet Texter

Hope that helps.

All the best.

Adam

[Ballswinger]

Hi Adam,

I think this makes a good case for "knowing your affiliates", we are a price comparison website, why exactly would we want to 'steer' our customers towards cheaper, mid-ranged handsets when that's clearly not what they want? Moreover, why would any affiliate unless purely for financial gain or is this how you view affiliates?

We also do not want a better conversion rate for 'steering' our customers, we want a 'normal' conversion rate across all products as we have with all of our other partners.

We do not experience these same problems or the abysmal conversion rate with ANY other network or retailer, FYI that's over 30 partners that we currently deal with.

I'm not sure how long you've been in the game or how much you understand about affiliate marketing or your actual affiliates but this is a poor excuse for the ongoing problems that ALL affiliates are experiencing with your program.

We purposely give the least amount of exposure to the 3 Mobile Direct deals across our website whereas ALL of the other networks and retailers enjoy a normal service. The only time we actually have to show one of your deals is when it is the cheapest available (or in most cases cannot be obtained through the retail channel, ie: network exclusive handsets).

We are price led and completely transparent with our customers - maybe you should be with your affiliates too?

Andrew

[rocktheengines]

Hi Adam,

I think this makes a good case for "knowing your affiliates", we are a price comparison website, why exactly would we want to 'steer' our customers towards cheaper, mid-ranged handsets when that's clearly not what they want?

:tup completely agree, site visitors are not stupid. If they come to a website looking for a Nokia N97 or Satio, that's exactly what they want. There not going to think, oh i'l get myself a Nokia 1680 instead.

Three using the high risk excuse does not add up. Are they trying to tell us they don't sell high end mobile phones? Are all the latest handsets just sitting in warehouse, boxed, because no one passes their credit checks? I don't think so.

If you check the best sellers across other retailers, high end models will make up the bulk of the top ten. So, I can't see why Three would be any different.

Gianni

[3_Mobile]

Morning all.

Apologies for trying to help once again.

To highlight the point, everyone 'wants' an iPhone or an N97 or a Satio but at several hundred quid for the device and therefore fairly stringent credit checks to negate the network's risk, unfortunately not everyone 'can' afford one.

In some respects I agree with your model and can't really blame you for your approach while the majority of your merchants pay on an app. Cane it while you can I'd say. Unfortunately 3 doesn't pay on an app, so my advice is specific to 3.

If you direct high end handset customers to 3 you will get accurate approval rates for that handset. Because our affiliate model is aligned (rather than app) if you're not making any sales from your traffic, neither are we.

Also, something I feel affiliates fail to see is, if your customer comes to 3 for an N97 and invariably fails the credit check - they still need a phone - yes, they may be thoroughly fed up and go down the high street but more likely they'll try another phone or provider online (possibly back to your comparison site). Affiliate stats are greatly inflated by single customers trying multiple purchases (after initially failing).

I don't know if you track exit handset against actual handset purchased but I can definitely recommend this to give some great insight. It's clear that although the big name handsets are very important in terms of a marketing hook, in the real world they're less important in terms of sales - for 3 at any rate.

You've questioned by knowledge/understanding there but think about it. Think about all the data I have access to. Not just the whole affiliate channel but resellers and retail too. It's part of the reason I came client side - I'm a sucker for stats & data (a geek) - and I have so much more than when I was an affiliate (I actually used to be 3's top affiliate so hopefully that gives me some credibility that I 'understand' affiliates).

I'm only trying to help here guys. You're welcome to take it or leave it. But if I may correct one small point in your response Andrew, not 'ALL' affiliates have issues with our programme. The ones prepared to listen/adapt are doing very well.

I'm sorry I can't be available as much as I should be to help everyone, but the 3 Affiliate Helpdesk is fully trained up on stats and performance of each of our product channels. I know they'll be only too pleased to help any of you where they can.

Get in touch with Andy and the team on 01430 876871.

All the best.

Adam

[3_Mobile]

If you check the best sellers across other retailers, high end models will make up the bulk of the top ten.

Hi Gianni. This is very useful thanks. Can you please confirm for me, is this a top ten of applications or a top ten of actual connections? I'm not certain of the visibility you receive off all your merchants.

Thanks again.

[jonsp]

If you direct high end handset customers to 3 you will get accurate approval rates for that handset. Because our affiliate model is aligned (rather than app) if you're not making any sales from your traffic, neither are we.

Also, something I feel affiliates fail to see is, if your customer comes to 3 for an N97 and invariably fails the credit check - they still need a phone

Just to clarify this. If a guy applies for say an N97 through the affiliate channel and fails the credit check do you

a/ call the guy, explain what's happened and try to close him on a low end phone which he can get approved on

b/ send him an email saying you've failed the credit check sorry we can't offer you a contract, have a nice day. ie you're not attempting to get any value from the application

or something else?

Given that price comp affiliates would tend to send you higher end traffic how can you assure us we'll get paid for the value we deliver in terms of sending you customers who, as you rightly say, "still need a phone"? I'd be very surprised if you said 3 are not trying to sell something to people who fail credit checks for high end phones.

Cheers,
Jon

[3_Mobile]

Just to clarify this. If a guy applies for say an N97 through the affiliate channel and fails the credit check do you

Hi Jon.

Very good point.

Firstly, if the initial sale is generated online and a human has to close the deal - the sale will still track. Actually these are some of the sales that take an age to reach their final status. Annoying for us both but we will not reject any sale after a certain time period elapses just for the sake of house keeping. In reality this isn't that many, which leads me onto my second point.

We're not as good at the converting these failed leads as we should be. We know this and we're making changes to make this better. We know we're missing potential but unfortunately, client side, these things aren't always as easy to fix as they are in a smaller affiliate company. Much to my frustration I can assure you.

Hence, as Affiliate Manager I'd rather concentrate on maximising sales on what we've got - and that's concentrating on selling a huge range of great, feature packed 3G handsets that don't cost the earth, like the Sony Ericsson T715 on Mix & Match 500 for just £13.50 p/m. It's our current best seller. The number of sales we do on this handset is NOT proportionate to the the search volume of this handset. In fact, this is were I see massive value for the affiliate channel. Most consumers know that the N97 is a great phone thanks to Nokia's marketing attentions - they might not know how good the Nokia E63 or LG GW520 is. An honest recommendation from the affiliate site can make all the difference to both the consumer and the affiliate's own revenue.

Thanks again for your comments. Adam

[Ballswinger]

Can't believe I'm saying this but - It's getting worse!!!?



I suspect to hear back that there are far more people failing credit checks this time of year??

Maybe on 3 Mobile but not anywhere else.

[re8976]

half way through this month I had 1 approved and 29 rejected.
rejection rate year to date 76%

I even took advice and put some more time in, and promoted them differently across 4 sites, and ended up with the above for my efforts.

for years, as a consumer, ive had the opinion of not wanting to touch 3 with even your barge pole... through numerous reasons, perceived customer service, bad quality low spec handsets, gimmicks and cashback..

..I cant believe I followed a different principle when it came to devoting my time, effort and even some money.

Note to self : Forget about 3 mobile

[3_Mobile]

re8976 - thanks for our comments - I've PM'd you. Adam

[Ballswinger]

Based on our latest December stats it really looks like it's time to give up on the 3 Mobile program. Lowest conversion rate and ROI of ANY mobile phone retailer or network in the UK.



Andrew