I haven't been on the forum in a while and it's not good to see that thiings haven't changed in the world of 3 mobile. I just checked November 2009's stats and I had 49 sales declined and 6 approved. Adam I'm glad that you say you have a good understanding of the affiliate side, however I should let you know that it is now the case that the majority of merchants (90%+) do actually pay per approved sale. Furthermore these merchants are selling top end handsets worth hundreds of pounds and even in those cases where people are purchasing Nokia N97's and iPhones we still get approval rates of 40% as an absolute worst case, not the abysmal rates that we are getting with 3 Mobile. Furthermore I do not think that it is appropriate for you to suggest that we "milk" other affiliate programs whilst it lasts, as that suggests that we are trying to get whatever we can and not deliver value for money. I think I can speak for many of the affiliates here by saying that we pride ourselves on delivering quality leads and doing a good job for the people that we generate business for. I certainly do not want to milk any affiliate program, instead I want to build long lasting profitable relationships with companies that reward effort and hard work. I am proud to say that I do have many great relationships with a number of merchants, where we work together to grow each others businesses. It seems odd that the leading 3 mobile affiliate would tell other affiliates to "milk it", hardly sound business advice is it?
As you have so many stats at your fingertips for both the affiliate and retail channels, could I make a suggestion? Because your credit checking is so stringent on these top end handsets, why not stop selling them? You must be ordering an awful lot of stock that simply sits in your warehouse because nobody can pass a credit check for them. I also find it quite offensive that you say that those affiliates that have chosen to learn and adapt to the program have managed to make it work. Judging by the length of this thread and the lack of anybody saying anything positive on 3 Mobile's behalf, that suggests to me that this is simply not the case. If I am wrong please can the people who have learnt and adapted come forward and tell us what the majic formula is...please, because it seems to me that a lot of people on this forum, people who have been in the mobile phone affiliate industry for a long time just simply can't seem to make it work. Perhaps what we need is a day of training at 3 Mobile's headquarters, where we can learn how to make the program work... A 5 step program maybe?
Maybe I could make a some suggestions to improve the program. I think what you need to do is adapt your program and simply stop offering products that nobody can pass a credit check for. 3 Mobile should not offer top end handsets, they should leave these to reputable retailers that magically manage to get their customers through the credit checking process, the lucky devils, how do they do that? This would make the customer experience a lot more enjoyable and it would also make affiliates a lot happier because they wouldn't see a 10% approval rate or worse each month.
By the way my advice to anybody looking to promote 3 mobile, strip their feed right back so that you only offer extremely cheap phones on cheap tariffs and whenever you can sell a 3 mobile contract through a retailer rather than direct. This will help your conversion rates no end.
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