Exclusive mobile offers

TJ. · 10-06-04

Hi everyone

I wanted to let you know about some Carphone Warehouse web offers that we are only promoting through our affiliate programme.

There's new creative for some excellent offers on the Motorola V600 (with a free Bluetooth Headset and Double minutes), the LG U8110 (with 1/2 price minutes and unlimited texts) and the Sony Ericsson T630 (with Bluetooth headset and EURO 2004 content!) .

I'd also love to hear your feedback on The Carphone Warehouse affiliate programme so we can make this work well for all of you.

Thanks

Tim

Azam.net · 12-06-04

Great to have an active affiliate manager.

"I'd also love to hear your feedback on The Carphone Warehouse affiliate programme so we can make this work well for all of you."

The most prominent promotion on your site is for TalkTalk. May I ask how much commission we receive for sign-ups to TalkTalk via the Carphone Warehouse affiliate program please?

Thanks Tim.

TJ. · 14-06-04

Hi

Thanks for your reply.

Yes TalkTalk is currently run through a separate Affiliate Programme on Commission Junction and the commission is £15 for each connection.

There is a section on www.talktalk.co.uk that gives all the details on how to join this programme.

As you may have seen in the press this part of our business is growing very quickly and is currently benefitting from its Big Brother sponsorship.

Tim

Darren · 14-06-04

Hi Tim,

I think you missed the point of Azam's query.

He was asking whether affiliates would be credited for sales on the TalkTalk plan if a visitor, an affiliate sends to the carphonewarehouse site, clicks on the very prominant talktalk advert and subsequently joins the plan?

I'm guessing this is not the case.......am I right?

TJ. · 14-06-04

Thanks for clarifying that Darren, you're right I did miss the point.

And you are right a sale from someone clicking on the TalkTalk banner and going through to the TalkTalk site wouldn't be credited.

Its an interesting point that I will feed back. At the moment though sales on the Carphone Warehouse site are just for mobiles and the TalkTalk ad is more like a standard banner ad in terms of how its been treated.

Tim

Darren · 14-06-04

Thanks for getting back to us so quickly, Tim.

I would suggest that the majority of affiliates would disapprove of external advertising of this kind on affiliate landing pages.

It is generally expected that, if a corporate site wishes to advertise external offers to it's visitors, that either a) the affiliate gets credited in some way, or b) a seperate landing page without the offending external advertisement is created for affiliates.

TJ. · 14-06-04

Thanks for the feedback Darren.

I would like to say that the majority of our links are deep links to specific offers or high converting parts of the site where the TalkTalk banner is not present.

So I would not expect a majority of affiliate customers to be linking to this page.

That said I do understand why affiliates would disapprove and as I said I will apply some pressure for changes to this.

Darren · 14-06-04

Thanks for your constructive reply, Tim.

I don't currently do any work with your program, but having seen how proactive your approach is, I shall look to putting some traffic your way in the future.

Azam.net · 14-06-04

Yes, thank you for your feedback Tim. Much appreciated.

You yourself wrote about TalkTalk: "As you may have seen in the press this part of our business is growing very quickly and is currently benefitting from its Big Brother sponsorship."

Exactly. And we are earning zilch for linking to your home page where the most prominent promotion is for TalkTalk. It is more than a banner: it is arguably the main emphasis of the page. We put up with it when you produced a popunder for TalkTalk at the Carphone Warehouse, but this is a step too far. Therefore we have pulled all our links to the Carphone Warehouse site and switched to another mobile phone retailer which doesn't have non-paying links.

It's not right for multinational companies who have millions of pounds to spend on stuff like Big Brother to not fully considering their 'partners'. Tim, would you send your hard-earned traffic to a website where the most prominent link didn't earn you a penny?

TJ. · 14-06-04

I'm sorry you feel like that Azam.

I have fed back your comments.

The bulk of our home page is still for mobile offers and the vast bulk of traffic coming from publishers such as yourself to the Carphone Warehouse site would still be people looking for mobile phones.

I will keep you posted if there are any changes that address your concerns.

Azam.net · 14-06-04

Thank you Tim. It's great to have a pro-active affiliate manager.

As with everything in life, if it is a win-win situation, then everybody concerned is happy. If affiliates are sending traffic to a site which then diverts their visitors to something that is not paying, they will not make as much of an effort to promote you.

I'm sure we all want the best for you as you have a great brand.

Keep up the good work

Azam.net · 23-06-04

As well as the horrible in-your-face promotion for TalkTalk, I have just noticed the carphonewarehouse site also sends visitor to TalkTalk site in full-page pop-up.

Great to know we are sending all this traffic to carphonewarehouse and won't earn a penny for sign-ups to TalkTalk.

Wonder if carphonewarehouse stores will market/sell products for which your company doesn't earn anything?

Or is there one rule for poor,