Like a lot of publishers, i’m signed up to Screenclick.com as an affiliate. Conversions are few and far between - no matter what i’ve tried - but links to them exist on Compare.ie for the purposes of allowing users to choose between them and Moviestar (who i’m a paying customer of myself). Today I logged [...]
Like a lot of publishers, i’m signed up to Screenclick.com as an affiliate. Conversions are few and far between - no matter what i’ve tried - but links to them exist on Compare.ie for the purposes of allowing users to choose between them and Moviestar (who i’m a paying customer of myself). Today I logged on to Screenclicks’ new website and was rather annoyed. Not only is it totally useless for consumers, it’s sure to piss off plenty of affiliates they’ve signed up through Tradedoubler. Why? Microsoft Sliverlight, that’s why.
At this stage of the development of the internet, the de facto way to animate banners, stream video, and do heaps of other stuff is via applications created using Adobe Flash. Flash player is the norm, and probably will be for some time. So why then have Screenclick opted to try and shove Microsoft Silverlight down website users - and potential customers - ignoring a very simple rule. Simple is better.
I’d probably even complain if they used Flash to be honest. Why not just have regular old html, allowing users to browse and search quickly and easily, without fuss or malfunction. Why overcomplicate what should be the simplest of tasks? Browsing, that is.
Why the hell should I - or any other affiliate for that matter - send Screenclick traffic when the user experience is so awful? Conversion rates are low enough anyway without making it even harder for users to browse the site, get a feel for what it does, and sign up. Whoever in Screenclick came up with this mighty plan needs to be sacked - unless it was a management decision, in which they need to bow their heads in shame for letting this happen.
Anyone else have thoughts on this? Personally i’d love to be able to go back in time and be a little bit younger, but this is all a bit 1996 for me. Who knows, maybe they’ll have some nice java applets and animated page backgrounds next. Or maybe even a ‘Get Internet Explorer 3′ button. Holy Batman!
Update: Michele has blogged about this too.
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8 Responses
[...] any of you are affiliates with Screenclick, but what were they thinking with their new site design? Click here for my full blog post on it. Anyone have thoughts on this? Hardly gona be good for conversions is it? Grrrrrrrrrrrr. H [...]
[...] hughdurkin Frontpage User Recent Blog: Are Screenclick.com actually trying to piss off their affiliates and customers? [...]
Hey — found this post via the discussion of your banning from their affiliate program.
I hadn’t logged into Screenclick in a week or two, and I was pretty appalled when I went over and was greeted by that horrible intro warning page.
If Screenclick decide to make Silverlight a requirement, they’ll be losing this customer. Simple as that. Their site doesn’t need it, and it makes my user experience a nightmare.
Hey Justin,
You hit the nail on the head - it’s not about Microsoft Silverlight, or Flash for that matter - it’s about the fact they don’t even need either to have the functionality they have… but cest la vie.
[...] being fulfilled by Screenclick.com. If you’re a regular reader you’ll have spotted my earlier opinion of the Screenclick.com website. It now seems with this latest move i’ll have to look at [...]
not happy with screenclick after recently signing up. and no reply to emails and phone service beibg upgraded it says. anyone any other way contact them
Dear Barry,
I am happy to let you know that our phone service has been upgraded, so please call us on 0818 270710 and we will be more than happy to help.
I would also like to assure you that we will reply to each email. We are working very hard to respond to all the queries as soon as we can making sure that our customers don’t loose due to the delays.
Best Regards
Sylvia
Customer Support Manager
support@screenclick.com
[...] time ago I expressed my anger at Screenclick from an affiliates point of view, as they’d changed their site to incorporate Microsoft [...]