I’ve noticed quite a lot of emails coming through over the past few weeks from various merchants – mostly UK based to be honest – cutting commission rates by a couple of percent, some with a particular focus on cashback sites, but more often than not the commission cuts are across the board.  But why?

I know we’re in the middle of a recession and all that, but shouldn’t the incentive remain – or even be increased – for affiliates to continue to push programs on behalf of merchants, the end product being sustained or increased sales?  A percentage is a percentage, and a recession shouldn’t have any effect on the level of compensation an affiliate gets for pushing a program.

Lets take a like for like comparison.  Merchant (A) offers a product with a sale value of £100 and pays a commission of 8%.  Thats £8 per transaction for the affiliate to earn for pushing through the sale.  Merchant (B) offers the same product with a sale value of £95 but a commission rate of 5%.  Even though there might be a greater conversion rate with Merchant (B) due to the £5 price difference, earnings to the affiliate will only be £4.75 – almost half of the amount offered by Merchant (A).

No doubt discounting is one of the reasons for merchants wishing to reel in a percentage here or there from affiliate commissions – they believe this helps their case and helps them to control their margins.  But what if affiliates simply stop pushing programs that earn them less commissions per sale.  Merchants certainly won’t have to worry about the issue of margins anymore, as they won’t even be selling any products!

It’s sad to see some merchants reacting in this way to the current environment.  If only they stood back and realised that affiliate marketing is one of the most cost effective sales channels they have available to them, as well as one of the most risk-free in terms of bang for buck, they’d realise cutting commissions will only worsen their situation, not improve it.

What do you think?  Have you noticed this too?  How are you going to react to it?

If you’re an affiliate of any kind, chances are you’ll need to regularly download datafeeds from on or many affiliate networks to keep your information up to date.  This can be a complete pain in the rear end for even the most seasoned developers – solutions to the problem include manually downloading each feed and then uploading it to the server (not a happy situation with hundreds of feeds), to writing complicated shell scripts with hundreds of lines, which you’ll have to execute server site via cron and take up heaps of memory in the process.  Several months ago, I found a great solution to a boring problem – FTPiggy.

For a tiny fee (it’s actually free for beta testers at the moment), FTPiggy provide you with a simple interface to manage your datafeeds, from pretty much any affiliate network.  As long as your network can provide you with data download urls to grab feeds, you can use FTPiggy.

Signing up is quick and easy, and once you’re logged in the user interface is intuitive.  To start off, you simply add a ‘destination’ which is a folder on your server you’d like the feeds saved to.  Simply add the domain / ip address of your server, folder path, ftp login details, test, and you’re done.

Next, to set up each feed you simply add a unique name for your feed (I use merchant / network / site), add in the datafeed url, choose the destination for the file to get uploaded to (you can have multiple destinations for multiple sites), choose the frequency for the upload (weekly or monthly), choose whether to upload it zipped or unzipped, and click save.  All done!

Your job is now scheduled to run, and FTPiggy will download your datafeed at the appointed time, unzip it, then upload it to your server.  If you’re eager you can manually run the job immediately.

Managing jobs is easy – there’s a very simple search function which works well, especially if you name your jobs properly.  You can even check out errors, usage, and other handy information.

Enjoy!

I like it when programs launch and CPAs have been determined well from the off.  Two recent additions to Tradedoubler Ireland – O2 and Perlico – have pretty much nailed it on the head with their initial offer CPAs to affiliate publishers who drive sales.  No doubt it was a big step for both these providers to take the leap into affiliate marketing in Ireland, and I really hope their efforts are being paid off handsomely.  So what makes a good CPA offer for affiliates?  Why are some programs more appealing than others?

O2 and Perlico are offering in the region of €40 – €50 per completed sale, which compares favourably to similar programs in the UK which are offering in the region of 70 wonderful British Pounds per signup.  Taking into account that the UK is a far more developed market, with much more competition, the offers from O2 and Perlico weigh in well in tiny little Ireland.

But it’s not just about the CPA offer itself.  It’s about how the CPA offer can be broken down in value terms to the affiliate, and the best way to do that is by measuring earnings per click.  I’ve not started promoting O2 just yet (but I will very soon), but i’m getting more than decent results with Perlico.  Why?  Post-conversion, I’m earning more per click for a simple text link within one channel on one site than one would usually earn for a similar click via Google Adsense.

The text link isn’t taking up any premium inventory on me, and i’m earning premium earnings per click for promoting it.  From the merchant point of view, it’s a no-brainer.  There is no upfront risk (well not much), and affiliates get paid only when they perform.  Happy days for all, it’s a win-win.

Perlico have also got it right with their landing page – click here to see it.  They’ve made sure to not display any phone numbers on the landing page, ensuring potential customers sign up using the big order button, and don’t pick up the phone to order.  That’d put all the affiliate publishers hard work to waste, as there’d be no way of tracking it.  Well done Perlico on that one too.

Best of all, the decent wedge on offer makes it more appealing for PPC gurus to bid on long tail keywords to drive traffic to their own affiliate landing pages, which in turn may click through to Perlicos own ordering pages.  This type of affiliate marketing big business in the UK and benefits both the PPC marketers, as well as the merchants themselves.

It’ll be great to see more Irish utility providers taking the leap into affiliate marketing.  If they really make the effort, it’ll work for them in a huge way.

Following my post yesterday about Screenclick and the possible effect their recent changes may make to affiliate earnings, they’ve taken the very mature approach to my unease – they’ve banned me from being an affiliate with them anymore.  That just leaves Moviestar on the Compare.ie DVD rental comparison page then.  My post, along with Micheles (also a Screenclick affiliate – has he been banned I wonder) provoked some debate about the issue, particularly on Micheles Blog.  Alas their response to it all?  Just to simply ban the very affiliates who promote their product on the basis that they’ll be compensated when users actually sign up to the service.

I wouldn’t mind, but I tried several times over the past few years to help Screenclick out, by running special promotions on their behalf on various sites of ours, which ended up making us no money at all and wasting inventory.  It makes me wonder how Screenclick are approving commissions, and how often.

What are your thoughts on the issue?  Is this a mature way to treat affiliates?  Starting with the lack of consultation / notification about the website changes in the first place, and also the manner in which they’ve dealt with the matter, I think not.

Here’s the email I received today at 8.47am.

Hello Hugh from http://www.compare.ie,

Your application for http://www.compare.ie to ScreenClick.com  is now “On hold”. To be “On hold” means that the company wants to postpone your application.

There can be many reasons for this. One could be that your site was off-line when the Advertiser checked your application; another reason could be that the Advertiser would like to see if your page is developing into something better. Each Advertiser decides if they want to put an application “On hold”, so that they later on they can check the application again and then decide if they will approve it or not.

When your application is “On hold” links to this Advertiser will not work and images will not show. We suggest that you remove links and images to this Advertiser until your application has been processed.

If you have any queries on which criteria the Advertisers evaluate your website, please see the Advertiser program page. Do you have any questions? Please have a look at our Publisher Help Centre: http://img.tradedoubler.com/images/uk/help_centre/helpcentre.htm

Best regards,
TradeDoubler Ireland

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.

I check in with most affiliate networks i’m a member of probably once a day – to view earnings, see whats selling (and from that, know what to keep pushing), and also to join new programs that might be of interest to me.  Over the last week or two i’ve been amazed at the level of new program launches, and on one of the larger networks, a dozen new campaigns have kicked off in the last week and a half.  Am I totally surprised though?  Not really.

During times of recession, brands re-evaluate everything that they do, and part of what they re-evaluate is the very thing that they are – a brand.  Display advertising – be it print, tv, or online – will always be an incredibly important tool towards the end goal of brand development.  It’s important for manufacturers to align themselves with various consumer groups, create a buzz about their products and, at the very end of the chain, sell products.

Brand development, though, is a medium to long term strategy for most businesses.  During a recession, brand benefits won’t be seen for quite some time so, depending on the product or service they provide, brands turn to direct marketing.  And online is the perfect medium for that.

Looking through the list of affiliate programs that have launched over the last few weeks, one trend sticks out more than most – retail.  High street retailers have stepped back, had a look at their most important goal – selling product – and have quite rightly elected online direct marketing as the answer to their prayers.

It’s not just affiliate marketing though.  Pay Per Click advertising has surged too.  I know Christmas will account for much of this, but i’ve seen a massive surge in both search volume and earnings per click over the last number of weeks.  Google Adwords relaxing their rules about brand bidding has only served to fuel the demand for Pay Per Click advertising, with competitors not just bidding on generic key terms, but competitors’ brand names too.

The sum total of all of this?  It’s never been a better time to be a publisher online.  We’re providing the widest range of the best performing formats for retailers – so even in times of recession, online will continue to boom and outperform other channels.  Happy days.

I’ve been keeping a close eye on Compare.ie and some other more niche sites I own, and over the last two weeks or so there’s been an astonishing increase in fancy dress and other such halloween related fare.  Halloween costumes are basically outselling any other category by a factor of 3-1.  So much for a recession!  If thing really were that bad, would people be forking out between £20-£100 on halloween costumes?  I don’t think so.  Just goes to show that parties, fun, and boozing are – for the most part – recession proof.

As an affiliate, performance statistics like this make me extremely excited about Christmas 2008.  Not only has the convenience factor of online shopping really taken off, people will use the ‘recession’ as an excuse to hunt down even better deals over the internet, but i’ve a feeling consumers will actually spend the same – if not more – online over Christmas 2008.

Why?  Well, in the back of customers minds, a large majority will still be thinking ‘God I got a great deal on that MP3 player and saved a few quid – sure I might as well use what I’ve saved to get a nice case for it’.  Purchasers are insatiable for bargains at the best of times, so bargain hunting always turns into spending bonanzas.

Best of luck to all affiliates, merchants, and affiliate networks for Christmas 2008 – it’s going to be the most successful season to date, by far!

Tradedoubler Ireland seem to have been focussing on a particular vertical of late, and it seems the fruits of their labours are being paid off.  Carphone Warehouse have already launched on the network, and O2 are coming soon, with a launch party for the program coming up in the next few weeks.  So what are my inital thoughts on it?  Whilst it’s good that big brands like these are trying affiliate marketing in Ireland, some elements of the equation just don’t add up.

Carphone Warehouse will have to be my subject for this particular post, as O2 hasn’t gone live yet and i’ve no idea what they will or won’t do.  Anyhow, here goes…

Product Datafeeds

Put simply, there just ain’t enough here.  The ‘carkits’ minifeed has 6 products, ‘laptops’ has 11 products, ‘satnav’ has 4 products, and ‘top 10′ has 9 products – woops.  This just simply isn’t enough information for publishers to play with.  Mobile comparison sites are huge in the UK, and it’d be impossible to use the data provided to power a mobile comparison site, with tariff information compared etc.  There aren’t just enough products anyway, and I can’t figure out why.  Data is data, and if it appears on their own website, it should appear in their datafeeds.

Cookie Length

I think 14 days is a little bit stingy, especially considering the program has just launched.  It should be at least double that, to attract affiliates and encourage them to really push it as a long term offering.

Bounty

€4 per phone sale just isn’t enough.  It should really be a percentage of the value of the sale, and when it comes to signing up contract customers – which will inevitably happen in the future, bounties should be far, far higher than that, in line with usual customer acquisition budgets that mobile operators have.  Throw a zero onto the figure offered above, and you’re in the right ballpark for a contract signup bounty.

Banners / Creative

To be fair, it’s a little bit bland and the 728×90 creatives are actually 728×60 – woopsies.  Also, there is no mention of free shipping on any of the creatives.  Carphone Warehouse offer free shipping on purchases from their website, so why not boast about it?

All in all it’s great to see companies like this taking a dip into affiliate marketing waters, but they really need to put in as much thought to this as they put into all their other marketing channels.

I thought it might be interesting to invite UK and Internationally based affiliate networks to ‘sell your wares’.  Affiliate marketing is still in its infancy in Ireland – for no good reason – so perhaps if you could respond below with your details, it might be a handy point of reference for Irish ecommerce retailers to give affiliate marketing a closer look.

For those of you who don’t know the Irish market, we ARE in fact huge spenders online – people outside of Ireland seem to think we’re in the dark ages and are scared of buying online.  We’re not, so don’t let that be a reason for you to ignore us!

If you manage an affiliate network, please feel to reply to this post and answer my set of questions in the format below.

1. Name of network =
2. Based in =
3. Link to website =
4. Phone number =
5. Merchant contact =
6. Minimum spend =
7. Network access fee =
8. Override levels =
9. Examples of current merchants =
10. Key verticals (finance, travel, retail etc) =

Cheers!

H

It feels slightly crazy, but i’m actually already doing work on various bits and bobs in preparation for Christmas 2008!  I’ve just put the finishing (nearly) touches to eToys.ie, so any feedback would be appreciated