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The big, ugly affiliate marketing scam

venturebeat.com

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Re: The big, ugly affiliate marketing scam

#61

Post by liquidcool »

iopq wrote: post #12

You have a discount code at your checkout? So basically instead of capturing the sale you're ASKING the buyer to google for discount codes. Think of a sneakier way to give people discount codes that doesn't show it RIGHT THERE ON THE FORM. It makes me feel like I'm getting ripped off when I see discount code and I don't have one.

Honest question: when you go to a grocery or department store and they ask if you have any coupons or a rewards card, do you feel like you're getting ripped off? I may feel like I've missed out, but never "ripped off." When I've reached the checkout page it implies this was the best deal I could find.

I do appreciate discounts, but don't feel entitled to them, especially if I'm a first time customer (or opted out of marketing emails). But maybe I'm an outlier and a sense of entitlement is the norm these days.

Re: The big, ugly affiliate marketing scam

#62

Post by robryan »

Yeah, I think everyone running an ecommerce site and an affiliate marketing campaign has seen this. I don't think Kogans stats on the new customer percent are really an outlier. I have yet to see a coupon site that I could see actually provided us with any value to have as an affiliate.

We also a long time back went down the road of paying a network a lot of money based on their promises of the type of affiliate sales they could provide. The traffic was horrible, generated a ton of fraud when there actually were sales and the program was canned after probably only 100 sales. So definitely would stay away from any major investment with an affiliate network.

That being said there are good affiliates out there (like to think I have been one myself promoting products rather than ecommerce brands) that will deliver great customers. Likely though you will have to do the leg work to find them, they won't just join your program.

Re: The big, ugly affiliate marketing scam

#63

Post by ry0ohki »

liquidcool wrote: post #61
iopq wrote: post #12

You have a discount code at your checkout? So basically instead of capturing the sale you're ASKING the buyer to google for discount codes. Think of a sneakier way to give people discount codes that doesn't show it RIGHT THERE ON THE FORM. It makes me feel like I'm getting ripped off when I see discount code and I don't have one.

Honest question: when you go to a grocery or department store and they ask if you have any coupons or a rewards card, do you feel like you're getting ripped off? I may feel like I've missed out, but never "ripped off." When I've reached the checkout page it implies this was the best deal I could find. I do appreciate discounts, but don't feel entitled to them, especially if I'm a first time customer (or opted out of…

Yes I do. In that case it's a little harder to turn back but I can't help but feel a little like a chump.

Re: The big, ugly affiliate marketing scam

#64

Post by ry0ohki »

eclipxe wrote: post #8
scottrblock wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean http://www.retailmenot.com/ ?

Retailmenot has gotten much more scammy over the last few years.

It's actually gotten more legit. Most of the coupons are seeded there by vendors themselves these days. Which is how they just IPOed for a billion dollars.

Re: The big, ugly affiliate marketing scam

#65

Post by bitJericho »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #57
rwhitman wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I take it you've never taken a customer service call with an irate customer who couldn't figure out how to use their discount code correctly. If anything, they need to be the most usable part of the checkout experience, believe me

What entitlement does the customer have to the discount - surely as long as it's possible to redeem it simply no one customer has a privilege to acquire it?

Customers will call after the sale asking to proactively apply discount codes.

Affiliates will call after the sale asking to proactively apply discount codes (so they get credit).

Customers will complain if a discount code has expired.

Customers will cancel, return and re-buy just to apply discount codes.

Discount codes suck.

Re: The big, ugly affiliate marketing scam

#66

Post by DougBTX »

bitJericho wrote: post #65
pbhjpbhj wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What entitlement does the customer have to the discount - surely as long as it's possible to redeem it simply no one customer has a privilege to acquire it?

Customers will call after the sale asking to proactively apply discount codes. Affiliates will call after the sale asking to proactively apply discount codes (so they get credit). Customers will complain if a discount code has expired. Customers will cancel, return and re-buy just to apply discount codes. Discount codes suck.

(I think you mean retroactively not proactively)

Re: The big, ugly affiliate marketing scam

#67

Post by TeddyLondon »

ry0ohki wrote: post #63
liquidcool wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honest question: when you go to a grocery or department store and they ask if you have any coupons or a rewards card, do you feel like you're getting ripped off? I may feel like I've missed out, but never "ripped off." When I've reached the checkout page it implies this was the best deal I could find. I do appreciate discounts, but don't feel entitled to them, especially if I'm a first time customer (or opted out of…

Yes I do. In that case it's a little harder to turn back but I can't help but feel a little like a chump.

I feel like a bit of a naughty schoolboy when I go off and find vouchers, it just feels a little bit wrong (but I still do it)

Re: The big, ugly affiliate marketing scam

#68

Post by mcherm »

epoxyhockey wrote: post #4

I was expecting to read about click fraud, but it was just a newbie's experience with running an affiliate program. Kogan had some wild expectation that the majority of affiliate traffic would be first-time visitors to his site. When he uses google analytics to estimate that only 1.6% of referrals were new customers, he trashes affiliate marketing as a business. Unfortunately, he spent no time thinking about how to o…

> it was just a newbie's experience with running an affiliate program

No, quoting actual sales volumes, conducting experiments with different commission rates, and measuring and reporting on new customer traffic take this from a newbie's anecdote to a useful, insightful article.

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