Please Talk To Me
I always wonder why is it such huge brainer for affiliate networks to communicate with their affiliates. Once I join your program I want to know about everything, your best deals and prices, your best selling products, your discontinued products, your special holiday shipping rate…. you get the picture.
But I also would like you to be honest with me on another level. If you are about to terminate your relationship with a merchant, why is it such a big deal to notify your affiliates??? It really does not take than long:
Dear Vlad,
We have decided to end our relationship with XXXXXXX.com. Family Debt Freedom will be phased out of PJN within the next day or so, so we would appreciate you taking down all of your links. XXXXXXX.com is a merchant in the same category that may do well for you. Thanks so much for your prompt attention to this matter.Pepperjam Network
Sure it is not an e-mail I am looking forward everyday but is sure helps. And it is not about innovation, it is about common sense. Email has been around for a few years.
What is your excuse for not communicating with your affiliates?
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By Teli Adlam, March 13, 2008 @ 3:01 pm
I hear you Vlad. It irks me to find out through other means when a program is being phased out, which is why I try to communicate with my affiliates.
On the flip side, however, e-mail is unreliable. An affiliate network not communicating with their affiliates and their affiliates not receiving that communication are two entirely different things. E-mail fails; cyberspace eats it up or it gets filtered as spam or the ISP is down.
It's always a good idea, on the affiliate's part, to sign up for blog updates and notifications along with anticipating e-mails. (If the network doesn't even have that, then that's a completely different story. LOL)
~ Teli
By Vlad, March 13, 2008 @ 3:07 pm
Teli,
Thanks for stopping by!
Yes the e-mail may not be the best way to communicate. But it's a start. I have had two occasions with CJ merchants when I had PPC campaign going on Google while the merchant terminated relationship with CJ. Not only I was wasting my money, but also it was affecting the quality score for my account. If I was warned, these situations could have been avoided.
By Teli Adlam, March 13, 2008 @ 9:01 pm
I hear you Vlad. It irks me to find out through other means when a program is being phased out, which is why I try to communicate with my affiliates.
On the flip side, however, e-mail is unreliable. An affiliate network not communicating with their affiliates and their affiliates not receiving that communication are two entirely different things. E-mail fails; cyberspace eats it up or it gets filtered as spam or the ISP is down.
It’s always a good idea, on the affiliate’s part, to sign up for blog updates and notifications along with anticipating e-mails. (If the network doesn’t even have that, then that’s a completely different story. LOL)
~ Teli
By Vlad, March 13, 2008 @ 9:07 pm
Teli,
Thanks for stopping by!
Yes the e-mail may not be the best way to communicate. But it’s a start. I have had two occasions with CJ merchants when I had PPC campaign going on Google while the merchant terminated relationship with CJ. Not only I was wasting my money, but also it was affecting the quality score for my account. If I was warned, these situations could have been avoided.
By 45n5, March 13, 2008 @ 10:31 pm
@vlad – “If I was warned, these situations could have been avoided.”
what would be cool I think is, to prevent sending people to dead pages:
you know how cj.com will show you clicks from invalid links?
Imagine if that report had an rss feed or email alert. this way every time you got the first invalid click anywhere in your account you would get an email or feed update.
That would be cool. PPJ or CJ feel free to implement
By Vlad, March 13, 2008 @ 10:33 pm
Mark that is a great idea. I was wondering if with CJ webmaster API some one could develop a tool just for that??? Mark?
By Vlad, March 13, 2008 @ 10:37 pm
Also, many times I would be sending traffic to a specific product (or so thought) and it turns out that product is discontinued and my visitors lading on the home page of the merchant…. Better than a dead “expired merchant” page, but still.
By 45n5, March 13, 2008 @ 10:41 pm
@vlad – i would but cj doesn't make that report available via the api so no go.
By Vlad, March 13, 2008 @ 10:44 pm
Mark, Scot Jangro just said the same over at Twitter. It's a shame though. If you have a datafeeded site with 1000s of products there is not freaking way you can keep up with dead links.
By 45n5, March 14, 2008 @ 4:31 am
@vlad – “If I was warned, these situations could have been avoided.”
what would be cool I think is, to prevent sending people to dead pages:
you know how cj.com will show you clicks from invalid links?
Imagine if that report had an rss feed or email alert. this way every time you got the first invalid click anywhere in your account you would get an email or feed update.
That would be cool. PPJ or CJ feel free to implement
By Vlad, March 14, 2008 @ 4:33 am
Mark that is a great idea. I was wondering if with CJ webmaster API some one could develop a tool just for that??? Mark?
By Vlad, March 14, 2008 @ 4:37 am
Also, many times I would be sending traffic to a specific product (or so thought) and it turns out that product is discontinued and my visitors lading on the home page of the merchant…. Better than a dead “expired merchant” page, but still.
By 45n5, March 14, 2008 @ 4:41 am
@vlad – i would but cj doesn’t make that report available via the api so no go.
By Vlad, March 14, 2008 @ 4:44 am
Mark, Scot Jangro just said the same over at Twitter. It’s a shame though. If you have a datafeeded site with 1000s of products there is not freaking way you can keep up with dead links.