{"id":286,"date":"2007-12-05T07:31:00","date_gmt":"2007-12-05T12:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/69.80.208.152\/affiliateprogramadvice\/?p=286"},"modified":"2008-02-19T07:24:53","modified_gmt":"2008-02-19T12:24:53","slug":"uk-aff-network-you-so-did-not-just-do-that","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.affiliateprogramadvice.com\/index.php\/2007\/12\/05\/uk-aff-network-you-so-did-not-just-do-that\/","title":{"rendered":"UK Aff Network you so did not just do that"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jess- \u201cHi, just returning your call, sorry I missed you. I understand you were calling about a merchant called xxxxx\u201d.<\/span>Network \u2013 \u201cYes, I was calling to tell you they have suspended there affiliate program through network xxxx and we are now managing the program and if you could swap your links to ours?\u201d<\/p>\n

Jess \u201cWhere did you get my details from, how do you know I am an affiliate of merchant xxx? I have generated in total about five sales for merchant xxx in the past year, and I rank for nothing in the SE\u2019s, so Im wondering, how did you get my details, how did you know that I used to be an affiliate of merchant xxx?\u201d<\/p>\n

Network \u201cThe in-house affiliate manager passed us the data she pulled off the other network and your details were on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jess \u201cI see, are you aware you have just broken the data protection act in the fact that you are knowingly using data that has been extracted and used without the consent of the former network, without my consent. The in-house affiliate manager has broken the former networks terms and conditions? Theft springs to mind too.That what you have just done is not just illegal, it\u2019s unethical and could be a potential law suit.”<\/p>\n

Network \u201cOh Im really sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phone call ends and Im thinking, she had no clue who I was because if she knew anything about affiliate marketing, and in particular, if she had knew the history of the company, done a bit of reseach on the company, I would be the last person she would be calling.<\/p>\n

After a flurry of emails to the merchant the official story is. The affiliate manager of the network that called me was a junior member of staff and she had got her wires crossed. That the data was already in the possession of the in-house affiliate manager and there fore it belonged to them in order to pass over to the new network.<\/p>\n

I think Im more annoyed as the reason why the merchant jumped from one network to another is because they thought the grass maybe greener, well they maybe in for a bit of a shock and find, they were better off with the former network (Ill come back to this a bit later and explain why). The former network knows and of course all doors will now be shut to them should merchant xxxx wish to return, as I predict they would have done.<\/p>\n

The networks should by now have their own relationships with key affiliates.
\nThere should be no reason why a network should be touching a competitors data in order to be handed some one else\u2019s hard graft to them on a plate. A network is performance based just like affiliates in terms of network account management, which is essentially what merchant xxx is paying for through their new network. An irony here is that it is evident that the junior member of staff that called me, has no experience. So the merchant xxx is paying \u00a32k? maybe? For what they thought was an experienced affiliate manager. The conversation I had with the lovely (she was) but utterly clueless affiliate manager demonstrates that this network is prepared to break the law, be underhand and devious.This also clearly demonstrates a lack of procedures, interdepartmental communication and clear guidelines as to how to deal with new merchants coming onto the network migrating from another network. Another irony here, this network, its not the first time they have been pulled up for such practices and worse.<\/p>\n

Im not so naive as to think this does not happen all the time, I know it does. There are ways and means of migrating from one network to another if needs must. But.. to confess to using stolen data (if its true or not) is not just shocking but is asking for trouble. I could have been anyone, that\u2019s worrying.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nBy the nature of what affiliates do, chances are most of the established networks will be sharing the same affiliates any way. And in this case I know it to be true. This is not uncommon when a merchant migrates from one network to another. Taking data with them. So question\u2026 who owns the affiliates?<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nThis is a tri party affiliate marketing agreement. All networks clearly state, layman\u2019s terms, if the merchant did not have the affiliate relationship, contact details, telephone numbers, email addresses prior to joining the affiliate network. The data belongs to the affiliate network. <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nThe relationship fostered throughout the running of the affiliate program between the merchant and the affiliate, that\u2019s something else again and believe whilst important and some what vague, the issue is ultimately about passing confidential competitor data from one party to another without prior written agreement from either the former network, to the new network and via an intermediate (namely the merchant xxx inhouse affiliate manager) <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nNow it could be argued that as I was already known to merchant xxx before I joined their program, so Im going to give merchant xxx the benefit of the doubt. But this sentence does not sit well with me at all \u201cNetwork \u201cThe in-house affiliate manager passed us the data she pulled off the other network and your details were on it.\u201d<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n\u201cI think Im more annoyed as the reason why the merchant jumped from one network to another is because they thought the grass maybe greener, well they maybe in for a bit of a shock and find, they were better off with the former network (Ill come back to this a bit later and explain why)\u201d<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nIs the grass going to be greener by migrating to another network. There are arguments for and against. But let\u2019s dispel any myths that if one network has more affiliates then others its going to yield better results. Is simply a red herring. Any merchant buying into this line, forget the numbers. In any case its not about how many affiliates a network has, how many of those affiliates are going to join your program is what counts and what you do with them once they have joined. So does the argument stand up that more affiliates mean more sales? Again this will depend on the popularity of your product, commissions but all means jack without good overall website conversions.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nOf course if I were a merchant selling xxxx and never having set up an aff program before, then I would be swayed to launch in a network that has my competitors. Affiliates are already there. But if you cant compete with your competitors in terms of website conversions, commissions and product demand, then choice of network should come down to reputation, tools, cost and gut instinct.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nAffiliate management is about growing an affiliate program, its always going to be about what you do with the affiliates that you have. Affiliate recruitment, plays a role but is not the be all and end all. <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nIn this case merchant xxx had an established affiliate program with established relationships. The program had been maturing over a few years. Organic growth was now kicking in. Proactive affiliate manager, so I don\u2019t understand the need to migrate.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nThe merchant xxx has now just ruined everything they have worked so hard for by making one decisions based on the grass will be greener. Getting affiliate to swap over links, that\u2019s such a hard thing to do, some will, some wont.<\/span>They have probably lost a lot of their affiliate relationships now and are starting to feel the pinch. There are other implications too, which Ill leave you to think about.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jess- \u201cHi, just returning your call, sorry I missed you. I understand you were calling about a merchant called xxxxx\u201d.Network \u2013 \u201cYes, I was calling to tell you they have suspended there affiliate program through network xxxx and we are now managing the program and if you could swap your links to ours?\u201d Jess \u201cWhere […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.affiliateprogramadvice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.affiliateprogramadvice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.affiliateprogramadvice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.affiliateprogramadvice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.affiliateprogramadvice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.affiliateprogramadvice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.affiliateprogramadvice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.affiliateprogramadvice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.affiliateprogramadvice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}