Comments on: Kicking Out Crappy Affiliates

By: Keith

Keith — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 22:49:55 +0000

Isn’t some of this though down to vetting affiliates before they join your programme. As an agency we vet every affiliate who joins one of our programmes – ok it takes time and effort but means we hopefully avoid a good number of the link exchangers joining our programmes in the first place – and saves the hassle of removing them later.

I would never cull an affiliate solely to boost the programme EPC, that is just being a slave to statistics imho – but some of the fault here must lie with the networks too – if more did like Tradedoubler do and topped and tailed the EPC to remove the top and bottom 10% then surely the effects of both high clicks and no sales at one end and rebate sites at the other are eliminated and you actually end up with a true EPC rather than a figure which in all reality is worth not even the paper it is written on and does nothing except massage an affiliate manager’s ego

By: Conversion Rates and EPC - Affiliate Marketing

Conversion Rates and EPC - Affiliate Marketing — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 08:42:37 +0000

[...] some agencies/merchants consider it the Holy Grail of their programme. Kicking Out Crappy Affiliates | pfft Chris C __________________ sunshine.co.uk – Cheap Holidays, Hotels and [...]

By: whiterabbit

whiterabbit — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 15:29:07 +0000

Culling on EPC – by doing this isn’t there a danger of shutting out relevant sites that are new / just starting out and therefore have low volume of clicks or EPC initially, but may well improve both given time?

If so, seems a bit short-sighted to me.

By: Evan

Evan — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 15:20:43 +0000

I always work with our clients to help improve the look and feel of their sites to improve the overall conversion rate. Everything related to expiring affiliates is done on a case by case basis. I would estimate 1-5 per month are expired per program. Of course this varies. It also matters who you let in the program in the first place. Affiliate will sometimes contact me to reapply and I let them back in. I do try to work with as many affiliates as possible. I would venture to say that 98 percent of affiliates don’t have this issue because their traffic is somewhat targeted and converts inline with the merchant’s overall site conversion rate. I think if an affiliates traffic is not converting well and not making them much money off of those efforts then maybe they may want to consider using that inventory for an offer that converts better for that type of traffic. This has been a really interesting discussion. I am always for affiliates prospering with the program and I have never had any affiliate get angry with me for expiring them with a little note explaining the reasons…

By: Moose

Moose — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:51:26 +0000

If the EPC is low, then perhaps the merchant has to look at their own short comings too. Maybe not having the site to convert traffic, perhaps it might be their own deeplink tracking not working.

How would you also factor in brand awareness via banners & site visitations.

The true litmus test is brand bidding which for a “recognised” brand provides an optimum epc for lesser known brands this would be product specific.

Pratically all programs are launched without knowing potential EPCs, ie brand via paid search as the litmus test. The affiliate ends up as being the guinea pig when programs are launched too soon without a proper incubation or nurturing period.

Infact merchants with lower than desirable vertical sector epc’s should have to pay a hybrid commission with an element of CPC. But networks wouldn’t enforce that instead they allow the cull & blame the affiliate.

Thus maybe merchants & networks should dig up their own backyard before foolishly & needlessly culling affiliates first.

When does a seed germinate into a crop or an acorn become an oak tree?

Again I refer to top & tail procedures rather than percentiles.

By: Stephen Pratley

Stephen Pratley — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:33:11 +0000

“In the end, there are many caveats rolled into the overall EPC for a given merchant.”
I think larger affiliates know that and will have the nous to ask how their particular type of site converts.

Maybe instead of publishing EPC’s networks should just write “it depends” in that column

By: Daniel Powel

Daniel Powel — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:32:14 +0000

Gotcha,

It really depends on the level of vetting because the point can work both ways really. I’ve seen some affiliates absolutely destroy an EPC of an otherwise highly converting program. Sometimes the merchant might have to remove some affiliates if they are driving stacks of clicks, but little or no conversion.

However most affiliates don’t fall into this category. For the rest of affiliates, we would encourage the merchant to work with them to get them converting better.

At some point or another many merchants will look at their affiliate base to streamline its management or improve conversion by removing those affiliates that are not converting. For example, if an affiliate is sending clicks but has never driven as sale, then I can’t see the harm if the efforts I mentioned above are employed. Certainly the affiliate would have better places to send their traffic.

By: Moose

Moose — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:27:17 +0000

If it’s to do with culling affiliates based on EPC’s then its the top & tail discussion all over again which was discussed many moons ago. Say an affiliate was a top 10 affiliate but their EPC was not in the desired threshold, would the affiliate then be culled?

By: Chris Clarkson

Chris Clarkson — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:11:39 +0000

From Evan’s point of view, he’s aiming to remove any affiliate who skews his clients EPC figure, even if that affiliate is going to provide sales.

“affiliates that don’t convert at a $5 EPC or higher maybe expired depending on their traffic levels”

By: Daniel Powel

Daniel Powel — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:09:15 +0000

Hi Chris,

Thanks for having me aboard!

Can you clarify what you mean by “gaming”?

Thanks,
Dan