Do They Never Learn?
A while back, I posted a couple blog entries about an affiliate manager who kicked me out their program for inactivity. If you can find the blog entries, I'll send you $25 to your PayPal account...just post the links in the comments area.
Well, I got kicked out again. Here's the wonderful mass email I got:
Dear Alice Seba:
We regret to inform you that XXXXX Jewerly has removed you from their Affiliate Program. There are many possible reasons as to you why we may have removed you from our program, including violation of legal terms, inactivity, changes in site content, etc. If you feel that you have been removed in error, or would like further clarification on why you were removed, please contact XXXXX.
Please feel free to reapply after two weeks or contact the Affiliate Marketing Manager, Lara Stache, to discuss a marketing plan to generate activity with your site.
I admit, this was an affiliate program I signed up for in LinkShare and I never did anything with it. I'm sure a lot of affiliates sign up for programs in the various networks and never do anything with it. But in a world of abundant affiliate programs, it is an affiliate managers job to make sure their affiliates are promoting their products.
I find this email is ridiculous and incredibly rude. They've told me I've possibly violated their terms. I know I haven't, but couldn't they personalize this email a bit more to separate inactive people from the violators? How lazy.
Just like the last time I got kicked out, I've received nothing from this affiliate program besides the welcome email. So, instead of trying to help their affiliates, they'd rather slap them in the face by saying get lost.
I don't do a lot of stuff with LinkShare, Commission Junction, etc. because I find many of their affiliate managers just don't do what they need to serve their affiliates. I hope that with the release of Anik Singal's Affiliate Manager course tomorrow, that some of these network affiliate managers will sit up and start listening. Anik is connected with a number of affiliate networks and I hope this might help make some changes to the way their clients run their programs.
Until then, I'm going to keep concentrating on the independent programs run by people who do more than push pencils and occasionally write disciplinary emails.
Well, I got kicked out again. Here's the wonderful mass email I got:
Dear Alice Seba:
We regret to inform you that XXXXX Jewerly has removed you from their Affiliate Program. There are many possible reasons as to you why we may have removed you from our program, including violation of legal terms, inactivity, changes in site content, etc. If you feel that you have been removed in error, or would like further clarification on why you were removed, please contact XXXXX.
Please feel free to reapply after two weeks or contact the Affiliate Marketing Manager, Lara Stache, to discuss a marketing plan to generate activity with your site.
I admit, this was an affiliate program I signed up for in LinkShare and I never did anything with it. I'm sure a lot of affiliates sign up for programs in the various networks and never do anything with it. But in a world of abundant affiliate programs, it is an affiliate managers job to make sure their affiliates are promoting their products.
I find this email is ridiculous and incredibly rude. They've told me I've possibly violated their terms. I know I haven't, but couldn't they personalize this email a bit more to separate inactive people from the violators? How lazy.
Just like the last time I got kicked out, I've received nothing from this affiliate program besides the welcome email. So, instead of trying to help their affiliates, they'd rather slap them in the face by saying get lost.
I don't do a lot of stuff with LinkShare, Commission Junction, etc. because I find many of their affiliate managers just don't do what they need to serve their affiliates. I hope that with the release of Anik Singal's Affiliate Manager course tomorrow, that some of these network affiliate managers will sit up and start listening. Anik is connected with a number of affiliate networks and I hope this might help make some changes to the way their clients run their programs.
Until then, I'm going to keep concentrating on the independent programs run by people who do more than push pencils and occasionally write disciplinary emails.
9 Comments:
Alice,
I agree 100%. There's a reason I made that "My Affiliate Program Doesn't Suck" award -- because SO MANY affiliate programs DO!
It's their loss.
Maybe some day Affiliate Managers will learn not to bite the hand that feeds them.
Nicole
LOL...Melissa, I will send PayPal once I'm done making this comment. Here's the active link:
Click here
It's simple HTML that you can use on the comments.
Thanks Nicole. For anyone who wants to find affiliate programs that don't suck, Nicole lists them here. I believe she accepts new submissions too.
I find it hard to understand why an affiliate manager would bother kicking out an "inactive" affiliate. After all, the inactive affiliate isn't costing the advertiser any time or money. And they might turn "active" some time in the future. If a website owner was "kicked out" of a program, you can be sure they'll turn to a competitor.
I agree strongly with "feralcat" and Nicole. Even though it makes NO SENSE for these Affiliate Managers, as Nicole says, "to bite the hand that feeds them", some of them apparently prefer to try and totally control their affiliates in negative ways. I must say to them that even a good pimp knows how to take care of his own!
"even a good pimp knows how to take care of his own!" lmao. That's clever.
As far as feralcat's comments, that's exactly the part I don't understand. It's not as if inactive affiliates cost money. Most affiliate programs aren't sending out mailings or doing one-on-one training. There's no cost.
Plus, I've applied for affiliate programs in the past where I have a large project in mind, but that project may take 6 months to develop. If they kick my butt out before I finish the project, then I'll just have to find some other company to benefit from my hard work. ;)
This has happened to me too, getting dropped for seemingly no reason. In fact the company that dropped me (through CJ)was getting plenty of clicks through the links on my site, just no buying yet.
Totally frusterating.
Dear Affiliate Manager,
thank you for your nice and personal note and for kicking me out.
Since I'm sure I did not do anything illegal, I must have been inactive. What a shame! And your product/s are so terrific!
Be asured that I will tell my large blog followers how well you are managing and treating your affiliates.
Again, thank you very much.
This happens to me all the time on CJ, probably because I sign up to promote almost everything. Whenever I get deactivation notices like that, it usually motivates me to send traffic to their competitors, and sometimes I let them know.
It's in CJ's terms of use. I too keep getting kicked out of CJ and I suggest the companies that use CJ quit using them. These days if I find a product I'd like to promote and see they're with CJ it's fegeddaboutit I'm looking elsewhere.
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