How long do you guys test a potential 1800 leak

[positivecarry]

I have decided to test some offers that don't have 1800 tracking, just because the product is so great. I just want to see what happens. I even told all these companies to check out the 5 star post about it, and how it drives affiliates up a wall. Both places told me the same thing:" You're being paranoid, a small % of sales occur over the phone" I just don't believe them at all. The products are big ticket and complicated, and I personally would even want to pick up the phone to make sure the order was going through ok, and that I was ordering what I needed. I think some merchants just love to have people send traffic and not have to pay for it.

So, how many impressions/clicks would you guys send? I am sure there is no concrete answer, but in general. Do you guys just stay as far away as possible form places that have no 1800 tracking, if the numbers are plastered everywhere?

 

[Linda Buquet]

It's true that some companies really don’t many phone orders. I don't know of any
magic # and am not sure what I'd do if I were an affiliate facing that dilema.
Wonder what some other affiliates would say. I'm curious to hear.

 

[Edwin]

As a general rule, if you send a potential customer to the advertisers website and they have their phone numbers presented to the lead i send them and it's not possible to have that dynamically changed to a number that would back trace the lead to me...

Then that company is not worth your time whatsoever.

They feel content stealing your traffic and this should make you not feeling content and start looking for an alternative option to monetize your traffic or use a similar offer/affiliate program that doesn't display their phone number to your leads.

There are ways for a company to deal with it, Linda also posted a previous thread about this with some interesting information.

Both places told me the same thing:" You're being paranoid, a small % of sales occur over the phone"

Right! - if even one sale that is made over the phone because of your efforts then your being robbed of a well deserved commission.
They are in fact saying: "We don't steal a lot from you, just a little bit, isn't that considerate of us?"

You have to understand that there are companies out there that use affiliates as commercial mules, doing a lot of heavy lifting and not rewarding them properly, etc.

 

[positivecarry]

I absolutely agree with you. Uhh, hmmm, I guess I'll drive traffic for a bit longer to see if clicks eventually convert. Who really knows though, what the on phone conversion %s are, except the merchant. A bit more traffic, if nothing substantial starts happening to justify my time I'll end it.

Amazinglyrolleyes: ), both places were absolutely convinced that there programs were wonderful and when I mentioned that I could point them in the direction of new information to help their programs, both AMs said, "our programs are fine, we've had them like this for xx years, and we see no need to change them. "

Maybe this is a shrewd business move, I, however think that it is extremely myopic. Granted, they may have thousands of people pushing traffic until they stop promoting, and then the next wave takes over until they remove the links, and the cycle repeats and repeats. This could work if everyone was driving somewhat decent traffic, and every link was working, etc. But, I don't think it happens like this.

Both are excellent products, so..... maybe this non tracking really works out for them, because the affiliate figures, well, there's really nothing out there anywhere near as good as this, even if they have no tracking, it's either this or nothing. That was kind of my reasoning.
And I think this is their reasoning too. They own the space, their is no reason for them to negotiate, they don't have to. Thanks for the response.

 

[patrick24601]

Color me ignorant here. Why would you ever promote anybody that did NOT have 1800 tracking?

 

[Edwin]

Amazinglyrolleyes: ), both places were absolutely convinced that there programs were wonderful and when I mentioned that I could point them in the direction of new information to help their programs, both AMs said, "our programs are fine, we've had them like this for xx years, and we see no need to change them. "

That figures they would say something like that.

Maybe this is a shrewd business move, I, however think that it is extremely myopic. Granted, they may have thousands of people pushing traffic until they stop promoting, and then the next wave takes over until they remove the links, and the cycle repeats and repeats. This could work if everyone was driving somewhat decent traffic, and every link was working, etc. But, I don't think it happens like this.

Both are excellent products, so..... maybe this non tracking really works out for them, because the affiliate figures, well, there's really nothing out there anywhere near as good as this, even if they have no tracking, it's either this or nothing. That was kind of my reasoning.
And I think this is their reasoning too. They own the space, their is no reason for them to negotiate, they don't have to. Thanks for the response.

Shrewd as in deceitful for sure, shrewd as in a cleverly thought out strategy preparing for the future and attracting new and... solid affiliates...No!

If i where you i would choose nothing, i take it you're spending on PPC right?
Companies with that kind of mentality are likely to skim your commissions as well.

My advice, look for a different product/service to promote.

The products are big ticket and complicated, and I personally would even want to pick up the phone to make sure the order was going through ok

You've said it yourself
So listen to yourself

 

[positivecarry]

Links removed, no more promotion from me, brief moment of naivete. Back to capitalism.

 

[patrick24601]

Congrats! Smart Man/Woman.