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Accuracy and Integrity of Affiliate Tracking
I have several hundred sub-affiliates who market various financial services products under me in my CashFlowFromCreditCards business and I recently received complaints from at least five different subs that they were not being accurately compensated for leads on one specific offer. These subs were so convinced of the reporting problems, they signed up for the offer PERSONALLY, and yet again, the lead was not tracked properly. They completed the application, became a customer of the advertiser, but the lead never came thru in my reports. Because this is at least 5 isolated complaints on the same offer over the past 2 months, it’s given me cause for serious concern.
Accurate tracking and reporting is the cornerstone of the affiliate marketing business…..Publishers and affilates send their clicks into cyberspace and depend on advertisers and their affiliate companies report all leads. It ultimately boils down to trust and integrity. So if leads aren’t getting tracked properly, it’s a BIG deal….Pretty disturbing thought, huh?
I guess the questions running circles in my mind are: i) who’s monitoring the affiliate companies and their tracking & reporting software and ii) should there be some sort of third-party auditing firm that endorses or validates the integrity of these systems?
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Old question - No new answers.
There are a variety of options to resolve the no tracking issue but for the most part all options take away from affiliate profit.
Tracking is not always the problem, how about the fight that ensues after the tracking error has been noticed verified and confirmed?
I am still in combat over products I purchased personally, not only did CJ and the merchant FINALY verify the orders were made, but those exact orders are to this day (3 months later) not annotated to my account.
Tracking options:
1. Make periodic small purchases and be certain you can return the item at no cost to you.
2. Offer a rebate on your site that is in no way associated with the network or merchants. (Site rebate)
3. Request a test purchase for the merchant in question.
Let your peers know about untrustworthy merchants such as: TheSkinStore
TheSkinStore denies there tracking is fallible even after making there own test purchase. TheSkinStore is by far the worst and most difficult people to work with.
The market has over 40 affiliate tracking systems plus all the networks with their own or licensed platforms. The price of the products indicate a fragmented market with some scripts now as low as $29.
Until the market consolidates it would be hard to get some focus on the accuracy of all the solutions. I think http://www.affiliatefairplay.com does some of this already, though.
-Peter
“TheSkinStore denies there tracking is fallible even after making there own test purchase.”
Just shows how varied people’s experiences can be with a merchant. For me, I wish they all tracked like Skinstore. For the year have an almost 12% conversion on daily sales with a $120+ EPC.
SandraR I totally agree with your assessment of TheSkinStore. This has now happened two times for me. I made four test purchases was paid for one. Is this fair, is this good business? I am still waiting for a reply from them. I am not sure I will even get one. Another is Cosmeticmall, after getting help from two people at cosmeticmall they assured me that I was going to be paid for the sales I was not credited for, that was last year. I am also having tracking problems with two more merchants at linkshare, when is it going to end?
SandraR = Pam?
I know Sandra’s sites are always goodies.net type sites and the same way you type what should be SkinStore.com as TheSkinStore
Sorry, you are wrong. I own petgoodies.net perhaps you should have checked before you posted…
Pam
Jonathan,
Good grief!
Have you no common sense?
I sold that domain over a year ago. Get a reality check, and if you doubt we are the same person ask Ben to confirm we are at 2 entirely different IP locations.
Ben I do apologize for the ignorance of others who have highjacked your Blog.
Does anyone know what has happened to Azoogles “Blue Time ” adnetwork.. it seems to have gone off the map????