Commission versus Conversion

[rxteam1]

Commission versus Conversion :confused:

Affiliate programs are being tested by many different issues.
Many affiliates will choose a program mainly according to the Commission rate, neglecting other crucial conditions such as
Web-sites conversion rate and average sale
The market holds programs that offer 25-50% commission, but most have a low average sale or a bad conversion rate.

So how can an affiliate choose the best program?
Should we be satisfied with the commission rate only?
Which parameter has a stronger importance and value?
What in your opinion will bring a true difference, at the bottom line?

Our team at myRXCash (http://www.myrxcash.com) , have conducted a few tests regarding this matter, and concluded interesting results.

[Sam4RX]

Well I agree with you on this...

Affiliates always tend to hunt commission rates.
But the truth of the matter is that a high % will not translate necessarily in high income at the end of the day.

I think that an Affiliate should always truly TEST a program.
Obviously do your homework first...
Contact the Aff Manager, see if you get a response, call their toll free ask for the Aff manager...Ask PSP for references, ask the forum for references...Make sure you will get paid and that it is a legit program.

Once you've established that...Start a test.
Send traffic for several days, the same quality and amount as you were sending elsewhere.
Conditions have to be the same in order for results to be comparable...
We need to compare apples with apples.

Then look at the final result, YOUR INCOME. That is all that matters...

Of course take under consideration Affiliate Service, communication, payment frequency, payment options, product selection, marketing tools, etc, etc...

RXTeam1, i don't mean to take over your thread here...But I share your opinion on the topic!

[mr_x]

Well I agree with you on this...

Affiliates always tend to hunt commission rates.
But the truth of the matter is that a high % will not translate necessarily in high income at the end of the day.

I think that an Affiliate should always truly TEST a program.
Obviously do your homework first...
Contact the Aff Manager, see if you get a response, call their toll free ask for the Aff manager...Ask PSP for references, ask the forum for references...Make sure you will get paid and that it is a legit program.

Once you've established that...Start a test.
Send traffic for several days, the same quality and amount as you were sending elsewhere.
Conditions have to be the same in order for results to be comparable...
We need to compare apples with apples.

Then look at the final result, YOUR INCOME. That is all that matters...

Of course take under consideration Affiliate Service, communication, payment frequency, payment options, product selection, marketing tools, etc, etc...

RXTeam1, i don't mean to take over your thread here...But I share your opinion on the topic!

And those reasons in bold, Sam, are exactly why I am now with 4rx. I did my homework :)

[olegaz]

Which parameter has a stronger importance and value? - income per traffic sent. Nothing can beat that.

[rxteam1]

Sam, I am happy to hear you're opinion- especially since we have the same point of view regard this issue.
I hope more affiliates will try to test out the programs they sign with, instead of searching for the commission offered only.

This equation holds so many parameters like programs support, payment option and frequency, product selection (the Brand products bring a huge importance to the topic and in myRXCash we see the positive effect on our revenues.) and more, but as we all know:
"There is nothing more real, then a test". ;)
Good luck to all of us.

Daniel Brown.
Affiliate manager.
myRXCash (http://www.myrxcash.com)

[BowFromMI]

"Many affiliates will choose a program mainly according to the Commission rate, neglecting other crucial conditions such as..."

"Affiliates always tend to hunt commission rates"

Nice to see you guys both think so highly of your affiliates...
Yepp, we're all stupid, and never thought of any of those things you brilliant AM's bring up... wonder any of us was ever able to make a buck here being so stupid... good thing we have guys like you here to show us the errors of our ways...

So Dan, how's this for a test...
I sent 523 clicks to one of your templates (426 uniques), and made exactly 3 sales and $33. Maybe we're not too bright, but that seems like it works out to about one half of one percent conversion rate to me, and about 6 cents per click... that's about one tenth of what other programs do in my experience. "There is nothing more real, then a test". Would you advice after this test that I look for better performing programs?

[BowFromMI]

Well I agree with you on this...

Sam, you would have come off a lot better if you could have said something like, "No, in our experience, affiliates do factor in most things you bring up, and that why most affiliates come to us and stay with us.", not that we just end up with you on accident because we were too stupid to realize all the other factors...

[Sam4RX]

Sam, you would have come off a lot better if you could have said something like, "No, in our experience, affiliates do factor in most things you bring up, and that why most affiliates come to us and stay with us.", not that we just end up with you on accident because we were too stupid to realize all the other factors...

Hey Bow,

i get your point...
but I never intended to insult anyone and I respect all affiliates, in general. :p

Come on, you have to agree with me on what I said though…
“affiliates always tend to hunt commission rates”

OK! you’ve been around for some time, but some junior that sees MickeyMouseOP.com offers 55% commission will be attracted!
I would!
It is human nature…

My intention was to entice affiliates to test the available programs and compare notes before they poor they hard work into one pace.

Again you are a senior, experienced “been there done that” affiliate, but think of the newer generation, this info can be useful…

If it’s useful to 1 guy I am happy.

Just for the record, no hard feelings on my side, I know you don’t always have to put your white gloves to handle someone especially on this forum :D

[BowFromMI]

"Come on, you have to agree with me on what I said though…
“affiliates always tend to hunt commission rates”"

Nope, don't agree with you at all... at least I've never met an affiliate that would chose a program because of the commission %. Or we'd all be pushing Genbucks or somebody that will pay us 50 or 60%.

[RX69]

Well for over 5 years now I have been faithfull to many different affilate programs, and all for one reason, and one reason only:

Pay ontime, everytime or I am gone............

Just my 2 pennies..........

[traveller]

OK, I want to add my $.05 (although now its only worth about $.03)

I am an affilate manager and NOT for rx sites and have been for 7 years. plus have been an affilate here in the rx field for 6 years now

I work with many difernet types of programs from internet access to hotels to jewelry, ( if ur looking for a good non-prescription program with an epc of over 7% pm me) and it does not matter as the below holds true.

All affiliates should choose a program that of course pays,
Look at their epc if they offer it to you. Ask the am questions, see if u get a timely reponse.
How do they pay you?
How long have they been in the business?
Where are they located?
If they are working with a network (such as 4rx with My Kowabunga) i would have much more faith in them paying me as they have a network behind them rather than getting a check from offshore or somewhere in the Islands.
Do they notify you of updates (great guys at PP)

Look thur the forum and see how many people reccomend them, (PP and 4rx :) ) and how many cut them down (Rxsource :mad: )

The Rx industry is a bit difernet than the norm casue of the problems with the dea and medical boards but still the above should hold true.

[No Life]

...

[rxteam1]

I am sorry if any one got offended by the thread, this wasn’t my intention. (Bow, thanks for the info, you can always contact me and we will try to generate some progress.)
We have noticed that many affiliate programs are seducing affiliates with fancy big commission numbers but hiding the fact they have really low conversion rate and super low average sale.
The discussion about this issue is open, and that was the meaning from the start.
Thanks to this discussion I can learn how to offer better service; I can understand what the affiliate really cares about.
(Though honestly- in a natural way each one has is own demands and we should always respect that).

So friends: don’t forget I am representing you guys in front of my company- I am your flag here! :)
This kind of discussions can only help, so please keep on pointing out great ideas and thoughts.
Cheers,

Daniel B.
Affiliate manager.
myRXCash (http://www.myrxcash.com)

[clivew]

Some people think that they should stay quiet and protect their nest eggs.

Others want to share the good ideas and opportunities and generally clean up the industry to give it a long term future. For those who share - they give confidence to others.

For those afraid to share - find all sorts of reasons to justify their actions and they may even be right.

But it takes all kinds of people for the economy to run.

Interesting this and other recent threads have brought out both groups - to have their say.

For every winger there are 3 useful commentators, for every cheerleader there are others who show their bias to their own programs - not by offering a program that is any better but rather by knocking the cheerleaders, just for being cheerleaders.

Many newcomers are reading all this and voting with their feet and joining the programs that have an active affiliate manager - willing to have their say and answer all questions.

the diehards will not change and good luck to them - but diehards have a habitof well dying out. But there are always newcomers.

Sort of democratic action isnt it?

........... just doing a spot of moderating while rick is on leave till Feb 08 .......... Thank you appreciated ..... back on deck now .. Rick.

[rxteam1]

Hello Clive,

Just wanted to simply say:
I loved the allegory and your comment.
It sure gives more motivation to discuss freely about things that concern us in the industry.

Greetings, :D

Daniel Brown.
Affiliate manger.
myRXCash (http://www.myrxcash.com)

[Sam4RX]

I know plenty of affiliates that got hypnotized by an inflated commission % and have stayed with a program just for that. So I guess all depends of the affiliate…Doesn’t make them better or worst.

After you make sure that a program pays and pays on time, that they have a good manager easy to contact, that they are approved on forums and in the community, that they have a good commission %...
Only one thing remains…Do they convert well.
And the ONLY way to find out is to test a program.

And that is, in my opinion, the discussion here.

[elioteer]

IMO:

Going for better-converting program but less commission% has to come hand-in-hand with strong re-order tracking (including their outbound reorder emails) - with linking the customer account on database to my affiliate-id. (certainly I am ok with less % on reorders)

If the latter cannot be achieved in a program, I will, most of the time, continue shopping for a higher-commission program (provided I have tested it for skimming), and that its conversions is at-least acceptable.

The above guidelines worked well for me over the years in creating satisfying residual income, from the longer-running programs. With that in mind, I also factor in the fact that sometimes programs have a limited lifespan. Load-balancing between programs can protects you against the cruelty of concentration.

In the event you find a good program that you really like, but cannot really get the conversions you wanted - perhaps contacting them asking to host your own order form for tweaking can help (a side bonus is being able to record your customer's e-mail address)

-elioteer

[olegaz]

Or we'd all be pushing Genbucks or somebody that will pay us 50 or 60%.
With Genbucks I'm getting best return for my traffic. They have nice combination of payout % and conversion. Rx-partners is 2nd best, very close to GB. And I never got anything close in earnings on same traffic in other programs.

[mr_x]

I still find it hard to believe that anyone could make money selling shit like hoodia

[drugsdr]

I still find it hard to believe that anyone could make money selling shit like hoodia

I find it hard to believe people are making millions out of selling penis enlargement pills.

But I've learned that my personal beliefs are often way off track.

I've tended to have long term relationship with most companies I've worked with in the affiliate business and have no interest in changing companies I work with.

But going back a few years I always found one of the best ways to find the best / most profitable companies to work with was visit your favorite keywords on google and build a list of the top 10 sites you keep finding near the top of the lists or in PPC engines.

I based my commission vs conversion decisions initially on who where the top sites and which companies where they using. As a person of only limited smarts and industry knowledge my guess was if there was a top, say, russian affiliate from a few years back using company xyz the chances where he had split / volume tested all the major programs and the one he promoted probably had the greatest return.

If you could get an account with the company you could then do some initial testing yourself to confirm they payed on time and the commissions where ok. You could then keep an eye on the top websites you tracked and if they changed to a new company chances where somebody was either offering a better deal or there may have been payment / shipping /other problems with the old company and it was probably time to jump ship too.

Selecting the right company was only half the work though. There was a always large amounts of trial and error / testing of graphics, copy, layouts and things you could do on your own site they could often improve your conversions before you even hit the processing companies website by 5,10 or even 20%.

While I'd agree that many affiliates will try out a company offering big commissions, most are pretty smart and can tell the difference between commissions earned with an old company vs a new company. If the new company doesn't return they are dropped.

Only in the case of a new affiliate with no prior experience is somebody likely to stay with a company with big promises that fail to deliver. Simply because they lack experience. But if they have any brains they are unlikely to stay with one company and put all their eggs in one basket without trying out a few other processors.

If affiliates are so dumb why back in the day where they often earning 4 or 5 times the profit on each order that the processors made???

[No Life]

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