Merchants who call you after getting quote

[Bod]

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Why is it that merchants call you after you ask for a quote on there system but dont leave your details, I mean i just bought a dog, looking for insurance and one merchant was too dear, so didnt save details, and i also made sure the box was checked for not calling me weather it be via email/mail or phone.

I would have thought I wouldnt get a phone call but I did TWICE!! even after the first time i had the call and said no please go away.

Also, in the phone call, they said we can offer 20% off if you buy now rather than buying through the website, you cannot get this price on the net from us.

Now my question is, would we get commissions if the person decided to buy after the call was made, i wonder i really do, as i would think NO, as merchants, well some of them are so greedy after getting free traffic from affiliates

[pricethat]

I mean i just bought a dog

I hope you bought the dog through an affiliate link

[Bod]

I hope you bought the dog through an affiliate link

i wish i could....

[JMJ]

In fairness to the merchant, if you had walked away without buying and not saved the quote, and a telesales unit within the business was then passed the lead to try to convert the sale, then the affiliate wouldn't have actually made the sale - telesales would - and they would need to be paid commission, plus the discount offered to the user to get them to buy would also need to be factored into the profit from the sale.

So in my opinion in these circumstances no commission should be paid to the affiliate.

Actually in your case you should never have even been called because you told them not to so no-one should have got a sale!!

[altyfc]

In fairness to the merchant, if you had walked away without buying and not saved the quote, and a telesales unit within the business was then passed the lead to try to convert the sale, then the affiliate wouldn't have actually made the sale - telesales would - and they would need to be paid commission, plus the discount offered to the user to get them to buy would also need to be factored into the profit from the sale.

So in my opinion in these circumstances no commission should be paid to the affiliate.

Actually in your case you should never have even been called because you told them not to so no-one should have got a sale!!

BUT... had it not been for the affiliate, the sale wouldn't have happened. Ultimately, it's not the affiliate's job to complete the sale (it becomes out of the affiliate's control)... it's the affiliate's job to introduce the opportunity for a sale... no?

[JMJ]

I do understand your point and affiliates frustration with this type of scenario, but affiliates need to decide what their job is - if an affiliate is introducing an opportunity for a sale - aren't they just providing straight advertising?

I feel that affiliates are there to introduce and produce a sale without the pro-active involvement of the merchant (other than in processing the sale).

What it really comes down to is merchants being clear on what they are paying out on and affiliates making their own mind up about whether it's a fair deal or not?

[marky]

JMJ, I think you may be getting your media confused

Affiliates are paid on performance only.
If the affiliate was providing straight advertising, they would be payed for displaying the advert. This could be from CPM, fixed tenancy to ppc or any other way of basically being paid for 'just advertising'

Affiliates don't generally get paid for displaying the adverts. (I'll stick to this scenario where they don't) . They display the media on their website/whatever and construct it, market it at their own risk. Then if the advert produces a sale, they expect to get paid for it.

An affiliate can do as much as possible until the traffic leaves their site and goes to the merchant. An affiliate can filter the traffic and pre sell as much as possible, or not and the quality of their traffic will be shown by it, though their traffic is introducing a client to the merchant that they may not have ordinarily have had.

The merchant absolutely has to be involved and proactive or not at all depending on their program. Financial services, the vast majority of which is now covered by the FSA has some rules under the FSMA which restricts what a non-authorised body can and can't do. So, in some of these cases yes people may only be displaying adverts, though there are a lot of pet insurers out there, they will choose one merchant to go in one space for a reason. They could send the traffic to another merchant instead. The merchant is expected to convert the traffic, whether on site or by phone. The point is, if you are paid only on performance, you expect to be compensated for your efforts in 'introducing' the client / traffic in the first place.

It is great that some merchants are hungry enough to close sales with a telephone operation, though the fact still resides, without the traffic the affiliate sent them, that sale would not have existed. The traffic could be sent else where.

It comes down to how much a merchant values the affiliate channel. If it provides them with good extra business at a margin that is useful, then payment for all referals should be honoured

In a way affiliates are not too different from IFA's. I know of some insurance companies that treat their affiliates exactly the same as an IFA. The IFA may fax or email their customer requests, where affiliates send traffic to the merchants site. Payment is exactly the same. To a merchant paying for results it really shouldn't matter to them how the client is introduced (as long as legal, ethical etc etc), xyz ltd or dfhjsdfh.co.uk has sent a customer their way. If they want to continue receiving referals then they have to pay for them

There are probably a few holes in what I have said above, though hope the general message was clear. You have an interesting viewpoint though and would be intersting to see how other people on all sides of the internet marketing world sat ?

Out of interest, are you a merchant/affiliate/network/agency and what sector ?

[JMJ]

Out of interest, are you a merchant/affiliate/network/agency and what sector ?

I represent a merchant in the debt advice/debt management sector. Incidentally, when we are sent a lead from an affiliate we always pay out on all revenue earned from the enquiry regardless of what we need to do to get the business in.