Originally Posted by jayeff

Okay, this is only a poll with no guarantee of accuracy. But it's interesting that it suggests the exact same (very short) retention that most were citing back on the YNot board during a long thread on a similar topic back in '97 (if memory serves).

Interesting too that most people suggest "keeping the surfers happy" as the solution, yet there is only a very small number more "quality" sites among the well-known sponsors than there were 7 years ago. In the meantime there have been some sponsors who have proved that you can retain members, grow big doing so, and keep your affiliates happy. So why do most sponsors still insist on churning through members as if there is an infinite supply?

Part of the reason is probably habit: for many it is the only model of which they have any experience. But it is also still the route of choice for most start-up programs which aspire to any kind of large-scale exposure. And this is despite the extra risk, the extra start-up capital that is needed, etc., etc.

In some cases it may be attitude. I remember the glee with which some webmasters would greet the latest popup or warp code that Andy Dunn published in his Trix. I guess that for many, running a totally straight program just isn't very appealing.

Unless most are blindly following the herd, most apparently believe that the PPS model (with all that implies) is potentially the most profitable. Perhaps so, although I have always felt there is something bizarre about the notion that there is more money to be made from running surfers through the hoops than from simply delivering what they want.

Whatever the truth of that, a well-run PPS program can certainly deliver cash faster to both sponsors and their affiliates. But in the end does this model really generate more money than a solid recurring program such as Karups or Scoreland? And even if yes, for how long is this model sustainable? Some sponsors have enjoyed close to a decade already, but with all the changes in the market - including the tightening of card processors' scrubbing procedures and the slowing of Internet take-up from countries acceptable to the processors - can this model survive another 10 years?

Or is PPS the model of choice just because it is easier to mislead affiliates? I'm damn sure the cost per member is climbing steadily, despite reductions in content and hosting expenses, and I suspect prices are about as high as they can be without further increases becoming counter productive. Which makes the affiliates' piece of the pie about the only way sponsors can make up any shortfalls. Since we aren't generally being squeezed openly, one wonders - for example - whether the lower conversion rates many are complaining of, are simply a result of increased competition and cynical surfers, etc., or whether - at least in part - they reflect manipulation going on behind the scenes.