NATS: Missing a Major Feature

[BestXXXPorn]

In fact I believe the entire adult industry is missing this feature.... unless I just can't find the ability in NATS or other affiliate tracking software / custom solutions... or, unless the ability is available from the sponsor's side only...

At any rate... Tracking pixels / scripts for affiliates. That way when a conversion occurs it drops the html for a 1x1 clear gif (or JS script) from the affiliate's server and passes over args. Obviously these should be setup by campaign.

Example:

Sponsor X Converts with a tracking code (by campaign), look up occurs and something akin to:

<script type="text/javascript" src="https://tracking.affiliatex.com/track/conversion.js?join_id=356345&campaign_id=default&amount=14.94&user_id=23234"></script>
<noscript><img src="https://tracking.affiliatex.com/track/conversion.gif?join_id=356345&campaign_id=default&amount=14.94&user_id=23234" width="1" height="1" /></noscript>

Obviously there are some variable replacements here so the actual tracking script would looking something more like:

<script type="text/javascript" src="https://tracking.affiliatex.com/track/conversion.js?join_id=%%join_id%%&campaign_id=default&amount=%%payout%%&user_id=%%user_id%%"></script>
<noscript><img src="https://tracking.affiliatex.com/track/conversion.gif?join_id=%%join_id%%&campaign_id=default&amount=%%payout%%&user_id=%%user_id%%" width="1" height="1" /></noscript>

There are tons of options here but the main points illustrated above:

The payout amount
Type of payout (revshare, pps)
The Lead or Join ID of the new member
The campaign
And the ability for affiliates to pass over custom arguments (their site's user_id, perhaps a sub_affiliate_id if they're a network, etc...)


This type of system is pretty commonplace in mainstream and allows affiliates not to have to use some specialized 3rd party software just to munge their stats together across sponsors.

Questions ? Comments ?

[Jayvis]

Yeah, pretty common feature wanted by affiliates, we do it for quite a few people.

[TMM_John]

A postback to affiliates with the same data is a MUCH more reliable method and available in NATS4.

[seeandsee]

postback method is ok method too for reliable tracking

[Value]

Agreed - that would be great.

[Value]

Originally Posted by TMM_John

A postback to affiliates with the same data is a MUCH more reliable method and available in NATS4.

OK how do I do it as an affiliate? Does the Sponsor need to enable/ do something to make it available?

[BestXXXPorn]

Originally Posted by TMM_John

A postback to affiliates with the same data is a MUCH more reliable method and available in NATS4.

So there's no interface for the affiliates?

[woj]

Originally Posted by TMM_John

A postback to affiliates with the same data is a MUCH more reliable method and available in NATS4.

Can you post the url to the docs that describe exactly how this works, how to set it up, etc?

[OY]

Pixel tracking is a feature in MPA3 for those who wants it. Pro and Enterprise versions only. Been there for a while and mostly used by our mainstream customers, but there if you need it as a program owner for your affiliates.

[BestXXXPorn]

Originally Posted by Oystein

Pixel tracking is a feature in MPA3 for those who wants it. Pro and Enterprise versions only. Been there for a while and mostly used by our mainstream customers, but there if you need it as a program owner for your affiliates.

Excellent :D Good to know when I'm processing sponsors that I can flag them as having tracking abilities if they use MPA3.

Thank you for the post!

BTW, great presentation of your product on your site. Very sharp, comprehensive, and shows off the features and awards/nominations very nicely

[signupdamnit]

What about Consumer-Affiliate Linking? CCbill evidently was going to include it in the ill fated WMS.

What is Consumer-Affiliate Linking?

Consumer-Affiliate Linking is a method of making sure that your affiliates are paid for future sales based on a prior referral.

CCBill uses the consumer email address, payment information, or a combination of the two to determine if a customer signing up has purchased before, and if so checks to see if those transactions were linked to an affiliate. If so it ensures that the affiliate is paid for referring the new transaction as well.

http://www.ccbill.com/cs/kb/idx.php/...e-Linking.html

The Swurve.com dating program seems to have something like it as well.

Superior Sale Tracking

The problem with cookies is over time they can go stale. With Swurve when a user you have referred registers an account we hard code your affiliate ID into their user record, insuring that no matter how much time has passed or how many times they've dumped their cache and cleared their cookies you still get credit when they upgrade their membership. How great is that?! We know when you make more you send us more sales and we are committed to doing more to ensure you get credit for all your marketing efforts.

http://www.swurve.com/affiliates

Does NATS 4.0 or the planned NATS 4.1 (or even the MPA3 competitor) have consumer-affiliate linking and if so where can we see that it is enabled in the affiliate admin?

[bolsex]

Interesting feature!

[Amputate Your Head]

it's missing another feature too...

the ability to use it without being a brain surgeon.

[stocktrader23]

Originally Posted by Amputate Your Head

it's missing another feature too...

the ability to use it without being a brain surgeon.

[BIGTYMER]

Originally Posted by Amputate Your Head

it's missing another feature too...

the ability to use it without being a brain surgeon.

But you told me to amputate my head...

[stocktrader23]

Originally Posted by BIGTYMER

But you told me to amputate my head...

Take your boys advice...

[ShellyCrash]

Originally Posted by signupdamnit

The Swurve.com dating program seems to have something like it as well.

Yes, we do & thanks for noticing!

[ShellyCrash]

Also, just to add, the reason why we added that feature is to match the needs of dating traffic, so not every sponsor may feel their product needs that additional step. Dating has a really long tail and you do have instances where people access their accounts from multiple machines, etc. The way we addressed the issue is to write the referral information into the user record at the time of registration, so your user is your user. If they upgrade same day, 10 days, 60 days or 366 days later or if they registered from home and upgraded from work, so on and so forth, the affiliate who referred them still gets credit for the sale.

[signupdamnit]

Originally Posted by ShellyCrash

Also, just to add, the reason why we added that feature is to match the needs of dating traffic, so not every sponsor may feel their product needs that additional step. Dating has a really long tail and you do have instances where people access their accounts from multiple machines, etc. The way we addressed the issue is to write the referral information into the user record at the time of registration, so your user is your user. If they upgrade same day, 10 days, 60 days or 366 days later or if they registered from home and upgraded from work, so on and so forth, the affiliate who referred them still gets credit for the sale.

That makes sense. For most pay sites there is the issue that a sponsor might have a 3 day cookie (current CCBill default). If I refer a customer as part of a revshare program and they signup for a 30 day membership I will get my cut for the initial signup. Now let's say they cancel the membership (or perhaps they don't believe in recurring memberships and always choose non-recurring) and come back a week after it has expired by directly typing in the sponsor's url and signup again for another month and repeat the process many times over the next two years (let's say they do this six times). With most programs there is no "Customer-affiliate linking" or if there is it is grossly inadequate. The main tracking relies on the cookie (in this case 3 days) thus I only get credit for 1/6 signups despite originally referring the customer.

I can see potential issues with implementing this (won't detail, I rambled too much already) but overall it seems a better deal for the affiliate when it is implemented.

[ShellyCrash]

Originally Posted by signupdamnit

Now let's say they cancel the membership (or perhaps they don't believe in recurring memberships and always choose non-recurring) and come back a week after it has expired by directly typing in the sponsor's url and signup again for another month and repeat the process many times over the next two years (let's say they do this six times).

I can only speak from a dating industry perspective, but it is not uncommon to have users cancel their membership shortly after upgrading and then restart it once it expires to avoid automatic rebills.

I wouldn't say this happens the majority of the time, more often than not a user does not cancel their membership within the first 30 days. Without looking at any hard numbers, and working off my experience with straight adult (primarily vanilla) dating program traffic only, I would conservatively say 10% of paying members fall into this buying pattern. On average 6 manual re-upgrades might be a little higher than average, but pull that back to 3 and you've got a realistic estimate of affiliate earnings being left on the table.

Keep in mind these patterns can vary greatly by product. With online swinger community sites you are looking at a much higher percentage, and with fetish community sites not as much. Community sites have their own unique sets of needs, content site buying patterns may be completely different. With content sites the amount of manual rebills might be negligible.

[ShellyCrash]

Also, if you guys like some of the innovations we've made with our tracking, please nominate us for Emerging Affiliate Program of the Year over at Xbiz