Why do affiliate program switch to NATS?
 

When an affiliate program has a custom backend, why do they decide to switch to Nats? Is it because the software is easier to use and maintain because the Nats team is the one in charge of updating it? Or does Nats appeal more to webmasters than a custom webmaster stats area? What other reasons are there?

custom backends one can become outdated fast, alot of what you pay in liscensing goes to supporting new developkment of a backend.

multitudes of biller gateways, updates, new tools. The kind of thing your programmers could spend every hour of every day on and take forever, not much of an allocation of your time, when there is a product that work.

Sure there is some benefit to the affiliate aswell, ease of use, since they know the backend by default since so many people use it, alot of people like the stats display.

i should think that trust is an issue here aswell with webmasters trusting big brand backends as opposed to custom backends.

:2 cents:

funny you bring this up. I have known two major programs that converted to NATS and their ratios went to shit immediately... Kink.com (formerly known as Cybernet Bucks) and Fleshlight

bottom line nats is the best, its easy to use, can login grab link codes,banners, quickly and be done with it, i dont see why all these programs have fancy flash systems, its more annoying than anything, when you just want to get your promo tools quickly

is that because they were fixing the stats or something before? does that mean that NATS was showing their real ratios as opposed to their Own backends ratios or did the change to NATS have an effect on their sales?

fully agree with this :thumbsup

I agree with fris, I hate some programs flash design bullshit. I would like programs more if they had a NATS running on a simple design such as nastydollars

nats is the fucking shit son

Ditto. Flashy heavy sites suck! Such a nuisance they are that when I need to find sites to promote I typically shy away from such beasties (flash heavy programs).
Why many insist on treating online marketeers (aka: web ""masters"") as surfers is beyond me. Save the glimmer for somebody else that appreciates the sh@! Just get me to the links codes ... quickly, please.

Is it worth the cost though to switch to NATS? I've developing a new affiliate program soon and NATS was an idea, but the fee's are more than my affiliate revenue at the moment!


:helpme

what T said... :pimp

maybe it's just that good ?

Yeah I agree with you.

I agree. I prefer the Nats interface. Plus I prefer to promote Nats because I am under the impression that it is harder to shave with that system. In general I just trust Nats more than custom systems.

I don't care what backend you pick but for god's sake stick with it.
My top program is about to switch backends for the 4th time since I started pushing them way back when. Enough is enough.

I've had to do sitewide search and replace on link codes so many times it's not funny.

Also, something always goes wrong during a switch and it always costs affiliates money. At some point you have to not care about the latest and greatest new feature some other backend offers, because the grass will always look greener on the other side.

Change for the sake of change is stupid.

If you are not willing to invest in your program, why would webmasters? (investing time in promoting it)
If you made a program that cost less than the monthly fees from nats to create, I think you may scare away a couple of webmasters due to bad coding or missing features :2 cents:
The affiliate backend is not everything though, you need the sites to attract new webmasters

Can someone answer this ?

There is always a cost of business when you are starting up a new program, you just need to figure out if it's worth it for your own business model. :2 cents:

hehe .. thanks jimmy. seriously, thats why though. nats is a solid product. no other backend has 5-8 people on during office hours, with people on call.

example, July 4th, 11 PM, had an issue, within 15 minutes, they had someone on. :thumbsup

Couldnt have put it better myself.

The key words being "during office hours." That is my only problem with NATS. If something happens off hours, you very well may sit until they come back the next day. We have gone down for an entire night, more than once. Of course as soon as they come in the office it's taken care of, but in the mean time, you're pretty much left holding your ass.

This is my only complaint with them. I'm pretty sure they can afford at least 1 tech on around the clock.

I will close by saying that it IS worth it if you want to expand your business.

Some affiliate programs switch to NATS, because they want to bring down the cost of their tech bill, and if they need something custom they can move that cost to a one time amount to TooMuchMedia per project. But either way, you still have to wait forever for them to integrate Paygea into their system. Their data model sucked, their interfaces needed work, but everyone loves them (Got to love it).

I want to see their new system I heard about a few months ago.

This is some good feedback. As an affiliate I know it's easy to grab links and check stats, but it makes me feel strange promoting so many programs using Nats. I think Thurbs has a really good point from an affiliate company perspective. I'd rather have a webmaster program spending time on promo materials instead of the webmaster/stats backend (IF they don't have to).

NATS gets my vote!

if the error is severe, as in product not working, you can call any time. they will get on within 15 minutes. we had an issue 4th of july, near midnight, and they took care of it. :thumbsup