Interview with Nicky Iapino – Affilinet UK – Part One

Very interesting, the best so far and have to agree 90% with Nicky’s views on the Affiliate Association and would personally love to see this take off.

However, I did notice a slight contradiction in the podcast that made me think. The idea of the Association was always to be of benefit to ALL affiliates and not a closed group, big earners, nor is it their to boost a single persons ego. Why is it then, this has been discussed in the A4U Private Forums? Surely this will ring alarm bells with some affiliates by the way its being discussed behind closed doors?

Interesting to hear the background history to Affili.net too. Look forward to #2.

Fraser
I understand that you ‘forgot’ to ask Nicky my question which you know I spent ages on wording, and rewording and rererewording… Any chance you can follow it up for me and post the response here for others to see?

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In the past year, a number of networks have attracted merchants who wish to promote a specific campaign or product. Obviously, marketing departments have budget restrictions while they calculate the ROI from different media drives, but often is the case that Internet Marketing is more successful than anticipated.

When a merchants online budget is spent, they sometimes reappear a couple of months later with the same network, same campaign/product and same payout. So my question, in a round-about way, would be;

How do Afili.net manage merchants expectations? I.e., do they PROACTIVELY work with new merchants, explainnig the likely success rate of a particular campaign, in an attempt to increase the merchants planned budget, therefore extending the life of a campaign?

Agree with Chris’ first post above – it’s a shame that the Affiliate Associate discussions have happened on the private section and I know a few people who have been very critical of this, especially with the “UK Affiliate Association” section on the A4U. However I won’t go into my problems with the Affiliate Association on here as it’s a bit off topic.

The podcast was good – can’t say I agree with all of it and I do have a bit of a pet hate about private programs which Nicky/Affilinet seem to love, but lots of things said made a lot of sense

Looking forward to part 2.

Thanks for the comments. Frostie I do appreciate you spent a couple of days on your question so now I publicly apologise for forgetting to ask it

James, I’d be keen to hear your views on an affiliate association so don’t feel it would be off topic here.

Really good interview and very refreshing to hear many of the points raised. Have to say before I first meet Nicky I did view her with some scepticism however after the now infamous Limo Club and when I had a chance to really engage in some heated questions and debate that view changed very quickly. Over the years I now come to view what she is doing with much respect as in my opinion there is very few people like here who “truly” take real account of Affiliates when working at a Network.

I agree wholeheartedly about Networks needing to get the basics right before a Merchant is launched. I often see with dismay Networks rushing to get a program live to beat another Network and they didn’t even test a sale, check the cookie and so on. I do think Networks need to knock their head together here and not allow Merchants to get away with the basics, but the issue stands that if you as a Network are seen to try and get Merchants to do the right things they often just go with the other Network who couldn’t really careless and then to compound it you see Affiliates rewarding the Merchant and the other Network with promoting the Merchant even thought he has not done the basics and you sometimes say why do we even bother! I know why, but still frustrating

I don’t understand the need for Affiliates to think a Network is only good because it has hundreds of Merchants, I totally agree it’s better for all to work with smaller more dedicated group of Merchants who can do the basics and that includes paying invoices on time and validating sales quickly. Who wants to spend all day chasing invoices when the same time could be spent promoting and improving the program. That’s why Paid On Results have decided to just close down Merchants that can’t be bothered doing this basic stuff after agreeing they would during the setup phase.

And I am going on a bit so I will wrap up with saying a few words about the Affiliate Association. I removed myself from this as too many people who didn’t want to be involved where snipping behind my back that I have a hidden agenda and such like.. ah your ok, I won’t bother trying to help other Affiliates out, as I am perfectly capable of getting the right deal, being treated correctly and resolving issues for myself. I certainly do not want any fame (not my thing and if it was there easier ways to get it), I say what needs to be said and will stand up for it if I believe it’s worthwhile and the right thing. This has been shown in the past with the whole spyware stuff a couple of people where at the centre of making sure that was pushed to the forefront of all Networks and that only came about because a good number of people supported what was ultimately a very good move for the UK Affiliate Marketing Industry and that was to stamp these people out. So I do hope that a fully inclusive Affiliate Marketing Association will one day make its mark, ideally be headed up by someone people know and feel they can trust and its objectives won’t be just another talking shop that charges people to have a view.

Looking forward to part 2

Great interview. It was refreshing to hear Nicky talk openly and honestly about what’s involved in setting up and running an affiliate network.

Like many of the previous interviews there was also a genuine “love” for the industry we work in, which is why my own opinion is that Nicky and others mentioned in the podcast are the sort of people who should be involved in any type of Affiliate Association.

Lastly, Clarke – please oh please get a blog!

Will second the comments above. As Borat would say, “I like”. Great interview and wish there were more people like Nicky who genuinely cared about the well-being of the industry and devoted their time to making affiliate marketing something we can all be proud of.

Too much of an emphasis on the bling nowadays… maybe people like Nicky have the attitudes they do because they were around from the days when there wasn’t much money in affiliate marketing!

Nicky, a very good and frank podcast.
I certainly agree with you and Clarke re the point about having fewer quality affiliate programs. How ever, I would ask the question, is a network just a provider of affiliate tracking software, a go-between the affiliate and merchant (facilitators) or are they consultants. What is the definitive role of a network when programs don’t convert?

With regards to a private network, does the same argument apply with regards to a closed group of PPC affiliates? I believe Paul Wheatley mentioned this on the a4uforum with regards to closed groups of affiliates. Does this not lead to some affiliates feeling a little alienated? Is it the case of we don’t want the merchant’s or network’s (?) idea of a lesser affiliate, and what criteria do affiliates have to meet before being allowed into a private program? Even though the very heart of affiliate marketing is about allowing affiliates to take links, and even if they only generate two sales a month, its all goes towards either building a brand or increasing brand awareness? I can’t think of any scenario apart from porn sites that would need a private affiliate program, unless we are going down the road in the form of affiliate marketing elitism, in which case this will cause deep divisions within the affiliate community?

Re the affiliate association, as you say Nicky, some one leaked out the details of a meeting that had not even taken place out to the NMA and it did become part of Affili.net PR all be it inadvertently, and yes it must have been frustrating for you, but you don’t need a whole lot of know how to see how this would affect other networks that were sat around the table. You could see how the other networks that were not sat around the table because they did not know about the meeting, how they would feel. I agree that an association would be beneficial. But no one has actually asked the affiliates themselves what they want, there is a whole chunk of the affiliate marketing community whose voice has not been heard. Who chose any of us to represent the affiliate’s interest? But you do hit the nail on the head when you mention we are still dealing with the same old issues re merchant programs, x years on. Perhaps there would be no need for an association as Jason said last week, if the networks did their jobs.

Clarke, “too many people who didn’t want to be involved where snipping behind my back that I have a hidden agenda and such like.. ah your ok, I won’t bother trying to help other Affiliates out, as I am perfectly capable of getting the right deal, being treated correctly and resolving issues for myself” it’s the nature of the industry, you can’t please all of the people…. Sticks and Stones…You don’t give your self enough credit, as an affiliate and MD of a network, 100% trustworthy, do you doubt that?

Although the discussion about an affiliate association was in the private a4u forum membership is open to everyone so it’s not exclusive and I can’t imagine this being a barrier to anyone seriously interested in actively participating.

I attended the first meeting which was very amicable and we seemed to make progress but I agree with Nicky it really does need someone who can totally commit to the project before it’s likely to move forward.

Looking forward to part 2

Thanks for all your comments everyone
I just wanted to try and answer some of the additional questions that have been raised. Please excuse me if I miss any out – it’s not avoidance, it’s just an oversight
Frostie – it wasn’t an intention to start a thread in the private forum, it just happened that way. As Joe points out, this is open to everyone, so it’s not exclusive.
The budget question is a good one and campaign budgets are increasingly becoming an exciting part of affiliate marketing. Sometimes it can be hard to anticipate when something will work and how successful it will be. When discussing budgets with potential clients it is a case of testing the campaign with the right amount of budget (i.e – enough to test it properly) and in the right environment. This is where closed groups can be very effective (answering Jess’s question). For example, a budget needs to be controlled and therefore to offer it out to a public network is very hard to manage. But if you keep the group to a controlled level then you are able to manage Publishers expectations a lot more effectively. For example:
£10k budget for an FMCG client
New campaign, so you are unsure of the success. You allocate to a small group of Publishers and give them a target to work towards.
So many times I have seen campaign’s being pulled because the budget has been reached and sometimes the Publisher wasn’t even aware it was a campaign!
Whiskas is a really good example of a campaign that has been successful and (I feel) well managed. As a result of this the client has continued to give us a monthly budget
Jess, this can sometimes be the case for ongoing affiliate campaigns. Unfortunately some clients still allocate a budget to affiliate marketing. Therefore private programs are the only way to manage a budget effectively. I would like the situation to be different, as I don’t feel that AM should have a capped budget. But we have to adapt to this type of client and address it in the most efficient way possible.
Another reason for private programs is that we have found that some clients have had a really bad experience with AM in the past. One client we have recently launched had 7,000 Publishers in their program! There was a huge amount of PPC abuse, brand abuse and misrepresentation of the client. We know that this is avoidable even with a large group of Publishers, but the client had received little or no help and advice on how to run a good program. So their view of AM was very bad when we first went to see them. In this case the client was very hesitant to do anything and therefore we introduced a private program to build their confidence, over time, this type of program will be opened to a public network. I have not experienced Publishers feeling alienated by this approach and if they do, then I suggest they contact us. It is a little tricker with closed groups on PPC and my feelings here are mixed on what the best approach should be. We have had some Publishers in the past who have not worked on anything at all with us and then when they realize we have a closed group for a particular program then they almost expect to be part of that. I don’t think that is a fair expectation. I realize also with PPC closed groups that there are a lot of historical relationships that don’t seem very fair – but that doesn’t mean that the concept is wrong, it just means that in many cases it is not being managed correctly.
I don’t feel that every client is the same and therefore to launch every program to an entire network is not the most effective way to work with affiliates. We tend to take the offer to the affiliate, rather than waiting for them to find programs. I see that as being a quite different approach – but I felt that this was needed instead of launching the same business model as everyone else.
This approach is not for everyone – but again, I do not want a “one size fits all” network.
Jess, it’s unfair to say that we may not need an assocation if the neworks did their job – I think that affiliates, advertisers and networks have faults and that there is room for best practices for all parties.

Thanks for your comments Clarke – I have a lot of respect for you and what you have done with Paid on results. I have seen the tougher approach you have taken with programs which is great – you are the best placed to understand how Advertiser “issues” effect the impact on the affiliate and also the networks reputation.

James – I really don’t “love” private programs, it’s just that sometimes they are necessary to ensure that we get it right for the client. I would really like to hear why they are a pet hate of yours – I can explain a couple of real examples of why it really works for all parties.

I would be happy to chat through any of the comments or questions left here if you feel I haven’t answered them clearly. Thanks again to Clarke, Frostie, James, Jess, Nadeem, Chris and Joe for their comments. And of course thanks to Fraser – it was really fun to talk to you. Come on Paul – I would love to hear a podcast from you

Have a good Friday

Thanks for all the comments folks and thanks Nicky for taking the time to answer some of the extra questions. I know Frostie will be pleased

Part two of the interview is now online

Thanks Nicky