RE: commission junction and others

From: Kelley Mitchell <esc1krm_at_ups.com>
Date: Tue 31 Jul 2001 11:48:01 -0500

STEFANIE OLSEN <stefanieo_at_cnet.com> WROTE:

>Can I get the group's opinion on Commission Junction
>and other pay for performance networks such as BeFree
>and LinkShare? Are these networks effective? How so?
>Are they growing in popularity? Any input is helpful.

I have worked with both Commission Junction and
Linkshare, and evaluated BeFree. When my company launched
our affiliate program, we decided to go with Linkshare -
they had all the well-known 'merchants' (such as the
now-defunct Art.com), good reporting and control, and
short implementation time. At least that was the
marketing pitch! It took 5 MONTHS to implement, we had
continuous problems, the customer service is weak, and
it takes FOREVER for the affiliates to get paid. Yes, we
acquired over 5,000 affiliates in the first 6 months of
the program but only about 500 ever generated any revenue
- we were just barely covering the costs of the program.
After our year contract was up we decided to go with CJ.
They've come a long way since '99 and the customer service
is excellent. Not to mention the payments are done on a
debit/credit model, and affiliates receive 1 aggregate
check from all the programs they belong to.

Linkshare and BeFree have lost a lot of merchants, while
CJ has continued to grow. I would definitely recommend
CJ, but do your own research. Pick out some merchants from
each program that have a similar business model to yours
and contact them. Ask about their experiences with the
programs, and determine which one best fits your
company's needs.

>> Beware: sales reps from all 3 companies read this list,
and they will contact you :)

Sincerely,
Kelley Mitchell



Received on Tue Jul 31 2001 - 11:48:01 CDT