re: commission junction and others

From: Todd Crawford <tcrawford_at_CJ.COM>
Date: Wed 08 Aug 2001 13:40:52 -0500

KEN ZIMMER <kzimmer_at_mobileguy.com> WROTE:

>If eUniverse started their affiliate program in July
>2000, and the article states that they were able to
>make $450,000 by the end of that year, they would have
>had to make the $450,000 in the months July-through-
>December (six months total). The article also says
>that eUniverse attributes their success to a series of
>email newsletters "500 million emails a month to more
>than 17 million subscribers".

I appreciate your post at Online Ads. I just wanted
to point out that you took the eUniverse case study
too literally. Although is says that 500 million emails
were sent out per month by eUniverse, unfortunately,
not every one of them contained links from Commission
Junction (CJ). The case study highlighted eUniverse's
business model and how they leveraged CJ to increase
their revenues. The devil is in the details, which
unfortunately, the case study does not completely
provide.

Also, CJ removed the commissions paid out on our
website because we launched an entirely new website
and it was decided that it did not fit into the new
layout and corporate message.

DANA TODD <dana_at_sitelab.com> WROTE:

>So, the lesson learned here is that it's not the software,
>it's the affiliate partners that you select. One good
>portal deal can outperform a thousand little affiliates.

Thanks to you too for taking the time to post at Online
Ads. I don't know what your experience has been with CJ,
I looked over your client portfolio and didn't recognize
any in common with CJ. We work with a lot of advertising
agencies to help them deliver cost-effective results for
their clients and I would happy to discuss with you how
CJ can help SiteLab and its clients get more out of their
advertising budgets.

You are correct that performance based marketing can only
be effective if the right partnerships are established.
The right publisher/partner/affiliate can deliver
tremendous results. Often the best relationships are
established by the agency or advertiser. Why? Because
they know the business best and realize the most effective
partnerships. As an network, CJ provides a ready made
base of potential publishers but we have always advocated
quality over quantity when establishing performance-based
partnerships.

Last month, CJ began to make the transition from an
affiliate marketing provider to a pay-for-performance
advertising network. While affiliate marketing and
pay-for-performance advertising both pay affiliates/
publishers for sending customers to merchants/advertisers
the main difference between what we were and what we are,
is our Open Marketplace. The Open Marketplace is CJ's
answer to the lack of accountability in cost per action
(CPA) advertising. The inherent weakness in affiliate
marketing is that there is no way to evaluate or measure
the success of a revenue-sharing offer. For example,
if I were to approach a publisher (as an advertiser or
agency) and offer them a rev-share of 20% (double what I
offer all my other publishers), how do they know what
they can expect to earn from the partnership? How can
they measure the success of the partnership? How can
they compare their results? We feel that the Open
Marketplace provides this information to both advertisers
and publishers.

The Open Marketplace publishes payment and conversion
statistics on advertisers, publishers, and ads. We launched
the Open Marketplace to help both advertisers and
publishers better evaluate potential partnerships. By
allowing both sides to view the effectiveness of the
other's program, both will get what they want - honest
and effective revenue-generating partnerships. We believe
transparency builds trust and effective partnerships.

I would be happy to answer any questions or concerns
regarding CJ, pay-for-performance advertising or our
Open Marketplace. Please feel free to call or email
me.

Regards,

Todd Crawford
VP Strategic Alliances
--------------------------------------
Commission Junction -
  The Largest Pay-For-Performance Ad Network
Web: http://www.cj.com
Phone: 805-560-0777
Direct: 805-899-8988
Fax: 805-560-0776
Email: tcrawford_at_cj.com



Received on Wed Aug 08 2001 - 13:40:52 CDT