Affiliates: Weekly Emails From Programs Good Or Bad?

[The Porn Nerd]

Basically, are you more likely to promote a Program if they send you weekly emails with the latest Updates (FHGs, videos, etc) or less likely? In other words, if a Program sends you weekly emails announcing their latest stuff does this annoy your or help you?

Considering doing this starting in March.

(And if any Program Owners want to chime in with their experiences, great!)

Thanks everyone!

[ITraffic]

when i promoted paysites and needed fresh content back in the day i liked it. now just marked as spam.

[sandman!]

ditto....

Originally Posted by ITraffic

when i promoted paysites and needed fresh content back in the day i liked it. now just marked as spam.

[newB]

I prefer programs that use them, especially announcements concerning changes to a program including new or closing sites so I can update my site accordingly. It also gives a clear indication that the program is still active.

[MassMarketing]

I prefer 2-4 announcements per month. No more than that though.

[PornDiscounts-R]

Originally Posted by newB

I prefer programs that use them, especially announcements concerning changes to a program including new or closing sites so I can update my site accordingly. It also gives a clear indication that the program is still active.

This

[Barefootsies]

If they are sending me fresh new galleries, I do not mind it. That makes my life easier to cut and paste, and then throw into my galleries. If anything beyond that, it's spam and I mark it as such.

[signupdamnit]

Originally Posted by ITraffic

when i promoted paysites and needed fresh content back in the day i liked it. now just marked as spam.

Pretty much ditto except I don't mark it as spam unless I never signed up for it. I really should try unsubscribing but it's many different programs and usually people don't really unsubscribe you anyway. It honestly is a little annoying but I understand it's my fault for not at least trying to unsubscribe,

It might be a good idea to weed out everyone who hasn't been sent a check once a year or so and stop sending them promo emails. I'm not sure how easy that is over ccbill but it would probably prevent some of your emails from being marked as spam.

[Captain Kawaii]

programs that still convert. Good

I have found that programs that still convert do not spam affiliates.

[Rochard]

Affiliate programs need to reach out to their affiliates on a regular basis. In my case I run a blog network and I am in CONSTANT need to get content - I just can't get enough. I read every email that is sent out with new galleries and what not. Also, in some cases, a nice little reminder that the affiliate program exists is a huge help.

I run YNOT Mail and I am disappointed more companies do not use it. A great example of this is Teen Harbor - I recently discovered they have a chick named Busty Buffy. I have a never of "big breast" blogs and wish I knew about this site. Too bad they don't send out emails on a regular basis (and if they do, they must be going to spam).

Spam is another problem. A lot of programs just send out via NATS or MPA3, and frankly you are just blindly sending out bulk email which goes to spam.

ALL of you are sitting on a gold mine of data and none of you are using it. If you have a membership based site you have a long list of both members and affiliates. You should be reminding your affiliates about your program every week to encourage them to push your sites, and you should be mailing your past members to get them to come back or to send them to other similar sites.

I will be online and working this weekend if anyone is interested.

[Phoenix]

I like emails from programs it signifies that they are active.

[Qbert]

Originally Posted by Rochard

...You should be reminding your affiliates about your program every week to encourage them to push your sites...

Weekly is way too often unless there is also new promo content weekly. If there is no new promo, once a month is plenty and even then after about three or four months without anything of substance the email addy is going to get added to the spam list.

[The Porn Nerd]

Originally Posted by Captain Kawaii

programs that still convert. Good

I have found that programs that still convert do not spam affiliates.

Well the whole idea would be to send out NEW promos (recently added videos and FHGs), as many Programs now do. And yes, my shit converts otherwise I would still not be here and growing. Ahoy Captain!!

Originally Posted by Rochard

Affiliate programs need to reach out to their affiliates on a regular basis. In my case I run a blog network and I am in CONSTANT need to get content - I just can't get enough. I read every email that is sent out with new galleries and what not. Also, in some cases, a nice little reminder that the affiliate program exists is a huge help.

I run YNOT Mail and I am disappointed more companies do not use it. A great example of this is Teen Harbor - I recently discovered they have a chick named Busty Buffy. I have a never of "big breast" blogs and wish I knew about this site. Too bad they don't send out emails on a regular basis (and if they do, they must be going to spam).

Spam is another problem. A lot of programs just send out via NATS or MPA3, and frankly you are just blindly sending out bulk email which goes to spam.

ALL of you are sitting on a gold mine of data and none of you are using it. If you have a membership based site you have a long list of both members and affiliates. You should be reminding your affiliates about your program every week to encourage them to push your sites, and you should be mailing your past members to get them to come back or to send them to other similar sites.

I will be online and working this weekend if anyone is interested.

Perhaps we should chat about this issue more. As you know, I have used YNOT mail for a long time (until recently) and found it a great service. However, the expense was not something I felt comfortable with, especially if I want to send out over 100k emails monthly (past Members mostly, not to affiliates).

Anyway, YNOT is a great service.

[ravo]

We send an email to all affiliates that have opted-in to receive it. We send out no more than 3 times per month, and usually include info about program changes, additions and payout notices, and other items we think may be useful to them. No more than 5 items per mailing.

And, we see about a 35% open rate. Frankly, I was really hoping for a better percentage than that...

[MakeMeGrrrrowl]

I think I would appreciate the emails. I would also enjoy some competition as well and being able to bonus.

Ravo - is the open rate for affiliates better than for customers? Mine has never been 35%!!!!!

It's usually more like 12%.

[ravo]

Originally Posted by MakeMeGrrrrowl

Ravo - is the open rate for affiliates better than for customers? Mine has never been 35%!!!!!

I wouldn't know, as I have nothing to compare to. Like I said, these are affiliates of our program, who have specifically OPTED-IN, so they are motivated to read our emails.

[MakeMeGrrrrowl]

Originally Posted by The Porn Nerd

Anyway, YNOT is a great service.

Agreed!

Now expect to get spammed by the guy who pops up every time ynot is mentioned.

[jimmycooper]

As an affiliate, I don't like it because it increases the likelihood that the new content will become quickly saturated. As a program owner, on the other hand, it's probably a good thing to send out frequent updates because you want to saturate the market.

[ErectMedia]

Originally Posted by ITraffic

when i promoted paysites and needed fresh content back in the day i liked it. now just marked as spam.

+1

Would say send it and include and unsubscribe link so the ones that wanna do their own thing don't get annoyed.

[femdomdestiny]

When i update my sites,first where I am looking for content are those emails. Fuck sponsors that are not sending news .I forget that they even exist

[MasonSquelch]

Originally Posted by Phoenix

I like emails from programs it signifies that they are active.

I second that. If they keep sending new material, even better, especially for my kind of website. I sometimes wished some companies would provide more background information (models, director etc) though, because endless link lists are so yesteryear.

Apart from that, almost every e-mail client has filter functions: move every incoming e-mail into its appropriate folder and read it whenever you want.

[The Porn Nerd]

Originally Posted by jimmycooper

As an affiliate, I don't like it because it increases the likelihood that the new content will become quickly saturated. As a program owner, on the other hand, it's probably a good thing to send out frequent updates because you want to saturate the market.

It's funny you should mention saturation. I think that's less and less of an issue these days as Programs (and affiliates) are sadly disappearing every day.

For those that control the traffic I think THEIR stuff is oversaturated simply because they put their stuff all over their own stuff. LOL There's no way (today) your average everyday affiliate, even those that regularly submit to tubes, could get that kind of real estate/exposure.

But also, as I always say, a surfer may see our videos or pictures on another website but if they see it on YOURS, and you do a better job of marketing it than the last time they saw it, you may get the sale. In fact, seeing it on other sites could act as a kind of "pre-sell" for you.

So as an affiliate I would worry less about the competition, which may actually be helping you, and more about marketing the material as effectively as possible on your own sites.

[arock10]

What about affiliates sending weekly emails to sponsors giving them an update about what they are up to, how their pets are, the weather, the googles etc

[cool1g]

As long as there is good content in the email weekly is fine IMO.

[The Porn Nerd]

Originally Posted by arock10

What about affiliates sending weekly emails to sponsors giving them an update about what they are up to, how their pets are, the weather, the googles etc

Only if they came in the form of downloadable links where I could grab content for my cat Blog or east coast weather Blog. Otherwise I would just forward them all to you. :D

[Jel]

marking as spam, so that info goes back to whichever provider, and possibly giving black marks to a program you voluntarily signed up to in a biz sense, knowing you'd get biz emails from them? Damn, that's fucking cold. What an indictment on today's society that that's the preferred course of action, rather than moving the mouse a fraction, and taking the 0.4 seconds to hit 'delete'.

I delete tons of sponsor emails, but I'll always want to receive them, for that coincidence where a sponsor has some abc content for an xyz site I was just about to work on. Each to their own, but marking it as spam because you changed your mind, or are too lazy, wtf lol.

[Best-In-BC]

GGGGReat!

[ravo]

Originally Posted by arock10

What about affiliates sending weekly emails to sponsors giving them an update about what they are up to, how their pets are, the weather, the googles etc

You know, as stupid as it sounds, I'd love to get emails from my affiliates telling me what's good, and what's bad about their experiences with our program. But, I'd just delete the pet and weather updates... ;)

[SNRProductions]

As a program owner we send them out...if the affiliate doesn't want them they can either ignore them or unsubscribe to them. We'd rather give them the option to receive them then not though. I agree and think it helps affiliates know we're active.

[Panty Snatcher]

Hey Guys

If you sign up for the emails never mark them as spam ( you ask for the information )

I started a new mail list service for adult and you are doing is harming your sponsors, please unsubscribe from the mail list or just delete them.

[MrGusMuller]

I REALLY LIKE IT!

Please SPAM with programs that PUMP me fresh content every day/week....

[Rochard]

Originally Posted by Qbert

Weekly is way too often unless there is also new promo content weekly. If there is no new promo, once a month is plenty and even then after about three or four months without anything of substance the email addy is going to get added to the spam list.

Perhaps.

But I crave new / more content as often as I can get it. I'm signed up to hundreds of programs and I just can never get enough new content. At the same time, it kills me when I learn a program opened up a new site that is exactly what I need and I never heard of it because they either don't email or their email goes to spam.

[signupdamnit]

Originally Posted by Panty Snatcher

Hey Guys

If you sign up for the emails never mark them as spam ( you ask for the information )

I started a new mail list service for adult and you are doing is harming your sponsors, please unsubscribe from the mail list or just delete them.

I don't mean to be a dick but what does the affiliate really get from you being able to successfully send out mailers to your customers? In fact it's common these days to use the mailers to cut out and screw the affiliate who first referred the potential customer to you in the first place. In the last decade the pre-join form popularly grabs the email of the potential referred customer first. Then in the next click it asks for credit card info. If the customer does not submit cc info at this point the affiliate typically gets nothing yet the sponsor can still send out a mailer a week later usually without paying the affiliate for the referred traffic. This is now standard in the industry.

So again I ask why should an affiliate care whether your customer mailings get through? It's not really a partner type relationship anymore with how the standard adult affiliate program is operating.

The only reason I don't click "Spam" is because I'm not a dick but really I probably should more often. After all you get what you give. If you treat others like crap and take advantage of them, don't expect them to treat you like a king. Cold hard truth here.

[babeterminal]

its a must why wait till march get on it tomorrow all programs should do it, its how i for one update my sites in bulk
i let emails build up for a time then i post all from that sender sometimes it can take more than a day but it beats posting old stuff from the program website

[babeterminal]

op add some new vids to your xml feeds

[The Porn Nerd]

Originally Posted by signupdamnit

I don't mean to be a dick but what does the affiliate really get from you being able to successfully send out mailers to your customers? In fact it's common these days to use the mailers to cut out and screw the affiliate who first referred the potential customer to you in the first place. In the last decade the pre-join form popularly grabs the email of the potential referred customer first. Then in the next click it asks for credit card info. If the customer does not submit cc info at this point the affiliate typically gets nothing yet the sponsor can still send out a mailer a week later usually without paying the affiliate for the referred traffic. This is now standard in the industry.

So again I ask why should an affiliate care whether your customer mailings get through? It's not really a partner type relationship anymore with how the standard adult affiliate program is operating.

The only reason I don't click "Spam" is because I'm not a dick but really I probably should more often. After all you get what you give. If you treat others like crap and take advantage of them, don't expect them to treat you like a king. Cold hard truth here.

Well, SPAM is one thing, weekly announcements of newly-added promo tools which can help affiliates (and yes, Program Owners too) make more $$$ should be another thing.

But I hear what you are saying in regards to collecting emails. Right now, my Programs are CCBill-based so there is no pre-join email capture, at least not on my sites. I am also not a huge fan of email marketing, tho I know it works for some. Having said all that, today's affiliate is in a weakened position, no doubt, but I am the kind of Progam Owner that if an affiliate was really trying, really promoting my stuff, and finding it difficult to compete, I would help that affiliate any way I could, including offering a better percentage and custom promo tools.

Originally Posted by babeterminal

op add some new vids to your xml feeds

Being done, yes.

[ITraffic]

offer $50 pps when you get nats set up.

[Loka]

I would ideally filter out affiliates who are not sending any traffic at all and send it to those who are doing good.

[SmutGiant]

Originally Posted by signupdamnit

It might be a good idea to weed out everyone who hasn't been sent a check once a year or so and stop sending them promo emails. I

I would especially e-mail these people and incentivize them to start sending traffic (again).

Originally Posted by The Porn Nerd

For those that control the traffic I think THEIR stuff is oversaturated simply because they put their stuff all over their own stuff. LOL

This is going to change.

[Jel]

Originally Posted by signupdamnit

I don't mean to be a dick but what does the affiliate really get from you being able to successfully send out mailers to your customers? In fact it's common these days to use the mailers to cut out and screw the affiliate who first referred the potential customer to you in the first place. In the last decade the pre-join form popularly grabs the email of the potential referred customer first. Then in the next click it asks for credit card info. If the customer does not submit cc info at this point the affiliate typically gets nothing yet the sponsor can still send out a mailer a week later usually without paying the affiliate for the referred traffic. This is now standard in the industry.

So again I ask why should an affiliate care whether your customer mailings get through? It's not really a partner type relationship anymore with how the standard adult affiliate program is operating.

The only reason I don't click "Spam" is because I'm not a dick but really I probably should more often. After all you get what you give. If you treat others like crap and take advantage of them, don't expect them to treat you like a king. Cold hard truth here.

wtf are you talking about #1 what does this have to do with a program sending affiliates newsletters about content/new sites/etc, and #2 if a program can somehow monetize some non-buying traffic, why in fuck shouldn't they?

[Marco68]

Good! I always use their contents. And I appreciate that the program is still active.

[faxxaff]

Emails are fine as long as they contain good content and the sender takes effort in transmitting genuine information. I.e. news or background information.

Use common sense when sending out emails to create value for sender and recipient.

Weekly newsletter containing nothing but a gallery dump are pure spam imho.

[signupdamnit]

Originally Posted by Jel

wtf are you talking about #1 what does this have to do with a program sending affiliates newsletters about content/new sites/etc, and #2 if a program can somehow monetize some non-buying traffic, why in fuck shouldn't they?

I explained it in good detail in the previous post. The message I quoted implied that affiliates who mark such mailings as spam hurt sponsors because their other mailers to customers can get flagged as spam as a result. I pointed out that the affiliate has mostly been cut out of that mailer related revenue entirely in our industry since it is not usually shared with the affiliate these days even when they originally sent the lead in the first place. So what does the affiliate care whether your mailers get through to customers or not?

#2 I'm not even going to try to go into because it would hijack Porn Nerd's topic but you can probably guess where I am going from what I've already said.

[Jel]

Originally Posted by signupdamnit

I explained it in good detail in the previous post. The message I quoted implied that affiliates who mark such mailings as spam hurt sponsors because their other mailers to customers can get flagged as spam as a result. I pointed out that the affiliate has mostly been cut out of that mailer related revenue entirely in our industry since it is not usually shared with the affiliate these days even when they originally sent the lead in the first place. So what does the affiliate care whether your mailers get through to customers or not?

#2 I'm not even going to try to go into because it would hijack Porn Nerd's topic but you can probably guess where I am going from what I've already said.

Man oh fucking man. No wonder programs decide to fuck affiliates off and deal with the tubes, or go invite-only where dumbfuck affiliates who feel 'owed' not only every fucking tool and then some, all the content they want, but then piss because a surfer who didn't buy ended up on a mailing list that might sign up... or most likely won't sign up. That post displays even less than zero business sense. Fucking amazing you don't get it, seriously

[signupdamnit]

Originally Posted by Jel

Man oh fucking man. No wonder programs decide to fuck affiliates off and deal with the tubes, or go invite-only where dumbfuck affiliates who feel 'owed' not only every fucking tool and then some, all the content they want, but then piss because a surfer who didn't buy ended up on a mailing list that might sign up... or most likely won't sign up. That post displays even less than zero business sense. Fucking amazing you don't get it, seriously

Apparently I'm not the only one who "doesn't get it" because most pay site affiliates left long ago. I wonder why, Jel? I mean they have more tools than ever and all the content they could ever want. Who cares about actually being paid fairly for referring the traffic and revenue they actually send anyway? That's for lesser minds without any business sense.

[Jel]

Originally Posted by signupdamnit

Apparently I'm not the only one who "doesn't get it" because most pay site affiliates left long ago. I wonder why, Jel? I mean they have more tools than ever and all the content they could ever want. Who cares about actually being paid fairly for referring the traffic and revenue they actually send anyway? That's for lesser minds without any business sense.

don't tell me - it's because those affiliates got fucked over by not getting paid for emails surfers submitted, when the surfers didn't buy a membership? It also has nothing to do with dwindling traffic (in which group I'm well and truly included), right?

you're fucking clueless

Reminder to self: skip over idiot posts, do not reply to them

[The Porn Nerd]

Originally Posted by signupdamnit

Apparently I'm not the only one who "doesn't get it" because most pay site affiliates left long ago. I wonder why, Jel? I mean they have more tools than ever and all the content they could ever want. Who cares about actually being paid fairly for referring the traffic and revenue they actually send anyway? That's for lesser minds without any business sense.

Originally Posted by Jel

don't tell me - it's because those affiliates got fucked over by not getting paid for emails surfers submitted, when the surfers didn't buy a membership? It also has nothing to do with dwindling traffic (in which group I'm well and truly included), right?

you're fucking clueless

Reminder to self: skip over idiot posts, do not reply to them

Not to moderate but I can see both points here. Obviously I am a Program Owner so feel I should be able to email anyone I damn well like. However, if I were a pure affiliate then I would be upset over ANY monetization that did not include me or my original referral.

So here's how I deal with it, being a clever and perceptive fellow: if we're talking about an affiliate who puts almost zero effort into promotion - throw up a link, throw up a gal, and that's it, never anything else - then the affiliate is not really doing his part. Sure, they threw up a banner but these days it takes much more promotion than that to succeed.

But if we have an affiliate who is really trying, involved and communicating with me, then I will go out of my way to help that individual. This could mean special mailings for traffic he sends, or a better percentage, or something custom to help with his promotions. But if an affiliate is just throwing me in along with ten thousand other Programs, well how much extra effort can he expect? It SHOULD be a relationship.

Now guess how many affiliates actually take the time to contact ME? LOL Yup, maybe like 2. Thus, this thread and let's see if weekly emails may motivate some affs.

[signupdamnit]

Originally Posted by The Porn Nerd

So here's how I deal with it, being a clever and perceptive fellow: if we're talking about an affiliate who puts almost zero effort into promotion - throw up a link, throw up a gal, and that's it, never anything else - then the affiliate is not really doing his part. Sure, they threw up a banner but these days it takes much more promotion than that to succeed.

But if we have an affiliate who is really trying, involved and communicating with me, then I will go out of my way to help that individual. This could mean special mailings for traffic he sends, or a better percentage, or something custom to help with his promotions. But if an affiliate is just throwing me in along with ten thousand other Programs, well how much extra effort can he expect? It SHOULD be a relationship.

Now guess how many affiliates actually take the time to contact ME? LOL Yup, maybe like 2. Thus, this thread and let's see if weekly emails may motivate some affs.

To be fair, It's not just you. I don't even think there is an easy way for you under CCbill to say add a unique ID to mailers automatically in order to easily credit affiliates when someone they sent originally buys after clicking the mailer. Is there? The same is true for cross sales on CCBill. As far as I know they don't even offer the option to compensate an affiliate for a cross sale generated from traffic they sent. That is just how this industry (de)evolved in relation to treatment of affiliates.

But say you worked for someone for 12 hours and they used to pay you for 12 hours. Then one day they suddenly demanded you work the same 12 hours but they will only pay you for 8 hours. Would you do it? Probably not if you had other options. Besides the money it's also the whole principle of it. You're not some damn slave and they are being a scumbag for even trying to do that to you.

I think the above is how many affiliates who left viewed this industry and the entire situation. It was just one thing after another where affiliates were constantly being shit on by the industry. A total lack of respect for them, their traffic and their efforts. This was on top of the whole tube/piracy thing. Combine the two and well it's probably fair to say that 90% are gone as we see. It's pretty much done and over.

[The Porn Nerd]

Originally Posted by signupdamnit

To be fair, It's not just you. I don't even think there is an easy way for you under CCbill to say add a unique ID to mailers automatically in order to easily credit affiliates when someone they sent originally buys after clicking the mailer. Is there? The same is true for cross sales on CCBill. As far as I know they don't even offer the option to compensate an affiliate for a cross sale generated from traffic they sent. That is just how this industry (de)evolved in relation to treatment of affiliates.

But say you worked for someone for 12 hours and they used to pay you for 12 hours. Then one day they suddenly demanded you work the same 12 hours but they will only pay you for 8 hours. Would you do it? Probably not if you had other options. Besides the money it's also the whole principle of it. You're not some damn slave and they are being a scumbag for even trying to do that to you.

I think the above is how many affiliates who left viewed this industry and the entire situation. It was just one thing after another where affiliates were constantly being shit on by the industry. A total lack of respect for them, their traffic and their efforts. This was on top of the whole tube/piracy thing. Combine the two and well it's probably fair to say that 90% are gone as we see. It's pretty much done and over.

Again, being an empathetic fellow and having lots of pre-Adult life experience, I basically agree with you. But you are assuming all affiliates are/were like you. LOL In other words, intelligent and savvy. I am sad to see such affiliates go by the wayside but, as you pointed out, it's understandable. If people in this Industry will steal content, fuck over honest webmasters with virtual money schemes, close shop unannounced, on and on, why would it surprise anyone that affiliates would also be a target?

Now not all affiliates are like you. Some are into fraud, some are illiterate assmunchs, some are clueless newbs (which is okay), some are arrogant fucktards who think their shit don't stink, some are lazy, some are part-timers (also totally okay), etc. So how does a Program deal with ALL these types of affiliates?

With me, as I've stated many times, I try to be always available and always willing to work with affiliates - those who want to work with me. Many do not simply because I am (currently) a CCBill Program. Some won't because they haven't met me in person and do not consider me a Bro. Some will not because I only offer Revshare. And so on.

So back to the topic of this thread: would weekly emails help affiliates promote my Program more? Or less?

[fitzmulti]

I definitely prefer it...certainly more than ones I get every 4-5 months....