Cross-sales: Twisty's blinks

[RawAlex]

Either they are smarter than the others, or couldn't afford to lose any traffic:

Hi guys. We've been in the industry for almost 10 years. Our first 5 years were almost 100% on free sites. I think most of you know we own Thumbzilla.com. I say that because I've always felt our ties to free sites reflect in our understanding of what affiliates need and want. I know how frustrating it is to feel that sponsors don't give a shit about you and don't care about your concerns. We definitely care about our affiliates and their concerns. Making you guys happy is very important to us.

With all of that said I've read and heard the concerns regarding Cross-Sells. As a company we are working very hard to be one of the largest affiliate programs. As a result we have to be competitive in our payouts and our monetization of traffic. We do our best to be competitive without being counter productive and harming the industry. We've increased our payouts on TwistysCash in an effort to make our affiliates more money.

We've had a few affiliates contact us regarding a non cross-sell option. So today we made that a reality. We are adding a non cross-sell option for all sites in TwistysCash! We will have a non cross-sell option for both PPS and Revshare.

You guys spoke and we listened

The only thing that is too bad is that they aren't saying "we are doing this for the customers", which is the real point of all of this. Peer pressure is a good thing, but thinking about the customer to start with would have avoided a real problem.

I wonder if they will get a discount on NATS now?

[Footman]

Originally Posted by RawAlex

The only thing that is too bad is that they aren't saying "we are doing this for the customers", which is the real point of all of this. Peer pressure is a good thing, but thinking about the customer to start with would have avoided a real problem.

Baby steps. That's what any real change in the world is about. Can't throw them under the bus for moving in the right direction.

[RawAlex]

Originally Posted by Footman

Baby steps. That's what any real change in the world is about. Can't throw them under the bus for moving in the right direction.

yeah, I was just sort of hoping that baby steps would be made because programs realize that the ever dwindling customer pool is important, and keeping those customers in the game is significant, not because Dirty Franck is raising shit at the zoo.

But hey, I'll take it

[gonzo]

Originally Posted by RawAlex

yeah, I was just sort of hoping that baby steps would be made because programs realize that the ever dwindling customer pool is important, and keeping those customers in the game is significant, not because Dirty Franck is raising shit at the zoo.

But hey, I'll take it

I dont think what Battuss thinks matters one bit to anyone.

[softball]

Originally Posted by RawAlex

yeah, I was just sort of hoping that baby steps would be made because programs realize that the ever dwindling customer pool is important, and keeping those customers in the game is significant, not because Dirty Franck is raising shit at the zoo.

But hey, I'll take it

However, they didn't get rid of it entirely. That speaks volumes.

[Nymph]

I don't use them, but it's a small step in the right direction...hopefully more will follow, and take a much bigger step.

[RawAlex]

Interestingly too, the drop off between "with cross sales" and "without" appears to be about $5 per signup. That isn't huge money to the affiliates for a potential $80 or so extra sale. Either the surfers were getting rid of those checkmarks, or the program owners are making out like bandits.

I don't picture the surfers doing it.

[Toby]

$5 per affiliate sale may be about right for those programs with a single pre-check and cancel/rebill terms above the submit button.

That figure would be significantly higher for programs with multiple pre-checks below the submit.

Somewhere in between would be those with the pre-checks above, but the cancel/rebill terms tucked away at the bottom of the page.

I don't forsee programs currently using the more deceptive pre-checks making any changes until forced to do so by their processors. The ones most likely to change things at this point are others like Twistys, that weren't heavily dependent on that cross-sale income to begin with.

[tony404]

Someone should create a precheck unchecker plugin for firefox. lol

[softball]

Originally Posted by Nymph

I don't use them, but it's a small step in the right direction...hopefully more will follow, and take a much bigger step.

Its not like climbing a mountain. You don't need small steps. Its simple. You stop.

Ladies and gentlemen, attention please
Come in close so everyone can see
I got a tale to tell
A listen don't cost a dime
And if you believe that we're gonna get along just fine

Well I've got a little somethin'
Guaranteed to ease your mind
It's call Snake Oil y'all
It's been around for a long, long time

[Hammer]

I think it's funny how much talk is going on about cross sells in the adult industry when mainstream beats us all to hell with cross sells. Ever register a domain on GoDaddy? Been to any music download sites? Buy anything from Amazon.com? In many cases you'll not only be inundated with page after page of cross sell offers but many that are prechecked. This is not exclusive to adult.

[tony404]

Originally Posted by Hammer

I think it's funny how much talk is going on about cross sells in the adult industry when mainstream beats us all to hell with cross sells. Ever register a domain on GoDaddy? Been to any music download sites? Buy anything from Amazon.com? In many cases you'll not only be inundated with page after page of cross sell offers but many that are prechecked. This is not exclusive to adult.

Unchecked is very different from prechecked. I shop at amazon a lot, they make suggestions not hope I wont see the prechecked box.
Also once again we dont have as big of a audience as mainstream to piss off the few willing to take out a credit card isnt the best business choice.

[Hammer]

Originally Posted by tony404

Unchecked is very different from prechecked. I shop at amazon a lot, they make suggestions not hope I wont see the prechecked box.
Also once again we dont have as big of a audience as mainstream to piss off the few willing to take out a credit card isnt the best business choice.

I run into plenty of prechecked boxes on mainstream sites but I'm not into pissing anyone off and certainly am not condoning the use of prechecked boxes. I'm just pointing out that we didn't start it and don't have a corner on the market.

[softball]

I just bought some domains from Dotster and it was preset to two years, you had to actually delete some features, just a pain in the ass.
I hate it and would charge it back if I got snared. Still snake oil.

[tony404]

Originally Posted by Hammer

I run into plenty of prechecked boxes on mainstream sites but I'm not into pissing anyone off and certainly am not condoning the use of prechecked boxes. I'm just pointing out that we didn't start it and don't have a corner on the market.

Wasnt saying you were

[Hell Puppy]

Originally Posted by tony404

Someone should create a precheck unchecker plugin for firefox. lol

Hmmm....

You know....

That's very doable.

[RawAlex]

Originally Posted by Hell Puppy

Hmmm....

You know....

That's very doable.

yeah, but it might keep on unchecking the "I am 18" box too.

[Hammer]

Originally Posted by rhetorical

I just bought some domains from Dotster and it was preset to two years, you had to actually delete some features, just a pain in the ass.

Yep, and GoDaddy does the same thing with 2 years preset but even trickier, they also have the default set to auto renew and you have to physically click a link, not an obvious box, to change it to manual renewal.

[softball]

Originally Posted by Hammer

Yep, and GoDaddy does the same thing with 2 years preset but even trickier, they also have the default set to auto renew and you have to physically click a link, not an obvious box, to change it to manual renewal.

Dotster has some Linux dealy that you can't uncheck, you have to actually delete it. Dotster is a little more up front with their auto renewal, but barely.
It is really annoying.
There was a cable company in toronto that did something like that once on a cheap join. They called it negative billing. There was a consumer revolt and they came close to losing their license.

[RawAlex]

Shaw or Rogers?

[softball]

Originally Posted by RawAlex

Shaw or Rogers?

Rogers. There is no shaw in T.O. They are only out west.

[TheEnforcer]

Originally Posted by Hammer

I think it's funny how much talk is going on about cross sells in the adult industry when mainstream beats us all to hell with cross sells. Ever register a domain on GoDaddy? Been to any music download sites? Buy anything from Amazon.com? In many cases you'll not only be inundated with page after page of cross sell offers but many that are prechecked. This is not exclusive to adult.

Soooooo true...

[softball]

but sooooooo wrong.