Forum Moderators: skibum
On Amazon's message board there is a discussion about it already, but I am curious about what WW regulars thought about it, if any of you went.
Thanks
Nick
Give me a day.
Throughout, Amazon stressed that everything, of necessity, must be tempered by the margin available to work with. They are a public company, and driven, naturally, by forces that may not influence decision making in privately held companies. With that in mind, their attitude was to seek ways to make the Associate Program work to everyone's best advantage.
This isn't to say that much of the commentary and inquiry on the part of associates wasn't hard hitting. I felt, in many instances, the Amazon team was awakened in ways they didn't anticipate. I also felt that the Amazon staff was keen to learn as much as possible from the conference. This was evidenced by having several small breakout groups later in the day to cover their questions in depth.
Jeff Bezos gave a talk voicing strong support for the Associates Program and accepted questions from the floor. One of the Amazon Senior Vice Presidents acknowledged that second to word of mouth, the Associates Program was their largest producer of new business.
Here are the major points addressed (in no particular order):
Communication: The staff had a great many questions about communication with associates, and I would expect to see improvements in this area. As an example, Amazon cut off the removal of the $10 commission cap after lifting it for just one quarter. We were told it was an experiment. However, a number of associates had devoted time to expanding their activities to other product lines in reliance on the cap removal, only to have the rug pulled. None of this was communicated properly. No advance notice, etc.
Scumware: This was one area in which it was apparent that whatever stand Amazon has taken, its rather weak. Colin Bryar, who heads the Amazon Associates Program said that the policy is to weed out violators when they are discovered. They didn't seem willing to probe this topic more deeply. One of our group had a later discussion with Colin in which he emphasized Associates' concerns about scumware, and felt that there was receptiveness to further inquiry.
Easy Links: Several associates voiced a hard hitting objection to Easy Links, characterizing them as "heavy handed" and antithetical to good design practices. My impression was that this registered, but to what extent, its hard to say. The message, however, couldn't have been clearer.
Tier System: Much dissatisfaction was expressed. Many Associates felt the levels are set too high and that the non-media requirements make the tier requirements so onerous that they declined to participate. It was stressed that they needed to keep it simple. It was difficult to assess the extent to which these objections registered with the staff.
Overture: There were presentations, one of them by Overture. Shortly in to their talk, I inquired what they were doing there, since their policy is decidedly anti-affiliate, and most sites with affiliate links are rejected. This took both the Overture and Amazon folks completely by surprise. They were wholly unprepared for this. Considerable discussion followed.
To Amazon's credit, they committed to providing specific guidelines for gaining approval with Overture. I had the impression that there was more to the Overture/Amazon relationship than was revealed.
Amazon Web Services: The Amazon staff was anxious to encourage adoption of Amazon Web Services (AWS). Dramatic examples were shown of how Associates who embraced AWS improved conversions and income. Some were truly spectacular.
Personally, I believe this strategem is one wave of the future in affiliate marketing, and I intend to take the time required to work AWS into my sites. I'm impressed.
Cookies: Although there were pointed discussions about longer cookies, the Amazon reaction was mostly blank stares. I suggested that perhaps they could offer a 30 day cookie to those adopting AWS, and that produced a flicker of response. So, we'll see. Little hope here. This is one area in which Amazon is pitifully short sighted.
Quarterly Payments: They're aware of dissatisfaction with quarterly payments, but costs associated with paying so many associates are a huge consideration. It was hinted, just hinted, that with the shift to wire transfer of commission payments, there is a possibility of changing to monthly.
Third Party Delivery: This was not discussed. Its an issue that shoud have been brought up, but the conference was just for one day, and not everything could be covered.
I think I've hit the high points here. There were presentations by Alexa (owned by Amazon) which will be coming out with a new toolbar soon. Alexa also has some nifty tools for tracking traffic which they showed.
Topica made a presentation and pitched for using their services for those developing mailing lists and newsletters.
The meat here, however, was in the dialog and exchange between the Amazon staff and the associates. I can say that they have an obviously able and dedicated staff. They are hamstrung to a large extent by corporate policy concerns and the fact that Amazon is a public company needing to present a regular earnings profile to its shareholders. Of necessity there is less flexibility than in the private arena.
Just a question. Were any questions raised on international affiliates? i guess there were not many international affiliates or low revenue associates given the nature of the meeting.
I have a feeling that Amazon may not see this segment as sufficiently cost effective to support and if i was there would have liked to ask this.
At the moment no wire transfer of commissions to non-USA affiliates is available but even in Malaysia all our customers pay us this way from overseas. Why not Amazon? especially as they are doing it now for US affiliates. As cashing cheques is very expensive and clearing periods are 3 to 4 weeks, wire transfer would encourage more international affiliates.
I'm sure they'll be reading this thread. I would encourage you to communicate directly with Colin Bryar, perhaps by snail mail. I believe he would be very open to listening to you.
One of the Amazon Senior Vice Presidents acknowledged that second to word of mouth, the Associates Program was their largest producer of new business.
Any chance they gave % of business from the Associates Program?
I'd love to know how much of the Associate referrals end up being classified as "word of mouth" due to cookie expirations.
> Overture... I inquired what they were doing there, since their policy is decidedly anti-affiliate...
:-)
It sounds like Amazon are at least opening their ears. Will they take what they learned and apply it to improving their program? Time will tell.
One thing I neglected to mention was that they're keenly aware that their reporting is late all too often. In the breakout group I stressed that other affiliate reporting mechanisms are close to real time, or, at least daily. They recognize their deficiencies in reporting, and, given time, I believe will take steps to improve.
