[frankodelic]

Hello Gang,

I'm toying with an idea that I believe will significantly increase conversions and would like input from our affiliates... the peanut gallery should feel free to chime in as well... all are welcome. Here goes:

Currently when a customer visits our site via an affiliate they come to a version of our web site that offers our main office phone number and a promo code. (The promo code is used to credit the sale) Our main office phone number is a local number and our office hours are Monday - Friday, 9am - 5pm.

What I propose is to make available to all customers delivered by an affiliate site an 800# to our 24/7 call center where the same Promo Code will be taken. Sounds great so far, right? Here's the thing. While this will surely launch conversions skyward there's additional cost involved. We've crunched some numbers and can offer this added service with a 5% affiliate commission rate on phone orders. So we're talking our standard 7% commission on Internet orders and 5% commission on phone orders. It's my belief that the 2% difference will be made back many times over due to the added conversion.

What do you all think about that???

Frank
UrbanScooters.com (http://urbanscooters.com)
UrbanScooters.com Affiliate Program (http://www.shareasale.com/shareasale.cfm?merchantID=2959)

[EmDub]

It's unfortunate that you take a hit on toll-free orders, but I don't think it's totally unfair that you pass this on to affiliates. 5% is still a decent commission rate, although I still expect 7% for web orders.

In other words, I'll all for your proposal. http://abw.infopop.cc/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

Michael

[Julian]

I just had a phone order tracked from Urban Scooters, way to go Frank http://abw.infopop.cc/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

Getting 5% for phone sales is better than phone sales not being tracked.

You don't sell cheap items. The one I just sold was for $400, so 5% commission is not too bad for phone sales.

www.cjshoppingnetwork.com (http://www.cjshoppingnetwork.com)

[Linda]

I have no problem with it being set up this way, Frank. I'd rather get 2% less on the phone sales than none at all.

[ecomcity]

I'd take the 5% commission giving the phone center operator the other 2% on referral sales in a heartbeat.

Mike & Charlie ... http://abw.infopop.cc/smilies/parrot.gif

If they won't adopt and feed a bird ..flip them one! BBQ some Gator and remember to flush WhenU..

[missdonna]

It works for me. I think we'd sell more that way.

My only concern is that the phone people may miss some commissions, since some will be commissionable and some won't.

As it is now, whenever you get a phone order you know it's from an affiliate. When someone gets both kinds, it's easy to forget to ask for the number, especially if they are busy.

[frankodelic]

Miss Donna,

Asking for the Promo Code is already written into the CSR's script at the call center. In fact, that question is one of the first out of their mouths. Our CSR's have been delivering the Promo Code faithfully without error for a long long time. No problems there.

I should add... it makes no difference to our call center whether the sale comes from our main site or an affiliate. They're paid the same either way. Bottom line... we've been working with them for a long time and they're quite consistant and quite thourough.

Frank
UrbanScooters.com (http://urbanscooters.com)
UrbanScooters.com Affiliate Program (http://www.shareasale.com/shareasale.cfm?merchantID=2959)

[~Michelle]

I think that idea is fine.

I don't have a problem with it.

~Michelle

****************************
"All I ask is a chance to prove that money can't make me happy."

"Work to become, not to acquire." -- Confucius

[Siteclopedia]

Frank, I guess I'm from the peanut gallery -- I just signed up Scooted.com to your affiliate program and your contest (heck, until earlier tonight I was just letting the domain lie dormant, forwarding to Amazon's Segway).

As far as phone orders go I think 5% for a toll-free 24/7 line over a 7% for long-distance business hours call center is more than fair. Both sides will wind up winning with greater conversion rates.

Truth be told I know of at least one affiliate that has a phone number for phone orders on affiliate links where the affiliates get nothing. So you're already ahead of the curve with what you're doing.

Good luck with it! http://www.abestweb.com/smilies/yelclap.gif

[missdonna]

From 7/30/03 to 9/27/03 I had 14 orders, 7 (50%) phone orders

Since then I've had 30 more, and 1 (3%) was a phone order.

What happened?

[frankodelic]

Missdonna,

The number of phone orders we've been taking has been decreasing on both the affiliate side and the call center side of things. Generally speaking, more people have been placing their orders online. My best guess is our customers are more comfortable placing their orders online now because of an increased confidence level in our company. We've made quite a lot of changes dramatically increasing our perceived credibility online. I say "perceived"... the credibility was always there, however perception is 99% of the battle.

The numbers you quote are good in that (phone order or not) you show twice the orders in the last two months than you did the two months before that. However, a 47% decrease in phone order does sound rather dramatic. I'll check to make sure there aren't any issues with our call center's transmission of the promo code and let you know. I believe we still have a slight back log of phone orders to credit as well.

Frank
UrbanScooters.com (http://urbanscooters.com)
UrbanScooters.com Affiliate Program (http://www.shareasale.com/shareasale.cfm?merchantID=2959)

[missdonna]

My last recorded phone order was 11/08

Since then I've had 37 orders.

I thought this change was supposed to INCREASE the number of phone orders?

You haven't changed the way phone orders are reported, so they look the same as regular orders?

[frankodelic]

Actually... at the pace we've been moving over here we haven't had the chance to update SAS with phone orders for a couple of weeks! I have email notification for each phone order sale and will be manually entering them as soon as we get some room to breath over here. Overall I would agree that the phone order count is down, but there are certainly a good number pending!

Frank
UrbanScooters.com (http://urbanscooters.com)
UrbanScooters.com Affiliate Program (http://www.shareasale.com/shareasale.cfm?merchantID=2959)