2nd December 2008

That’s The Way The Cookie Crumbles : Loss Of Sales To Voucher Code Affiliates : Dual Cookies With Timers?

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As a follow on to this blog relating to a queuing system for cookies in an attempt to ascertain feasible solutions to sales affiliates reckon they could be losing to voucher code sites, perhaps another possible solution is a dual cookie scenario.

Previous blog entry: Cookie Overwriting – Is There Any Mileage In A Queuing System.
The continuation below:

So a consumer visiting a site via an affiliate link is dropped two cookies, one primary cookie will be valid for the normal cookie duration and can be overwritten by another primary cookie. Whilst the secondary cookie (with a timer) is fixed for a limited period of time, whether it be an hour or a few hours, however … this cannot be overwritten and takes precedence over other cookies until the timer lapses and then the primary cookie takes precedence. This might be a possible consideration to eleviate concerns of those losing out to voucher code sites.

Not everyone wants to have a voucher code site, or currently or wish to adopt it with their websites, some affiliates are focused on paid search direct to merchant. Why should non-VC affiliates lose out? Is it fair or not? Or is it just the way the cookie crumbles?

Bringing Forward Previous Comment:

The Need For Unique Voucher Codes

However, I still feel that each code distributed should be unique for any individual affiliate. ie appending a prefix or suffix to the discount code with the affiliates ID or a network / affiliate ID combo. So if the voucher code was XYZ, the network (abbreviated) ABC and the affiliate ID 123, then it would something like ABC123XYZ.

This way we can trace who had the last cookie (and even the preceding cookie) and who’s voucher code was used, thus gaining a slightly better overview, with an insight into the understanding of customer / consumer habits.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008 at 2:07 PM and is filed under Affiliate Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

There are currently 8 responses to “That’s The Way The Cookie Crumbles : Loss Of Sales To Voucher Code Affiliates : Dual Cookies With Timers?”

Why not let us know what you think by adding your own comment! Your opinion is as valid as anyone elses, so come on... let us know what you think.

  1. 1 On December 1st, 2008, Lee McCoy said:

    good stuff Mr Wheatley

    I fear that many don’t want a debate on the matter! I wonder why?

  2. 2 On December 1st, 2008, purple said:

    Codes sites this week, Brand Bidding Groups the next, Cashback next then PPC vs Content. Always one affiliate party will be happy another aggrevied.

    Codes sites need to get there house in order( and they are with the new framework) as merchants were finding that it was effecting their customers experience with no valid codes.

    The whole debate over code sites needs to be had, and the value of code sites hould not be underestimated check out this blog from a respected affilate manager who will admit he did not think that code sites added value, but his recent tests surprised him.
    Most customers were new so incrremental sales were gained from the issuance of codes

    see

    http://www.morleymouse.com/2008/11/11/voucher-codes-in-the-affiliate-area/

  3. 3 On December 2nd, 2008, Matthew said:

    Hi Paul,

    Voucher Codes are part of the parcel in AM today (we have just launched a basic one) but there is a natural concern. I do agree with Purple though there will always be a perceived issue of cannibalisation whether its cashback or vouchers. Personally I’m not against a time delay where ‘content’ affiliate cookies are not overwritten by a voucher code site – but I’d be careful what you wish for as it could have deeper consequences with other channels.

    Networks also earn a heap from voucher codes, you know the evolution Paul more than most and I’m not sure many would want to make the change as Lee appears to be suggesting.

    Matthew

  4. 4 On December 2nd, 2008, Paul said:

    Hello, could you elaborate on how it could effect other channels, that may not already be happening to a certain degree?

    And why should a timer only benefit published websites & not ppc affiliates?

    It seems some networks “might” be turning a bit of a blind eye to ppc by a few voucher code sites as well, but why should ppc & seo be treated any differently for brand plus suffix (like discount code or voucher code) or meta tag stuffing to maximum character limits.

    Voucher code sites are here to stay, i have nothing against them, but it’s about a level playing field as it all seems to be about winning control the cookie, and cos I doubt networks will do very little & if so certainly not speedily to address the issue, the only recourse seems to be to incorporate voucher codes into exisiting sites & be really aggressive on ppc & seo … even if you don t want to be in the VC arena, cos on the whole how much do people care enough to do anything constructive. It’s not about evolving or die it’s about having hands forced.

  5. 5 On December 9th, 2008, Think Affiliate said:

    I agree with what you are saying. It really doesn’t seem fair that non cashback/scammy voucher code sites are losing out. The problem would be that people going through cashback sites expect to receive money off even if they were actually refered from an affiliate which is unknown to them.

  6. 6 On December 9th, 2008, Paul said:

    Let’s not forget there are some decent voucher codes site out there too. However, a majority of merchants don’t even have voucher codes, yet quite a few are SEO’d by keyword stuffing the title tag and keywords within the webpage copy (“Brand + voucher code”, “Brand + discount code” ), so whether the merchant has a voucher code or not, there is still a good likelihood the user will click through & the VC site receives the last click.

    Again we see you can SEO for anything, but PPC gets penalised though we can condfidently say that a few VC sites are taking advanatge of hydrid terms like “Brand + voucher code”, “Brand + discount code” etc, without being asked to refrain.

    I don’t think networks will do enough to address this either. voucher code seems the be the current gravy train like brand biddings groups used to be, whilst times might be tougher As long as the override still rolls in and the cash register Ker-Chings, I don’t think networks are going to address & eleviate concerns to any major satisfaction or quick enough. So it seems hybrid brand bidding & old style keyword stuffing is the the way forward or full circle depending how you look at it… not exactly evolution.

    Thus It’s every man for himself & sod the rest or what anybody thinks … is that what it has come to?

  7. 7 On December 12th, 2008, Paul said:

    The downside is how dependent are networks on revenue derived from voucher code sites, in the instance where the the program is on more than one network. Which network links will the VC site opt for? I guess this can be controlled from merchant end if they care enough.

  8. 8 On December 14th, 2008, Discount Doug said:

    The networks are massively dependent on them. The recent hitwise report quoted I belive that almost 0.5% of ALL online sales used cashback, discount vouchers or discount codes

    Doug

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