Site5 has new owners this year, they are asking for suggestions to improve the affiliate program. This is what I came up with:
1. I like how you release new ads all the time, but why not find something optimal that works and stick with it? This saves us rebuilding our websites around new promotions every time Site5 feels creative. Reinventing the wheel every season maybe works in other industries, but you sell the same product/service all year, find a promotion that works and perfect it.
2. If you’re going to change the promotion, at least sync the banners to a landing page that matches the ad. Like right now the banners say $5.95 per month, big pink flashing numbers, but when I click the banner I see “as low as $7.95 / month” in orange. Total disconnect. The price is different, the colors are different, the smiling face is different.
At that point, most people will click “close” as they have been fooled (price is not as advertised) or will figure the promotion is over. Even if they find out that the lower (advertised) price is for paying years in advance, they’ll still feel in the back of their mind this is a sneaky company using tricky ads and a tricky price structure. I personally will pay a year in advance if I’m getting a better deal, if I’m already pleased with month-to-month performance. But asking us to advertise the price for prepaying two years in advance is a little out of touch with reality I think, because most people are not planning that far ahead after casually clicking a cool ad.
3. Build a tour. The homepage is probably overwhelming for people new to web hosting, too many choices. After a surfer clicks an affiliate banner, the landing page should give the surfer easy choices, such as:
[ I'm new to hosting. I want the easy tour. Tell me why hosting is cool, what are the benefits? Show me examples of what I can do. Tell me about the Customer Manual. ]
[ I'm an experienced webmaster. Tell me all about your servers, connectivity, do I get shell access? ]
I think you will find most people click the “I’m new” button and your conversion ratio will climb significantly. I chose my first host because the design was so simple, straightforward, and the help pages had a lot of information, that made me trust the company and sign up.
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