Tag Archives: split testing

Exposed: How Shady Networks Shave Leads

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The other night I was relaxing at home after work and watching a movie. I have my AIM forwarded to my cell phone in case anyone needs to get in touch with me in the evenings. So I get this text from a guy that went by “Nicky Noodle”. Check this out:

Nicky Noodle: Josh, my name is nick, I run a service for 17 networks currently, I’m not sure if getads shaves leads, however we provide a service
Nicky Noodle: if you are interested we can have you set up within 24hrs
Me: A lead shaving service?
Nicky Noodle: correct
Nicky Noodle: our system works on any platform and you can shave leads by offer by entering a %
Nicky Noodle: most networks using our service shave 15%-30%
Nicky Noodle: we recommend 20%
Me: How did you hear about us?
Nicky Noodle: When we are out of networks from word of mouth we go affiliatepaying and approch a few networks
Nicky Noodle: we never share our clients with anyone, or name names ever.
Nicky Noodle: set up time takes less then 24 hours
Me: Sorry, we are not interested.
Nicky Noodle: np

Now I’m not naive, I know that there are networks out there that shave leads. Even so, I never would have guessed that somebody has started up a 3rd party service to cater to these shady networks and provide a way for them to shave even more leads away from their affiliates. As an affiliate myself, this really pisses me off. Sort of like when Packet Stuffer came out. It never ceases to amaze me how people will try to cheat each other out of a buck instead of working together to make more money and legitimize the industry as a whole.

The most interesting part of this conversation to me was that he has already got 17 networks that are using this service. I wish I could have found a way to get his client list from him, but I felt like if I went any further in the conversation or showed any interest (just to lead him on) then people would accuse my network of trying to shave leads.

The moral of the story is this: know who you are doing business with. The best way that you can protect yourself from lead shaving and other shadiness is to build strong relationships with your Affiliate Managers and your networks so that you know you can trust them. Also, if you want to make sure you aren’t being shaved, just split test the offer that you are currently running with the same offer at another network. It doesn’t automatically mean that you are being shaved if there is a discrepancy, since offers will often convert differently across multiple networks. However, if you find that you are consistently seeing anywhere from 15-30% less conversions on a bunch of offers from a single network, run somewhere else.

I’m a firm believer that integrity will win in the long run. I hope that someday we won’t have to worry about this type of thing happening in our industry. But until then, keep an eye on your stats to make sure that you are getting paid as much as you deserve for your traffic.

Is Your Corner Store Split Testing You?

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The short answer is yes. It’s funny how when you get into the online marketing world you start to see things in the real world differently. We are being marketed to at practically every second of every day in some way. After you’ve spent a lot of time optimizing online campaigns, split testing ad copy & landing pages, and improving your ROI, it gives you a new perspective.

Corner Store

Your local real world marketing experiment

Here’s an example: your local corner store / gas station / convenience store. When you walk into that store (if it is a franchise with a corporate office somewhere), you are already participating in a marketing experiment. The placement of every product and display in that store has been carefully thought out, just like the layout of your latest landing page. It’s a bit different when there are physical elements instead of just virtual real estate to fill out, but there are a lot of striking comparisons.

You know how we will split test whether a landing page converts better when the call to action button is on the left side of the page or the right side of the page? Corner Stores do that same thing with that beverage cooler that’s always on the way to the register. You know, the one full of ice and frosty beverages on a hot summer day? It’s been placed in the perfect position to suggest to you that you should buy a drink. Not too close to the middle of the path, that would be obtrusive. Not too far away from the path, because then you would just walk right past it. This is just one example of the split testing that goes on in these retail locations. Don’t even get me started on how a massive store like Walmart has planned and laid out the process of marketing to their customers while they are in the store. The sheer mechanics of it are mind boggling.

The reason I’m bringing this up is to point out that if we online marketers always keep our eyes open, we might pick up on some great new ideas to test out in the online realm. The brick-and-mortar stores have been doing this a lot longer than we have, and they have spent millions of dollars (if not billions) learning how to get the most out of every customer that walks through their door.

So the next time you walk into a gas station to pick up a snack or head into Best Buy to get the latest Blu-Ray release, keep your eyes open. You might learn something.