Azoogle bans "free" ringtone promo
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When I spoke with my rep over @ azoogle, and they were really concerned about the changes and how they will affect me. they said its a carrier forced policy on Dada and they had no choice but to go along, or else lose the campaign. :sadcrying4:
id expect these same changes to be carried out by all the other ringtone companies rather soon (imo).
id expect these same changes to be carried out by all the other ringtone companies rather soon (imo).
Hey guys,
There seems to be some confusion here, so let me address a few points.
1) I'd like for everyone to understand that this policy was not simply instituted by Azoogle to piss off publishers, we are not known to do this. This policy was a requirement that was literally forced upon us. Quite honestly, this is very understandable as the ringtone market (while some consider it to be saturated) is actually in its infancy. While ringtones have been marketed for years in Europe, they only began being marketed online in the US market just over a year ago (in the current club fashion). Because of this, the ringtone market is very fluid, with many changes occurring quite frequently (if you were running these offers a year ago, you may remember that you used to get paid for just a phone number submission, whereas now all offers pay per confirmed PIN subscriber).
2) The issue at hand is the fact that ringtones were being promoted as "free" when in fact the user is actually joining a club that has a cost. While they receive free ringtones on top of the ones they pay for every single month, the "free" aspect of the promotions was causing customer complaints, as many consumers simply do not read the the terms and conditions attached to each offer, and assume that the entire service is completely free.
3) Most customer complaints, go to the providers of the service (ie, DadaMobile, Blinko, Flycell, etc), however, a portion of those complaints flow directly to the carriers themselves. This is a major point of contention for carriers as they have their own complaints to deal with and do not need the additional stress of customer complaints because of third parties.
4) Because of the above point, carriers have been extremely vigilant when it came to 3rd party service providers. They have forced stricter and stricter requirements for marketing of services, in some cases shutting off billing until conditions were satisfied (for example, GoRingtoneGo, does not have connectivity with TMobile right now because they were non-compliant - examples like this are abundant in the past).
5) The biggest point of contention for carriers is the "free" promotion, as that is what all the complaints are centered around. Because of this, we had to act VERY quickly to respond to a high level complaint from a very large carrier and ensure that no publishers are advertising "free" ringtones. From our understanding, (and I believe many publishers misunderstood this), bidding on words like "free ringtones" or "no cost ringtones" is OKAY, but using that language in your actual ad, is NOT okay. So, you can bid on "free ringtone" but your ad has to say "Get 10 Complimentary Ringtones." This may change in the future.
6) Your clickthrus should not change significantly, as the words complimentary and bonus still have massive appeal for consumers, so any doomsday predictions about the whole market going away are unwarranted.
7) Foolishly, some people here have posted "we have ringtones and we don't have any restrictions." This is an INDUSTRY-WIDE effort and will affect EVERYONE in the space. The carriers are looking at the affiliate industry as a WHOLE and this affects every single publisher promoting ringtones. If you are going to do it in a manner that is unapproved by carriers, you will not be permitted to promote ringtones AT ALL. Moving forward, Azoogle will be working with publishers that want to work WITH the industry, not against it, and those that are compliant will benefit greatly.
I hope that everyone understands that this effort is not simply something that Azoogle would do "for fun" on a Friday. Our entire staff worked until midnight to make required changes on all of our landing pages, informing every single publisher with emails and phone calls, as well as numerous calls with both the MMA (Mobile Marketing Association) and other industry watchdogs.
The industry will go through several self-regulating efforts before it becomes 100% stable, so please be patient. A lot of publishers are doing VERY well with ringtones and other SMS services, and will continue to do so. If you don't play by the rules, it will eventually catch up to you, so I would strongly urge you to follow the guidelines put out by Azoogle, whether you are running one of our offers or not.
Thank you in advance for your attention, I know this is a long post.
Should you have any concerns, you can email me directly at alex@azads.com
Thanks.
Alex
There seems to be some confusion here, so let me address a few points.
1) I'd like for everyone to understand that this policy was not simply instituted by Azoogle to piss off publishers, we are not known to do this. This policy was a requirement that was literally forced upon us. Quite honestly, this is very understandable as the ringtone market (while some consider it to be saturated) is actually in its infancy. While ringtones have been marketed for years in Europe, they only began being marketed online in the US market just over a year ago (in the current club fashion). Because of this, the ringtone market is very fluid, with many changes occurring quite frequently (if you were running these offers a year ago, you may remember that you used to get paid for just a phone number submission, whereas now all offers pay per confirmed PIN subscriber).
2) The issue at hand is the fact that ringtones were being promoted as "free" when in fact the user is actually joining a club that has a cost. While they receive free ringtones on top of the ones they pay for every single month, the "free" aspect of the promotions was causing customer complaints, as many consumers simply do not read the the terms and conditions attached to each offer, and assume that the entire service is completely free.
3) Most customer complaints, go to the providers of the service (ie, DadaMobile, Blinko, Flycell, etc), however, a portion of those complaints flow directly to the carriers themselves. This is a major point of contention for carriers as they have their own complaints to deal with and do not need the additional stress of customer complaints because of third parties.
4) Because of the above point, carriers have been extremely vigilant when it came to 3rd party service providers. They have forced stricter and stricter requirements for marketing of services, in some cases shutting off billing until conditions were satisfied (for example, GoRingtoneGo, does not have connectivity with TMobile right now because they were non-compliant - examples like this are abundant in the past).
5) The biggest point of contention for carriers is the "free" promotion, as that is what all the complaints are centered around. Because of this, we had to act VERY quickly to respond to a high level complaint from a very large carrier and ensure that no publishers are advertising "free" ringtones. From our understanding, (and I believe many publishers misunderstood this), bidding on words like "free ringtones" or "no cost ringtones" is OKAY, but using that language in your actual ad, is NOT okay. So, you can bid on "free ringtone" but your ad has to say "Get 10 Complimentary Ringtones." This may change in the future.
6) Your clickthrus should not change significantly, as the words complimentary and bonus still have massive appeal for consumers, so any doomsday predictions about the whole market going away are unwarranted.
7) Foolishly, some people here have posted "we have ringtones and we don't have any restrictions." This is an INDUSTRY-WIDE effort and will affect EVERYONE in the space. The carriers are looking at the affiliate industry as a WHOLE and this affects every single publisher promoting ringtones. If you are going to do it in a manner that is unapproved by carriers, you will not be permitted to promote ringtones AT ALL. Moving forward, Azoogle will be working with publishers that want to work WITH the industry, not against it, and those that are compliant will benefit greatly.
I hope that everyone understands that this effort is not simply something that Azoogle would do "for fun" on a Friday. Our entire staff worked until midnight to make required changes on all of our landing pages, informing every single publisher with emails and phone calls, as well as numerous calls with both the MMA (Mobile Marketing Association) and other industry watchdogs.
The industry will go through several self-regulating efforts before it becomes 100% stable, so please be patient. A lot of publishers are doing VERY well with ringtones and other SMS services, and will continue to do so. If you don't play by the rules, it will eventually catch up to you, so I would strongly urge you to follow the guidelines put out by Azoogle, whether you are running one of our offers or not.
Thank you in advance for your attention, I know this is a long post.
Should you have any concerns, you can email me directly at alex@azads.com
Thanks.
Alex
Alex, a simple email to everyone with the above explanation would have gone a long way and would have minimized any kind of backlash or wild speculation.
Good job for making that post Alex - it was needed. I look forward to seeing what happens in the comming weeks and months in the ringtone world.
capitalistpig,
An email was sent to all publishers that were running ringtone offers. That is how everyone was notified of the change (in addition to the posting in our news section). If you didn't receive the email, its because your ISP blocked it or your email address in your profile is invalid.
We send all our emails using constantcontact.com.
An email was sent to all publishers that were running ringtone offers. That is how everyone was notified of the change (in addition to the posting in our news section). If you didn't receive the email, its because your ISP blocked it or your email address in your profile is invalid.
We send all our emails using constantcontact.com.
AZAlex said:
Well, I don't know if gmail blocks your emails or what, but there's no sign of it anywhere in my account (including the spam folder). I've received emails before, so I know it's not a matter of an invalid email.
Am I the only one that didn't get this email?
Thanks Alex.
I recieved at least 2 e-mail messages about this, plus there was a big notice right on Azoogle's page.
I know more than a few entrepreneurs who have had businesses suddenly cut off because the government or another business suddenly changed their rules or changed their mind in one day. It is navigating this problems or taking the profits that makes the money in business.
I don't think Azoogle is to blame here; although it might be inconvient they have clearly made a point to help each affiliate comply with the rules. The Dada-specific rule changes a while ago should have been a hint a big change may have been on the way.
I recieved at least 2 e-mail messages about this, plus there was a big notice right on Azoogle's page.
I know more than a few entrepreneurs who have had businesses suddenly cut off because the government or another business suddenly changed their rules or changed their mind in one day. It is navigating this problems or taking the profits that makes the money in business.
I don't think Azoogle is to blame here; although it might be inconvient they have clearly made a point to help each affiliate comply with the rules. The Dada-specific rule changes a while ago should have been a hint a big change may have been on the way.
I haven't see any drops in conversion rates but overall clicks yes. Ad clicks are down. Still converting about 1 in 10 but getting the clicks has become harder today. Not sure if it's just a momentary slow down or what.
What's rediculous is that a few of the biggest affiliates that promote azoogle ringtones haven't changed their ads. Wonder if these guys just get a pass because they drive so much volume.
Before the "how do you know" crowd chimes in it's pretty apparent when you click on a "FREE Ringtones - Don't Pay" ad and go to a dadamobile page with an affliate code stuck on the end and the bottom of the page reads "Designed and Marketed by AzoogleAds".
Curious to how strictly the enfore this going forward.
What's rediculous is that a few of the biggest affiliates that promote azoogle ringtones haven't changed their ads. Wonder if these guys just get a pass because they drive so much volume.
Before the "how do you know" crowd chimes in it's pretty apparent when you click on a "FREE Ringtones - Don't Pay" ad and go to a dadamobile page with an affliate code stuck on the end and the bottom of the page reads "Designed and Marketed by AzoogleAds".
Curious to how strictly the enfore this going forward.
Palmerville said:
Yes, there does seem to be a double standard. One of their biggest affiliates that has "free" in their url
, hasn't removed free or no charge, from their ads or their site.Something really weird has been going on with my ringtone conversions lately. For about a week or so I have been getting the exact same number of conversions every single day and always in the early morning.. I really dont understand why lol
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