my first scrubbing experience. not happy, but hey.. what can you do?

transient

transient

New member
Apr 7, 2008
274
3
0
NYC
i'm new to affiliate marketing. not in the sense that i don't know what it is or anything, just that i haven't done it much on my own yet.

i'm using a network that is well known around here. and, from what i've heard/read, they are pretty good. today, however... i started a bulletproof plan for massive traffic, massive conversions, and worked out brilliantly -- then it went downhill fast.

at first, i was making a 10% conversion rate for email signups, that was around 9am this morning. then around noon that 10% turned into 8%, then 7% then 6%, now it's close to 5%. considering i am paying for my traffic, i was pretty upset when i asked a friend to test the offer by signing up and after he did, it didn't show up on my report. i asked another friend, same thing, thus proving beyond a doubt that i'm not getting credit for some of the leads. i started with 250% ROI today and ended with 150%. while it's still a profit, it's not accurate, it's dishonest, and frankly it pisses me off.

what sucks is that the model is flawless and i would have made moola this week. instead, i only see the scrubbing increasing and getting paid zilch.

what i don't understand is that if the merchant is getting the emails, then what is the reason for them scrubbing so hard? for one, my friend who signed up used a valid email. they were also on a separate IP, states away from me. why, then, am i not getting credit, what's the reason? just because the merchant are shady pricks, apparently.

i'm pissed. but, after reading through the forums a bit, i see that it's pretty much how it goes in aff marketing.

any advice would be appreciated. though, i suspect there's nothing anyone can do.
 
  • Like
Reactions: .Hack


Don't fight it, just move on. Some types of offers tend to do this sort of "quality adjustment" more than others. Email and zip submits are the consensus worst for scrubbing in mainstream affiliate marketing.

I could try to give you reasons why merchants are doing this but ultimately it's a moot point. One of the advantages of affiliate marketing is that you don't really need to know what merchants are doing on the back end. You can hop from niche to niche without being bogged down by long term business relationships. As long as you get paid according to what the numbers in the stats say, just keep a close eye on the stats and pause whatever stops being profitable.
 
Eventually, they scrub like 99% and you make nothing. It's theft. One day someone is going to get sued over it. But for now, the market will remain shady as fuck. Move on.
 
Like Dully said e-mail/zip sumbits are the worst for scrubbing. There's nothing you can really do but move on to other offers, in other verticals, or keep trying to make the offer work.

...From what I hear there's quite the drama in the advertiser side of e-mail/zip submits, too. A few big lawsuits from affiliates that are looking like they'll hold up.

Best thing I can tell you is to learn from it, and not be discouraged. Everyone runs into problems with advertisers/networks. Just part of the game.
 
i'm definitely seeing first-hand now what i've heard about the industry and i'm not totally surprised, just realizing i gotta find a better offer/merchant and it's frustrating.

just to be devil's advocate (and at the risk of sounding naive), is there really nothing that can be done? i mean, i can prove in real-time that the emails are being submitted. can't that count for something? can't i ask my affiliate manager to do something about it?
 
Life's a bitch and then you die. Trollin aside I would split test it with a couple of networks that are reputable and pay around the same amount. Then you would really know who's scrubbin and you won't get capped fast
 
Your "flawless" plan doesn't involve incentivizing does it? Cos if the offer doesn't allow it, then you risk not getting credited for those leads and getting booted from your CPA network.
 
lol. what the OP fails to understand is that it's a trivial issue for most of us making 4-5 figs a day, but for this guy, it's his livelihood (at this point, atleast).

anyway, bro, I hope you realize sooner than later, that email/zip submits aren't as easy as they seem. You're better off pushing some other CPL offer with equivalent (or slightly lower payout).
 
if you were makin 4-5 figs a day, you would not be posting on this forum, you'd be sippin' champagne on a tropical island somewhere, so fuck off with that shit
 
and regarding your "bulletproof" remark, it WAS bulletproof until someone decided to rip me off. i'm providing them tons of emails, they should be thanking me!

*grumble*
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom