Netplayaffiliates

[universal4]

Since Netplayaffiliates has decided to close accounts that are "inactive" without much warning....and since these "inactive" accounts actually cost the affiliate program next to nothing....

IN MY OPINION, Netplayaffiliates should learn what a LACK OF AFFILIATES cost them.

Funny, I don't recall their being a "quota" in the terms when I joined the original program that was absorbed/renamed/rebranded as Netplay (maybe I missed it)

Rick
Universal4

[universal4]

Yes I see that there is a quota in there now, but do not think it was in the original programs' terms.

8.4 If you do not deliver one (1) new customer registration within a period of three months (billed months) we may terminate this agreement immediately by delivery of written notice to you.

Rick
Universal4

[sipka]

Rick, it was a change around at the end of September:
http://www.affiliateguarddog.com/for...ges-t1645.html

They closed my account too, I just vented about it at AGD lol

[giggles7p]

I got the exact same email Rick, screw em, if they didn't convert in 3 months, then something is wrong with the program, not the affiliate. I wish programs would start understanding that and take responsibilities for "inactivity"!!!!!!

Pat

[matted]

Wow... And the email they sent was somewhat rude. I actually had to think twice to not hit the reply button and send a two word reply (f*ck off).

I'll never do business with them. And if they are closing an account on me, why in the world would I want to open a new one?

Who was the aff program for these guys a couple years back? Revenue Giants used to have all the good bingo brands, but dont think they would allow affs to be pissed on in this manner.

[tryme]

Wow... And the email they sent was somewhat rude. I actually had to think twice to not hit the reply button and send a two word reply (f*ck off).

Yeah, I was going to go for the same response.

As an aside, they've never been part of Revenue Giants...they were BingoAffiliates.com, I think. They do both use Parlay software, but Revenue Giants do still have all the best bingo brands.

[matted]

I signed up through "Bingo Program" affiliate program... They had ElBingo, Bingos.com, CasinoJoker.com according to the welcome email I found (from 2007)

[Shek]

I do have to admit this move seems drastic and for some affiliates seems out of the blue, but this step has only been taken after careful consideration of the program and is in the best interest of all parties involved. The last thing I want to do is to upset the affiliates who we’ve had a good working relationship with, and if you received this email from us erroneously, I do apologise for this.<o></o>
I am personally an affiliate myself but under my current capacity I know I have to make decisions which might seem like they are not in the affiliate's favour.<o></o>
In the last 6 months we have tried to "rejuvenate" the gone away affiliates with various offers but it seemed like nothing was grabbing some of the affiliate's attention. We had thousands upon thousands of affiliates who signed up to our program and didn’t promote us. We have thousands of affiliates who didn’t even have any recollection of signing up to NPA. We have thousands of affiliates who would claim to be an affiliate but provide us with gibberish as their email addresses and contact details. We have affiliates who consider our emails as spam and decide to either block us or add us to their spam box, which is detrimental to our overall email deliverability. Do we see any value in keeping these affiliates within our systems? No!<o></o>
Our aim moving forward is to carry on growing our affiliate program with affiliates who are willing to grow with us, affiliates who show interest in our brand, affiliates who can see value in working with us. Having your name in the book but not promoting is as good as not being in the book at all and that is what we are trying to minimise. <o></o>
Any affiliate who did get back to me after the email was sent off has been kept on the program and will continue doing so, because it shows that we have a communication channel open and we are willing to work together. So by all means just drop me a line and I will make sure that the program continues for you with all the support that you may require to make this work.<o></o>
I hope this helps to clarify this situation<o></o>
Regards<o></o>
Shek <o></o>
Senior Marketing Manager NetplayTV<o></o>
<o></o>
To add onto this and answer some of the questions, the TCs changed slightly but the 3 month inactivity clause has always been there and was not changed at all.<o></o>
Apologies if the notification came across as rude, but in all honesty no matter how tactful I would have been it would still not come across as friendly.<o></o>
And you will be happy to know that where a lot of you held back (thanks for that), some didn't which meant that I did get more than just two worded answers, but it was expected. It was reassuring to know though that our communications weren't just falling on deaf ears/spam boxes but people actually do read them.<o></o>

[universal4]

The thousands of affiliates that send you very little traffic "COST" you nothing since they are already aquired...and they help with branding etc...

But the "LACK" of affiliates will cost you....lost branding and losing that occassional player here or there.

I could take the time and send you an email and salvage an account for nnow....but you have clearly shown that you do not care deeply about affiliates, and you would likely just spring the "inactive clause" on affiliates again....and at that time you wil probably say...."well we gave you a second chance but we'll just keep the few players you sent the second chance time and give you the boot anyway"

I will likely just spend the time in the interim looking for the links and creatives I have floating around my sites and replace them with properties run by programs who VALUE their affiliates no matter how big or small they may be.

Rick
Universal4

Yes Matt, I too joined them some time ago when they were under the BingoProgram label.

[universal4]

Oh and bytheway Shek,

We DO read our mail, and we also read what is posted here even more so....many who might have missed your mail are now made aware and will be better informed to make a decision reguarding it.

Rick
Universal4

[jarvi]

...and is in the best interest of all parties involved

You lost me at the above quote. there is simply no way your decision is good for all parties. In fact it is bad for affiliates and it is bad for your program. I am so over this type of rubbish that I can't even be bothered typing out a proper response to point out other ways they can identify the affiliates with incorrect information etc.

Rick - it's almost time we stored your post so we can simply copy and paste when more program try this rubbish. Maybe we can get vbulletin to create a tag that inserts replies to posts that try to justify this type of decision.

[OnlineBingoClub]

I received the same email, but its not really any loss to me, they did not convert at all anyway.

I do have over 150 articles about bingos.com on my site, but have just redirected there link now to a more deserving operator.

[Shek]

Rick- I understand the free branding the comes with an affiliate program. Problem we have is our brands have changed, the look and feel has changed but the affiliates were still carrying the old brand and offers from 2008. This is after repetitive communications, but you have to understand its is just not viable for me to dedicate a team to individually callup the thousands of affiliates to ensure each one realises this. While the branding ends up being negative as the offers dont match nor do the look and feel etc.
James- by all means if you have something to share about identifying affiliates and their information then please do as this has been a major issue for us, Even though I dont get what an affiliate stands to gain by providing false information. We are investing in Playtech's software which should help tackle all these issues and will make our system much better than what it used to be. This is taking time but the finished product will be miles better and we will be able to segment the affiliates and send communications out accordingly, so only affiliates who are totally inactive (i.e without any link/ad and any traffic generation from the site etc) will be recieving such an email and rightfully so.

There is no ways a second chance means us just waiting for another chance to "spring the clause" back. You have to realise we spend hundreds of thousands on acquiring the affiliates, everytime we lose one it means we have wasted the affiliate's time and our investment so it is the worst case scenario for us. The clause has always been there and wasnt used till now, it shows our reluctance in using this. All affiliates that are back on the program now will get all the support/resource that will be needed to make this work.

As an affiliate I will always say, go for the brand that is going to make you money, there is no point wasting your ad space on a brand that does not convert. If you do see potential in a brand but its not converting then give their affiliate team a shout because that is what they are paid to do, basically Help you help them.

[OnlineBingoClub]

I actually tried to talk with you guys many times (Dylan and especially Francesca) on why your conversions where so poor.

Looking at my stats, I had sent you 2150 registrations with only 66 making there first deposit, so for this reason I never actively promoted your bingo site. I did speak with Dylan in Budapest and we were going to try again, but after receiving your email and the correspondence I got after I replied, you seem very affiliate unfriendly.

[Shek]

Rob- Unfortunately neither Dylan nor Francesca work for NetplayTV anymore. I realise you might have been in coversations with them but unfortunately we had no idea about this. The discrepancy you have mentioned above is huge, I am shocked that this wasn't dealt with the way it should have been. As a guideline a 2K reg rate would result in between 1-2K in depositors (according to our NPA averages) so if you recieved just 66 then there is major issue somewhere.

Happy to open the conversations again...

[OnlineBingoClub]

Of course your company was aware, I sent you many emails over it.

You are shocked? i am shocked at the way you are treating affiliates by closing down there accounts and stealing there lifetime revenue share.

Maybe you should re-think your terms and conditions and then I might be happy to open the conversations again...

[matted]

Shek - Does anyone on your team have any experience in affiliate management? Honestly, the number of mistakes you are making is horrifying and indicates to me you and your team are not qualified to do your jobs!

1. You had a list of webmasters you could freely email or call to get them to promote your brand. By closing accounts, you've lost the right to email us, IMHO.

2. I never recall seeing anything asking me to do anything. Honestly, I had NO IDEA how I even got involved with your affiliate program.

3. The email you sent was flat out rude. Were you aiming to **** off the affiliate community and get your clients on blacklists? (I plan on adding Bingos to my blacklist)

4. You changed T&C retroactively to steal players from affiliates.

5. You let go of aff managers without having documentation (or a clue) of what they have going on!

Your program is exactly the kind of operation which all affiliates should avoid.

I admit I'm a pretty horrible marketer (it isn't my day job) but even I can do a better job than the mess you are making over there!

I predict you'll be out of business in less than 6 months...

[sipka]

All affiliates that are back on the program now will get all the support/resource that will be needed to make this work.

Honestly, except the welcome email and the closure email i didn't get any emails or newsletters from Netplay Affiliates since I registered about 1.5 year ago. Still I tried to push your brands without any of your help.
So the new affiliates are now getting all these guidance and you just simply screw the old ones.
Seriously, thank you for closing my account, without your move I would have asked for closure after reading all of this that's for sure.