| Stock Ticker |
| ATG | 1.55 |  | 0.2 |
| NetSuite | 6.3 | | 0.3 |
| Salesforce | 22.83 | | 0.87 |
| Selectica | 0.9 | | 0.02 |
| Intervoice | 8.24 | | 0.02 |
| CDC | 0.7 | | 0 |
| eLoyalty | 2.25 | | 0 |
| Rainmaker | 0.84 |  | -0.01 |
| SupportSoft | 1.96 | | -0.03 |
| Pegasystems | 10.09 | | -0.16 |
| Vignette | 7.52 | | -0.17 |
| SPSS | 22.28 | | -0.62 |
| Chordiant | 2.19 | | -0.08 |
| APAC | 1.35 | | -0.05 |
| Tekelc | 10.63 | | -0.4 |
| HP | 31.83 | | -1.2 |
| Astea | 2.63 | | -0.1 |
| Oracle | 15.4 | | -0.6 |
| NICE | 17.65 | | -1 |
| SAP | 29.7 | | -1.79 |
| Amdocs | 16.78 | | -1.14 |
| NCR | 13.32 | | -0.91 |
| Teletech | 7.28 | | -0.52 |
| Unica | 3.36 | | -0.24 |
| LivePerson | 1.5 | | -0.13 |
| RightNow | 5.8 | | -0.58 |
| Epicor | 3.59 | | -0.37 |
| Interactive | 5.79 | | -0.6 |
| Sykes | 14.89 | | -1.55 |
| Convergys | 4.06 | | -0.46 |
| ClickSoftware | 2.06 | | -0.24 |
| ICT | 2.86 | | -0.42 |
| Nortel | 0.43 | | -0.09 |
|
As of 3:48 p.m. on 11/20/08 |
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Do’s and Don’ts of Affiliate Marketing for the Holidays
By Kathryn Frankel
After nearly four years as a Program Manager with one of the top three affiliate marketing networks, I recently made the transition to the affiliate side and launched my own website, CouponCowgirl.com (www.couponcowgirl.com). Because I’ve worked on both sides, I feel I’m in a unique position to offer some insight into the Do’s and Don’ts of Affiliate Marketing. Following are a few expert tips on how to optimize your affiliate program for the Holiday Season and for the upcoming year.
DO Share The “Good Offers” With Your Affiliates
One thing I saw time and time again on the client side was merchants that weren’t willing to share the “good offers” with their affiliates. Remember, affiliates are part of your overall marketing strategy and should be treated like a partner. You want your affiliates to succeed, right? Then give them the tools to do so! Provide your affiliates with compelling, competitive offers and you’ll reap the benefits, trust me. Plus, it will keep your affiliates from lifting codes from other channels, which only leads to blurred marketing results.
DO Make It Difficult for Affiliates to “Borrow” Codes From Other Websites Or Channels
On that same note, if you’re a marketer that is concerned with the hi-jacking of coupon codes from other websites or channels, stop making it so easy. You may not entirely eliminate the problem, but there are two things you can do that may help:
1) Provide affiliates with landing pages that have the discount embedded in them. One merchant that does this beautifully is Overstock.com. No codes are needed to take advantage of a discount – the simple act of clicking on the affiliate link activates the offer.
2) If you must use a discount code but want to prevent “borrowing”, provide affiliates with codes that are specific to their site. If the code incorporates the name of the affiliate in some way (i.e. cowgirl10), other affiliates are less likely to use the code because it may be obvious that the code has been borrowed from another site.
DO Make The Discount Obvious To The Consumer
I have to reference Overstock.com again for doing such a great job on this one. When a consumer clicks through a link to get the advertised discount, please, please, please, make it clear that the coupon has been activated. As a consumer, especially one that is new to online shopping, it’s frustrating to have to go all the way through checkout to confirm that the advertised discount has been applied.
Don’t Exclude Popular Items Or Top Sellers From The Offer
When you exclude your most popular or top selling items from an offer, you’re basically telling your customers that the good stuff if off limits. That’s not a good idea for several reasons:
1) If the same product is offered through a competitor that does honor a coupon code, you may just lose a sale.
2) If you lose the sale to a competitor once, it may cost you future sales.
3) It’s a turn off. It’s very disappointing to receive an offer you’re excited about only to find out that it can’t be used towards the very product you want to buy.
I hope this information has been helpful. Incorporate one or more of these recommendations into your program, and I promise you’ll have a healthier affiliate program.
Kathryn Frankel is the Co-President and Co-Founder of a new social shopping coupon site, CouponCowgirl.com (www.couponcowgirl.com). Kathryn and Co-Founder, Heather Foley, have more than seven years combined experience with one of the leading providers of Affiliate Marketing solutions.
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