3 ms·

Scott, Good points. (a) I agree we don't know eachother, something that can generally be remedied during the sales cycle. (b) I guess I do not have a track r

by jeffepp 16y ago

Scott, Good points. (a) I agree we don't know eachother, something that can generally be remedied during the sales cycle. (b) I guess I do not have a track record on here -- my co-founder is a core team member a piwik.org and I am pretty active in the startup community in Detroit (and Chicago). (c) You need not turn over any customers to zferral, actually we have very little, if anything about your customers. We help you track, manage and create affiliate programs. Appreciate the insight, there are definitely items to think about -- I am glad to get your perspective!

ScottWhigham 16y ago
I meant that I don't know "you" as in "your company", not necessarily you personally via HN :) And those are good credentials for making someone like me more comfortable; I would suggest you not bury that info in the About page (or create a "Who's behind this?" page). Lastly, when I browsed the site quickly, I didn't pick up on the fact that I wouldn't be turning my customers over to you. That's an important point to me. If I take a chance on something like this, then I'd like to know that if I change companies 6-12 months from now, the only impact is that I have to tell my affiliates, "Sorry guys - gotta have new URLs." Follow-up question: if you don't know who my affiliates (my customers) are, how is the signup process for them to become an affiliate handled? Perhaps a demo site might answer some of this info for me.
- jeffepp 16y ago
  Scott, excellent feedback -- that is why I posted this here -- so thank you. We allow you (the company) to export all affiliate information. Affiliates would log in via the Company White-Labeled Panel (such as http://partners.zferral.com http://partners.zferral.com or http://theory11.zferral.com http://theory11.zferral.com -- they can create an account OR login via facebook, twitter, yahoo or gmail. I guess I can create a demo site, do you think it is necessary if it is 100% free to start? Thanks again Scott.
  - ScottWhigham 16y ago
    Now wait a minute - you said that I wouldn't be turning my customers over to you but now you're telling me they have to create accounts on your system. Isn't that exactly what "turning my customers over to you" is? The end result is that I have to tell my customers, "Hey - go create a new account/login here" and then you have all their details in your databases. Are your databases secure? Is your code secure? How do I know you won't sell my info? That's back to the "I don't know you" problem... 100% free to start isn't an exciting thing to me, actually. I'm dealing with something incredibly important for my business and I expect that any company will either have a free trial, a demo, or a 30-day money back guarantee. I'm less swayed by the "100% free to start" than others might be because I'm serious about wanting an affiliate management package... I'm not kicking tires, so to speak. All in all, it seems like I'm not really the target market - which is fine.
    - jeffepp 16y ago
      We are web-hosted so affiliates create accounts on our system. I define customers as 'not being turned over to us' by allowing the company to export all the information and handle all payments. 100% free was my answer to having a demo. You may realize the value of 'free to start' if you start an affiliate program --> pay upfront --> determine you want to customize something that fits your company. Most other packages only offer "monetary" campaigns so any dropbox-like program won't fly with them. They will also charge about 30-40% of your payouts. Thanks again for all insight, it definitely helps define our target demographic. Feel free to email me and let me know how your program shopping goes. Good luck!

by jeffepp 16y ago

ScottWhigham 16y ago

I meant that I don't know "you" as in "your company", not necessarily you personally via HN :) And those are good credentials for making someone like me more comfortable; I would suggest you not bury that info in the About page (or create a "Who's behind this?" page). Lastly, when I browsed the site quickly, I didn't pick up on the fact that I wouldn't be turning my customers over to you. That's an important point to me. If I take a chance on something like this, then I'd like to know that if I change companies 6-12 months from now, the only impact is that I have to tell my affiliates, "Sorry guys - gotta have new URLs." Follow-up question: if you don't know who my affiliates (my customers) are, how is the signup process for them to become an affiliate handled? Perhaps a demo site might answer some of this info for me.

jeffepp 16y ago
Scott, excellent feedback -- that is why I posted this here -- so thank you. We allow you (the company) to export all affiliate information. Affiliates would log in via the Company White-Labeled Panel (such as http://partners.zferral.com http://partners.zferral.com or http://theory11.zferral.com http://theory11.zferral.com -- they can create an account OR login via facebook, twitter, yahoo or gmail. I guess I can create a demo site, do you think it is necessary if it is 100% free to start? Thanks again Scott.
- ScottWhigham 16y ago
  Now wait a minute - you said that I wouldn't be turning my customers over to you but now you're telling me they have to create accounts on your system. Isn't that exactly what "turning my customers over to you" is? The end result is that I have to tell my customers, "Hey - go create a new account/login here" and then you have all their details in your databases. Are your databases secure? Is your code secure? How do I know you won't sell my info? That's back to the "I don't know you" problem... 100% free to start isn't an exciting thing to me, actually. I'm dealing with something incredibly important for my business and I expect that any company will either have a free trial, a demo, or a 30-day money back guarantee. I'm less swayed by the "100% free to start" than others might be because I'm serious about wanting an affiliate management package... I'm not kicking tires, so to speak. All in all, it seems like I'm not really the target market - which is fine.
  - jeffepp 16y ago
    We are web-hosted so affiliates create accounts on our system. I define customers as 'not being turned over to us' by allowing the company to export all the information and handle all payments. 100% free was my answer to having a demo. You may realize the value of 'free to start' if you start an affiliate program --> pay upfront --> determine you want to customize something that fits your company. Most other packages only offer "monetary" campaigns so any dropbox-like program won't fly with them. They will also charge about 30-40% of your payouts. Thanks again for all insight, it definitely helps define our target demographic. Feel free to email me and let me know how your program shopping goes. Good luck!