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We tried. COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME. Biggest waste of time in Fog Creek history. All that time would have been better spent adding features to make our products be

by spolsky 18y ago

We tried. COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME. Biggest waste of time in Fog Creek history. All that time would have been better spent adding features to make our products better to get more customers.

jyu 18y ago
"We tried. COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME." does not apply to everyone. Most likely you weren't doing it right, and didn't try long enough to make it work.
- ruth 18y ago
  Define "make it work". It worked in that we sent out checks every month and we got referrals, but it turns out the number of referrals were miniscule compared to the time we were spending on the program. In addition, once we stopped it we continued to get the same referrals. People tell other people about our products because they like them, not because they are going to get a dollar from the sale. (50% of the affiliates only had one sale... to themselves).
  - jyu 18y ago
    By "make it work," I mean accomplishing your original goals. Those goals were probably something like "acquire hundreds of new customers per month that Fog Creek otherwise would not have access to." The easiest way to make it work is contact someone that has some working experience with being a software affiliate, or is a part of an affiliate network. In the same way that successful start ups need to understand what users want, successful affiliate programs need to understand what affiliates want. For instance, the majority of 1 sale affiliates could have been prevented by having a payout limit of $X, where $X = (cost savings from 1 sale) * N, where N > 3. That way, they need to at least convince 2 other buddies to purchase FogBugz. Also, you were probably attracting the wrong type of affiliates. Finally, you need to have a good idea of what each unique visitor is worth, what each lead is worth, what each sale is worth so you know the best price you can give to your affiliates. It can definitely increase your reach/customer base, but it does take effort to make it work.
johns 18y ago
Do you have a theory why it didn't work for you?
omarchowdhury 18y ago
Before you look into integrating affiliate programs into your sales process, I would suggest hiring a copywriter than can fully explain your product. When I went to www.copilot.com it was not readily obvious to me what your program can do for me. The key to successfully using affiliate programs for sales is to always test and refine (your creatives, ad copy, and landing pages).
drawkbox 18y ago
One possible benefit might be if you have well done banners and ads for the affiliate channels, it will get your logo and brand out on many websites. Maybe not always desirable ones but for the most part it could increase awareness in marketing as well as sales.

by spolsky 18y ago

We tried. COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME. Biggest waste of time in Fog Creek history. All that time would have been better spent adding features to make our products better to get more customers.

jyu 18y ago

"We tried. COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME." does not apply to everyone. Most likely you weren't doing it right, and didn't try long enough to make it work.

ruth 18y ago
Define "make it work". It worked in that we sent out checks every month and we got referrals, but it turns out the number of referrals were miniscule compared to the time we were spending on the program. In addition, once we stopped it we continued to get the same referrals. People tell other people about our products because they like them, not because they are going to get a dollar from the sale. (50% of the affiliates only had one sale... to themselves).
- jyu 18y ago
  By "make it work," I mean accomplishing your original goals. Those goals were probably something like "acquire hundreds of new customers per month that Fog Creek otherwise would not have access to." The easiest way to make it work is contact someone that has some working experience with being a software affiliate, or is a part of an affiliate network. In the same way that successful start ups need to understand what users want, successful affiliate programs need to understand what affiliates want. For instance, the majority of 1 sale affiliates could have been prevented by having a payout limit of $X, where $X = (cost savings from 1 sale) * N, where N > 3. That way, they need to at least convince 2 other buddies to purchase FogBugz. Also, you were probably attracting the wrong type of affiliates. Finally, you need to have a good idea of what each unique visitor is worth, what each lead is worth, what each sale is worth so you know the best price you can give to your affiliates. It can definitely increase your reach/customer base, but it does take effort to make it work.

johns 18y ago

Do you have a theory why it didn't work for you?

omarchowdhury 18y ago

Before you look into integrating affiliate programs into your sales process, I would suggest hiring a copywriter than can fully explain your product. When I went to www.copilot.com it was not readily obvious to me what your program can do for me. The key to successfully using affiliate programs for sales is to always test and refine (your creatives, ad copy, and landing pages).

drawkbox 18y ago

One possible benefit might be if you have well done banners and ads for the affiliate channels, it will get your logo and brand out on many websites. Maybe not always desirable ones but for the most part it could increase awareness in marketing as well as sales.