Enough Already!!!

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Just stumbled upon this forum and thread and wanted to chime in on the completely claims about DirectTrack. I've worked for Direct Response/DT for the past 5 years and have run DT for the past 3.

Mike is correct, if a Merchant/Network is exclusively relying on cookie/pixel tracking, there is typically a 5% loss. That is nothing we or anyone else that relies on cookies can control.

However pixel tracking is NOT the only method for tracking. DT has a series of API's for Networks/Merchants to capture and import that 5% discrepancy.

Jon, I would be MORE than happy to participate in an independent test to prove to you that the DT pixel/cookie based tracking is just as accurate as anyone else. I don't know where you are getting your info, but 33% tracking loss is complete bull. If you have any suggestions to run a 3rd party test, I'm more than willing to have you try and prove me wrong.
 


DirectTrack said:
Just stumbled upon this forum and thread and wanted to chime in on the completely claims about DirectTrack. I've worked for Direct Response/DT for the past 5 years and have run DT for the past 3.

Mike is correct, if a Merchant/Network is exclusively relying on cookie/pixel tracking, there is typically a 5% loss. That is nothing we or anyone else that relies on cookies can control.

However pixel tracking is NOT the only method for tracking. DT has a series of API's for Networks/Merchants to capture and import that 5% discrepancy.

Jon, I would be MORE than happy to participate in an independent test to prove to you that the DT pixel/cookie based tracking is just as accurate as anyone else. I don't know where you are getting your info, but 33% tracking loss is complete bull. If you have any suggestions to run a 3rd party test, I'm more than willing to have you try and prove me wrong.
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Suck My Balls.
 
I created affiliate merchant software a couple years ago but never did anything with it. I wouldn't release it as-is because it would need a lot of retesting and refactoring, but I could get something nice together. If I do, I'll let you know and you can see for yourself.
 
What about LinkTrust? I used them in my last company and it's pretty easy and haven't come across many problems. And once we did, we told the programmer and it was fixed the next day. I would recommend that
 
wdmny said:
I created affiliate merchant software a couple years ago but never did anything with it. I wouldn't release it as-is because it would need a lot of retesting and refactoring, but I could get something nice together. If I do, I'll let you know and you can see for yourself.
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You should seriously consider it. Especially if you can use a pretty interface to make it seem sleek and cool. The more user friendly it is, the better people will like it. Also, you better make sure it counts almost everything too, otherwise you will quickly lose your client base and go back to square one.
 
DirectTrack said:
Jon, I would be MORE than happy to participate in an independent test to prove to you that the DT pixel/cookie based tracking is just as accurate as anyone else. I don't know where you are getting your info, but 33% tracking loss is complete bull. If you have any suggestions to run a 3rd party test, I'm more than willing to have you try and prove me wrong.
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I would love to take you up on that.. only problem is that I don't own a network, and I would only do it as a secret, and then publish my findings in a case study, this way I know you are treating it like all other networks and not putting special attention on the test. I have to think about this more.
 
Jon,

You can run the same offer to the same traffic from several networks. Pick 2-3 from DT, azoogle, max bounty, and compare the conversions in each network, just pick a DT company that is known to be good and one that isnt known to be good, youll see that the issue is with the company not the software.
 
mkrongel said:
Jon,

You can run the same offer to the same traffic from several networks. Pick 2-3 from DT, azoogle, max bounty, and compare the conversions in each network, just pick a DT company that is known to be good and one that isnt known to be good, youll see that the issue is with the company not the software.
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Or I can simplify the process and just use the stats we get sent in from our affiliates participating in the beta statistics reporting program for WF.

So here's what I'll do, I'll have them pick 3 types of offers that all of the networks run. Have the same type of traffic run at the same time of day for each offer for all the networks. As a placebo, I'll have 2 of them just promote DT and 2 of them just promote non-DT, but both will do the same offers.

We can measure it by all stats counted.

What duration is good? 2 weeks?
 
I'll come back with the results on a table/grid outlining exactly what happened, what all of the stats were, and name the companies and offers too (which is what I was going to do with the statistics section anyhow). But in this case, I will label which were DT operated, and which were not.

Bets anyone?
 
Jon said:
Or I can simplify the process and just use the stats we get sent in from our affiliates participating in the beta statistics reporting program for WF.

So here's what I'll do, I'll have them pick 3 types of offers that all of the networks run. Have the same type of traffic run at the same time of day for each offer for all the networks. As a placebo, I'll have 2 of them just promote DT and 2 of them just promote non-DT, but both will do the same offers.

We can measure it by all stats counted.

What duration is good? 2 weeks?
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One day would be fine. You can tell right away if a campaign isnt converting why waste another 13 days. Dont go by type go by the actual offer itself. same landing page, same creative, different network. I would love to hear what is found. Networks will pull in an offer for most affiliates, have them all pull the same offer in.
 
Interesting. I've heard from previous posts that direct-track was shitty, and from my own experience I have to agree. I just didn't realize that companies were actually paying for direct-track, I thought it was just a shitty free software solution.

I have the programming experience to create such software, if nothing new rolls out from any other developers I'll take a look into it.
 
Jon said:
I'll come back with the results on a table/grid outlining exactly what happened, what all of the stats were, and name the companies and offers too (which is what I was going to do with the statistics section anyhow). But in this case, I will label which were DT operated, and which were not.

Bets anyone?
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I bet Jon will post stats by 2008 ;)
 
weneedsound said:
Interesting. I've heard from previous posts that direct-track was shitty, and from my own experience I have to agree. I just didn't realize that companies were actually paying for direct-track, I thought it was just a shitty free software solution.

I have the programming experience to create such software, if nothing new rolls out from any other developers I'll take a look into it.
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Its not as simple as it sounds, if your doing a hosted affiliate managment solution prepare to setup a solid customer support team and technical team that can respond to issues immediately.. since there is alot of money on the line. Lots and lots of redundancy and all that. I would definately encourage you to look at other much simple ways of making money!
 
lerchmo said:
programmers, myself included always just look at the interface and are like "I could do that" but its never like that.
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Not saying that it is easy to just pound out a full web application, but we have a advantage as we've already put 8 months of development time into a RAD framework.

I personally thought direct-track was a free solution so I didn't think that actually developing a competing product would be worthwhile. But if there is a need for a better solution and DT isn't producing then there is room for a competitor.
 
please please please make an alternative weneedsound. Monopolies are not healthy for affiliate tracking.
 
weneedsound said:
Not saying that it is easy to just pound out a full web application, but we have a advantage as we've already put 8 months of development time into a RAD framework.

I personally thought direct-track was a free solution so I didn't think that actually developing a competing product would be worthwhile. But if there is a need for a better solution and DT isn't producing then there is room for a competitor.
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The issue is nothing to do with the software. Management and support are the main issues. I would guess that unless you have some major backing you will have a very rough go competing with DT.
 
lerchmo said:
The issue is nothing to do with the software. Management and support are the main issues. I would guess that unless you have some major backing you will have a very rough go competing with DT.
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Yea, I would have to agree with you on this. Although there is always the option to sell blocks of support hours. Having to support a product can be just another revenue stream. To expand on that, this would be a business decision and not a turnkey script.
 
Jon said:
Or I can simplify the process and just use the stats we get sent in from our affiliates participating in the beta statistics reporting program for WF.

So here's what I'll do, I'll have them pick 3 types of offers that all of the networks run. Have the same type of traffic run at the same time of day for each offer for all the networks. As a placebo, I'll have 2 of them just promote DT and 2 of them just promote non-DT, but both will do the same offers.
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I'm good with that Jon. I trust that your testing and results will be honest and fair?

Like Mike suggested, you should use a well-known DT Networks and to make sure you are using the same creative across different networks your testing against. Its also important that you check the pixel placements for all offers/networks to make sure they are a) in place, b) if they share the same confirmation page as other networks, and c) where they are located on each page.

Once you complete your numbers, I can at least look up the results in the appropriate DT account to verify them.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
 
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