Hydranetwork Monthly Rewards removed?

[070707]

Care to post? I must have somehow missed it, the rewards page went down around the middle of Nov I believe. Wonder what their actual cut off was? Those amex cards in the mail have always been a nice surprise.

If I still had it, I would post it... but I tend to clear out my emails once a week that aren't too important. In all seriousness, I honestly DID receive an email about it. Be sure to check your spam email... that is where half of the important Hydra emails goto for me... not too sure why.

 

[Ghazz]

I got an email about it as well. I dont remember when, or the specifics.

 

[masonwiley]

Yes we ended our rewards and our referral program and announced their end about a month ago.

Prior to ending rewards, we actually offered double rewards -- and no one got excited. It had absolutely zero effect on volume. So yes, now we're looking at alternatives that could be more fun and motivating. If you have ideas, by all means shout it out here. I am always open to hearing.

The referrals program was another matter. We were finding way too many "professional" referrers... that is affiliates who never actively ran anything but just referred as many pubs as they could. But that kind of undermined the idea behind referrals which is that good pubs would refer their other good pub friends - not a bunch of unknowns or newbies pumped in via some training program. Because of the high preponderance of newbie pubs referred, the referral dollars we were paying out wasn't all that big. But we'd rather focus our efforts on rewarding pubs who are actually running campaigns.

If you have any more questions, you can post them here or call me at Hydra.

Mason Wiley
SVP Marketing, Hydra

 

[Pr0xyhub]

the referral dollars we were paying out wasn't all that big.

Probably because it was 5% on YOUR margin.

 

[nickycakes]

Yes we ended our rewards and our referral program and announced their end about a month ago.

Prior to ending rewards, we actually offered double rewards -- and no one got excited. It had absolutely zero effect on volume. So yes, now we're looking at alternatives that could be more fun and motivating. If you have ideas, by all means shout it out here. I am always open to hearing.

The referrals program was another matter. We were finding way too many "professional" referrers... that is affiliates who never actively ran anything but just referred as many pubs as they could. But that kind of undermined the idea behind referrals which is that good pubs would refer their other good pub friends - not a bunch of unknowns or newbies pumped in via some training program. Because of the high preponderance of newbie pubs referred, the referral dollars we were paying out wasn't all that big. But we'd rather focus our efforts on rewarding pubs who are actually running campaigns.

If you have any more questions, you can post them here or call me at Hydra.

Mason Wiley
SVP Marketing, Hydra

Honestly, you set up the referral program to attract more publishers. You pay a % of their lifetime commission as a fee. Why does the motivation behind why they were referred to you matter? You have a new publisher that you normally wouldn't have had, and you only need to pay for their business if they succeed. I can only see 2 reasons for this

1) Your company is struggling so you need to find ways to make more money, so you cut off referral fees.
2) You're greedy and looking for an excuse. (The one you came up with blows).

What if I went to verizon and got a cellphone, and agreed to pay my $50 a month for it, and then after I realized my phone was in good working order I told them I didn't really feel like paying them the $50 a month anymore but still wanted their phone service?

Oh well, I hear you guys are going bankrupt anyway. Have fun with that.

 

[Jizzlobber]

^^Who the fuck is this guy?

 

[masonwiley]

Let me splain it to you

Honestly, you set up the referral program to attract more publishers. You pay a % of their lifetime commission as a fee. Why does the motivation behind why they were referred to you matter?

Oh well, I hear you guys are going bankrupt anyway. Have fun with that.

Well let me put it in simple understandable language for you. The bulk of affiliates we've had referred to us fail to deliver high enough quality traffic to be of value to our advertisers. We do NOT want or need more low quality or fraudy pubs in our network and so we're no longer paying people to send them our way. Capiche?

And we are NOT going bankrupt. You heard wrong dude.

 

[masonwiley]

Let me add this to the above...

By the terms of our agreement/offer to pay referrals, we had the right to cancel the program at any time. Since most of the traffic we got from referrals was low value, we decided it was a losing proposition to keep paying in perpetuity for it. You want to call that greed? Fine. I call it business.

Frankly i could care less about the "motivation" behind why one pub refers another. It's all about the results. The referrals program wasn't producing good results - it was a bad investment. So time to find a way to spend our money that will produce better results.

 

[nickycakes]

Well let me put it in simple understandable language for you. The bulk of affiliates we've had referred to us fail to deliver high enough quality traffic to be of value to our advertisers. We do NOT want or need more low quality or fraudy pubs in our network and so we're no longer paying people to send them our way. Capiche?

And we are NOT going bankrupt. You heard wrong dude.

Let me put this in simple, understandable language for YOU. Fucking over your affiliates is the worst way to get good affiliates.

Those shitty trucker hats you give out at shows as a business model is not the way forward.

Hope this helps, and good luck on your likely upcoming job hunt.

 

[masonwiley]

backatcha

Let me put this in simple, understandable language for YOU. Fucking over your affiliates is the worst way to get good affiliates.

You are absolutely right.

So I just looked the numbers for the month prior to our ending the referrals program.

Out of our 500 top volume-producing publishers, a whopping 12 earned $20 or more in referrals.

That leads me to conclude that the most productive, high volume pubs - the ones our network depends on - are spending their time making money by driving conversions, not referrals. So I'm looking at what we can do or offer to these guys to help them make more coin cuz referrals aint it.

And thanks for the good wishes. If and when i go out looking for another job i will be sure to hit you up.

 

[nickycakes]

You are absolutely right.

So I just looked the numbers for the month prior to our ending the referrals program.

Out of our 500 top volume-producing publishers, a whopping 12 earned $20 or more in referrals.

That leads me to conclude that the most productive, high volume pubs - the ones our network depends on - are spending their time making money by driving conversions, not referrals. So I'm looking at what we can do or offer to these guys to help them make more coin cuz referrals aint it.

And thanks for the good wishes. If and when i go out looking for another job i will be sure to hit you up.

If the numbers are so insignificant, then why would you remove the program? Surely $500 a month isn't going to run your business into the ground. Oh wait, you're showing selective statistics. Why would you only include your top volume producing publishers? They're busy promoting stuff and not promoting your network. Why would it matter that lower volume pubs are bringing in referral fees? Oh, because you're greedy and since they're not producing sales volume, you can steal their money and it won't matter if they leave your network.

What a bunch of cunts you are.

 

[mailinatorm2]

If and when i go out looking for another job i will be sure to hit you up.

w4 will hire you, no?

 

[barman]

what the fuck? the OP wasn't talking about referrals.

OP was talking about the rewards for 5k, 15k, tiers and so on. maybe hydra couldn't afford the Harley Motorcycles they give anyway for $1mil?

 

[MCRunning]

I still haven't gotten my reward from Jan '09 lol. I got it in December '08, but who knows what happened in Jan '09. Then I haven't ran really anything with Hydra since...

 

[erect]

Oh well, I hear you guys are going bankrupt anyway. Have fun with that.

Hope this helps, and good luck on your likely upcoming job hunt.

Oh, because you're greedy and since they're not producing sales volume, you can steal their money and it won't matter if they leave your network.

What a bunch of cunts you are.

 

[Refrozen]

<3 nickycakes.

 

[nickycakes]

OP was talking about the rewards for 5k, 15k, tiers and so on. maybe hydra couldn't afford the Harley Motorcycles they give anyway for $1mil?

No barman they can definitely afford it. The hydra guy said they're not going out of business so that means they have plenty of money dude.

 

[masonwiley]

If the numbers are so insignificant, then why would you remove the program? ....
What a bunch of cunts you are.

Oh insults and unbridled rage. How nice.

Did you ever consider that there are other costs beyond referral payouts to run the program? We were spending a lot of time and staff costs to process a bunch of affiliate apps most of which end up getting denied. That's time that can be devoted to other, more productive things.

So there i go trying to patiently explain. Let's see what new venom that provokes. Jeeeeeeeeeeeeee-zus!

 

[barman]

Did you ever consider that there are other costs beyond referral payouts to run the program? We were spending a lot of time and staff costs to process a bunch of affiliate apps most of which end up getting denied. That's time that can be devoted to other, more productive things.

lol @ how many "resources" it takes to hit the "Deny" button.

 

[Roundabout]

lol @ how many "resources" it takes to hit the "Deny" button.

Actually the application process is costly. It involves all the employees stop what they do, digitally record the event, and listen to the person on the other end of the phone talk about The Google and SEZero for an hour or more. Laughter for 30 minutes then ensues, and then it's lunch time. So Mason has a point.