Here’s a great email exchange that I just had with a merchant that we’ve been doing pretty well with recently through one of our community shopping sites. Names have been changed to protect the, uh, well, just because.
Affiliate Manager:
I wanted to let you know that we strictly prohibit direct linking to our website from search engines. Please update any campaigns otherwise we will not be able to continue working with you via Commission Junction.
Thanks,
Jane
Me, after mustering up the team to make sure we weren’t doing this:
Jane,
We are not doing any direct linking to [your site].
What makes you think we are?
Scott Jangro
MechMedia, Inc.
Affiliate Manager:
Scott,
Great! We didn’t. We just saw your sales pick up and wanted to ensure you knew our keyword policy.
Thanks,
Jane
Are you kidding me?
What’s wrong with this world when affiliate success is met with an initial assumption that we’re doing something wrong?
I can think of a dozen ways in which she could have emailed us in a positive way, but while ensuring that we weren’t doing something wrong. That perhaps would have resulted in our doing even more to promote them instead of their competitors.
Now I’m just annoyed at them.
(And, “Jane”, if you’re reading…no offense, really.)
