Today marks the launch of a new affiliate marketing network here in the United States. It’s not every day something like that happens, so this is pretty exciting stuff.
I’ve had a chance to poke around the new Pepperjam Network a few days early and while it is still getting its last minute spit-shine and polish, it’s shaping up to be something good.
Here’s a hands-on, first look, perspective from a real live affiliate marketer.
The first thing that strikes me is that they have about 50 merchant programs. They’re mostly fashion and apparel merchants with a mix of others including many well known brands. It’s an impressive number of merchants to launch with. The last network that launched in the US started with one or two, if I recall. And that didn’t get them very far.
In order to put it through its paces, I signed up for a program that I knew I could convert on, and in a few days, I’ve generated 7 or so sales for about $50 in commissions.
They track. OK, we can continue. 
Any network can get my attention if they have at least one merchant that I can do well with. Whether I unpack my bags, move in, and make it part of the daily routine is another question.
Making me happy really isn’t that hard to do. I can sum it up into the following points:
- A nice easy to use interface that gets out of my way and makes it easy to find and join new programs, get links, and see quick stats and earnings progress.
- The tools to automatically tie tracking and reporting easily into our own internal processes and allow me to create my own deep links without having to go back into the interface.
- Strong best practices that encourages merchants to have well-built and up-to-date product datafeeds and deep-linking. I need to be able to build my own links without going into the interface.
- Easy access to new product feeds. I don’t mind getting approved for each, but don’t make me jump through hoops. And when I’m approved, give me fast access. Did I mention get out of my way?
- Good support with quick responses to my inquiries from the Network and the Merchants.
- Real-time reporting
That’s not asking too much, is it? Let’s see how PJN stacks up.
The interface is nice and clean and makes good use of some flash for a stats dashboard and AJAX for some of the interface controls. There is some decent reporting, and the interface for finding merchants to work with and getting links is nice and easy to use.
Here’s the stats dashboard, and my current balance right in the header.
#1 check.
The thing about an affiliate network that’s most important to me is the anti-interface. I want to be able to automate as much as possible. This means getting automated transaction reports with sub-id tracking (SID as they call it). This means product datafeeds and deep linking.
The automated reporting is missing for now, but I did ask Kris Jones at Pepperjam about it and he did acknowedge that this is a critical component and something they have planned. Product links are also missing, though there is a placeholder for it. They do allow merchants to deep link, though the merchant I tested doesn’t have it enabled (which is probably going to be a show stopper long-term if they don’t get that resolved.)
#2, 3, and 4…mostly. At least there’s strong promise.
There are also a few things that seem unique to PepperJam, and they mostly revolve around the concept of “transparency”. And this lends itself to communication and support. PJN has an integrated chat system, showing me when a merchant is online and I can initiate a chat session.
I tried this a few times, but didn’t get a response. Robyn was probably busy getting ready for the launch, so I’ll cut her some slack.
They also provide a “transparency rating” that scores affiliates on how much we disclose our contact information and business practices and methods. Big thumbs up to PJN for addressing this major pain-point.
On the other side, I don’t see a rating for merchants, but I do see names, addresses, and phone numbers. Plus the online chat, which I see being tough for merchants and PJN to manage, but a really great feature if it works.
#5, the features are there. It remains to be seen whether the human part is behind it.
And they do have real-time, or at least near-real-time reporting so I do know very quickly that clicks are coming in and I can see same-day sales. This provides a major boost on the comfort level when trying out a new merchant, and is critical for some PPC activitiy.
#6 check.
All in all, Pepperjam is off to a great start. They’ve clearly got some work to do, but it feels to me like they’re doing it.
We’re making money already, so they’ve hooked me. We’ll see if they become a major part of our business (this is a very short list of networks currently) or if they fall in line with the bunch of others that we use but pay very little attention to.
Give it a try: Pepperjam Network
