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The Great Niggle Nobble was a fun, social and immersive digital push which recognised the frustrations of thousands of home broadband users. More on the award winning Great Niggle Nobble campaign.IAB’s affiliate marketing council launches code of best practice
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UK affiliate networks collaborate to combat misuse of online Voucher Codes.
Thursday, 27 November 2008
The IAB's affiliate marketing council code of best practice has been finalised:
FAQs
Q: Do these changes come into force as of 1st Jan with affiliates then given time to change or are affiliate sites expected to be compliant on 01/01/09?
A: The code will come into effect on January 1st 2009 and affiliates will be expected to have become compliant by that time
Q: What is a “valid voucher code”?
A: A valid code is defined as a code that has been legitimately issued by a merchant for your use online. This code will have an activation date and where necessary a deactivation date.
Q: What about affiliates with blogs where voucher codes are offered amongst many other ‘offers’ of various sorts, sales etc. They’re not improperly describing any of the offers, and I wouldn’t want them removed from our clients campaigns.
A: As long as they are not using “click to reveal” where there is no valid voucher code then this is fine. Offers/Sales etc. need to be clearly labelled as such and not mislead the user to click believing they will receive a voucher code. In such a situation re-labelling the link “click to reveal site” is perfectly acceptable.
Q: What are the consequences if a site does not adhere to these rues?
A: The site will receive a warning from their network to change the site. If this is not followed within 7 days a further warning will be sent which if ignored again will result in the publisher being reported as breaking these rules and suspension from the signed up networks.
More information:
The Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) and its affiliate marketing council (AMC) have established a code of best practice for the use of online Voucher Codes as the industry leaders seek to combat misuse of the medium.
The new code has been created in response to a growing need for stricter guidelines in the area, following reports that some voucher code sites are putting brands’ affiliate campaigns at risk. It is due to come into effect on 1 January 2009.
Under the terms of the code, sites displaying voucher codes must provide full details of vouchers on offer, legitimate activation and use-by dates. Sites must also not imply vouchers exist by encouraging the visitor to 'Click To Reveal' codes, opening the retailer's site in a new browser window and storing the affiliate cookie even when a voucher is not available.
The affiliate networks signing up to the code are Affiliate Window, Affilinet, Commission Junction UK, DGM-UK, LinkShare UK, TradeDoubler, Platform-A’s buy.at, Premier Affiliate Network, Webgains and Zanox.
Ben Wood, chair of the AMC, comments: “The swift action the Council has taken in response to growing concerns surrounding voucher code misuse has been a testament to not just the networks who will enforce the code, but all parties involved. This has been a collaborative process between voucher code affiliates, merchants, agencies and networks, all working towards instilling best practice throughout the industry.”
Dan Redfearn, membership manager at the IAB, adds: “This is a fantastic step forward for the industry and the AMC. The timely and unified action from our member networks further highlights the maturity of the market and reassures merchants of the validity of the affiliate channel.”
The AMC boasts representatives from across the affiliate industry, and was established to educate the industry about affiliate marketing, provide guidance materials for advertisers and establish best practice guidelines to reinforce the integrity of the industry.
Thursday, 27 November 2008
The IAB's affiliate marketing council code of best practice has been finalised:
- Using 'Click to Reveal' when there is no valid or current code present is not permitted of affiliate publishers including using 'Click to Reveal' to show any deals/offers/sales instead of vouchers.
- Voucher code affiliate publishers must clearly detail the voucher offer that will be revealed by the click.
- A valid code is defined as a code that has been legitimately issued by a merchant for your use online. This code will have an activation date and where necessary a deactivation date.
- Voucher code directories must contain clear categorization and separation between deals/offers/sales and discount codes
FAQs
Q: Do these changes come into force as of 1st Jan with affiliates then given time to change or are affiliate sites expected to be compliant on 01/01/09?
A: The code will come into effect on January 1st 2009 and affiliates will be expected to have become compliant by that time
Q: What is a “valid voucher code”?
A: A valid code is defined as a code that has been legitimately issued by a merchant for your use online. This code will have an activation date and where necessary a deactivation date.
Q: What about affiliates with blogs where voucher codes are offered amongst many other ‘offers’ of various sorts, sales etc. They’re not improperly describing any of the offers, and I wouldn’t want them removed from our clients campaigns.
A: As long as they are not using “click to reveal” where there is no valid voucher code then this is fine. Offers/Sales etc. need to be clearly labelled as such and not mislead the user to click believing they will receive a voucher code. In such a situation re-labelling the link “click to reveal site” is perfectly acceptable.
Q: What are the consequences if a site does not adhere to these rues?
A: The site will receive a warning from their network to change the site. If this is not followed within 7 days a further warning will be sent which if ignored again will result in the publisher being reported as breaking these rules and suspension from the signed up networks.
More information:
The Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) and its affiliate marketing council (AMC) have established a code of best practice for the use of online Voucher Codes as the industry leaders seek to combat misuse of the medium.
The new code has been created in response to a growing need for stricter guidelines in the area, following reports that some voucher code sites are putting brands’ affiliate campaigns at risk. It is due to come into effect on 1 January 2009.
Under the terms of the code, sites displaying voucher codes must provide full details of vouchers on offer, legitimate activation and use-by dates. Sites must also not imply vouchers exist by encouraging the visitor to 'Click To Reveal' codes, opening the retailer's site in a new browser window and storing the affiliate cookie even when a voucher is not available.
The affiliate networks signing up to the code are Affiliate Window, Affilinet, Commission Junction UK, DGM-UK, LinkShare UK, TradeDoubler, Platform-A’s buy.at, Premier Affiliate Network, Webgains and Zanox.
Ben Wood, chair of the AMC, comments: “The swift action the Council has taken in response to growing concerns surrounding voucher code misuse has been a testament to not just the networks who will enforce the code, but all parties involved. This has been a collaborative process between voucher code affiliates, merchants, agencies and networks, all working towards instilling best practice throughout the industry.”
Dan Redfearn, membership manager at the IAB, adds: “This is a fantastic step forward for the industry and the AMC. The timely and unified action from our member networks further highlights the maturity of the market and reassures merchants of the validity of the affiliate channel.”
The AMC boasts representatives from across the affiliate industry, and was established to educate the industry about affiliate marketing, provide guidance materials for advertisers and establish best practice guidelines to reinforce the integrity of the industry.
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