Gaming Quality & Possible Chargebacks (7)
I recently hired a new employee to help build and optimize campaigns for me. To have him get a feel for the tracking platform, networks etc I had him choose an easy lead gen off (gaming - League of Angels) and run it on PPV traffic (3 major networks, my AM said PPV was allowed and is a top performer). We targeted similar MMO's and keywords like battle.net, runescape.com, kabam, wartune, etc. The page was direct linked to their top performing offer page (red page with big titted woman on it).
This was last month, we spent about $1800 and did $1500 revenue with a $300 loss, not too bad for his first campaign. Later the offer was paused and we were forced to stop everything.
2 weeks go by and now I get a call from the network saying that the advertiser (youzu.com) is not paying because the traffic quality was terrible and all of the users played once and stopped.
Does anybody know what went wrong here? Is it my targets? Traffic sources? The fact that the game is just garbage and entices people in with big tits? I've never had something like this happen before although gaming isn't my specialty so it could be something on my end.
I've had some similar complaints with gaming offers on similar traffic. Arcade style traffic (flash games) also led to a lot of complaints.
I showed my AM at the network my lander for the offer and he was extremely surprised that the quality was so poor, especially given that so many people run DL on popunders and do fine.
I'd love it if someone with a gaming background told us what these advertisers are looking for, besides the obvious high CLV / repeat visitor stats.
basically ppv/contextual traffic is count low quality of traffic source so yes it make sense but the advertiser didn't pay at all?
From a gamers point of view, these games are often crap.
Someone browsing wowhead, curse, battle.net etc. probably plays decent games e.g. AA and AAA titles.
So, games like Wartune are considered pretty pathetic, and the only reason users register is due to the grossly misleading landing pages and game art that the game does not do justice to... hence the low LTV from these users.
I would target similar games and portals like Wartune, LoA, kongregate, etc. to at least target users who play those kinds of games in the first place.
The 'big' sites that attract less casual gamers are going to bring volume but not quality.
This doesn't hold true for high quality games, e.g. Warframe, TERA, etc.
NB: If you promote games, play them first to understand how they operate. If they suck balls and are another Wartune clone, don't expect much.
Originally Posted by zeno
The other thing is they never said anything about quality until we were already $1500 rev in after weeks of running. Isn't it normal to mention something is doing bad way sooner than that?
Either way I'm staying away from gaming. That campaign was really only to show my employee how to create and manage a campaign.
They should certainly pay out.
If it was legitimate traffic, then it is up to the advertiser to assess lead quality, monetise, provide feedback and kick affiliates if the quality is low.
That's just part of the game - affiliates can't guarantee traffic/lead quality any more than a traffic source, advertising agency or affiliate network can.
I have been kicked for lead quality before as well and have just moved on.
Some games (many games) suck and the traffic will all convert poorly, some advertisers don't have a clue and will consider 13 yr olds better lead quality because they log in and play more (nice foresight there advertisers...), many suck at tracking and don't or can't provide feedback at the subid level.
If you have followed the T&Cs of the offer, did not do anything noncompliant, and the offer is to pay out upon first install, then the advertiser should also respect the T&Cs as well.
Home > General > Affiliate Marketing Forum