Quality
Does quality matter when you need a tracking platform to help you run your affiliate marketing company? Ask the companies who are no longer in business due to inaccurate tracking, they will tell you that it does make the difference between becoming successful and shutting the doors. Looking at the avenues that you can travel to have a tracking platform is like looking at a map of the United States. There are many ways to get from San Francisco to New York City, some better and faster than others, but in the end hundreds of ways to make the journey. There are not as many tracking platforms as there are roads, but there are still choices to be made.
One of the indicators that a platform has a high quality is the retention rate of the partners who are using the platform. You cannot look at only the testimonials of the companies; those testimonials are usually biased for that certain company. The real way to get the numbers for the retention is to do you research. LinkTrust claims that there is a 95.7% retention rate, while Direct Track claims that there is over 85% retention rate. Direct Track has been on the block longer than LinkTrust, and has a larger customer base. This could be the sole factor in the difference in numbers.
Customer service
Customer service is a huge issue in any company. There have been some very large companies in the world who, have over the years have felt the impact about not having the best customer service. There are also companies who clients will go out of their way to become a permanent client of that company, and one of the reasons is the customer service. There are also companies who do not care what the customer service is like, since there are no other competitors in that industry, example your gas or power companies. Customer service is one of the reasons affiliate-marketing company will choose a platform over another platform.
In the world of affiliate marketing, companies and people talk between each other. There is also a very high turnover rate within affiliate-marketing companies. With these facts, it is important to have a platform that has a higher level of customer service. A few companies have become advocates for the platforms that they use, and have spoken with a loud voice about the customer service that they receive. Some of those companies are Get Ads, Blink Ads, Niche Marketers, and Traffic Venue.
Applications
LinkTrust is in the process of releasing a new version of their software titled version 6.0. In this software release, one of the major changes that will take place is the ability to have a tiered payout for the affiliates who use the platform. Direct Track already has a tiered payout program in their platform, the issue is that it is outdated and they are not spending the time or money to upgrade the platform at this time.
Other services
There are other issues that must be looked at when deciding which platform is going to be the best for your company, one of them being what other services are included in the cost of the license. Is your invoice going to change with every small contact with the tracking platform company, or are their services part of the original contract. One of the reasons that Get Ads, Blink Ads, Niche Marketers, and Traffic Venue are advocates for their platform is the constancy of the invoices. Most companies do not like surprises when it comes to the invoice.
Study hard and make sure that you do your research to find the best tracking platform for your company. I wish you the best in business. Remember luck does not happen it is planned for.
Jeffrey Sage
Director of Marketing
Burstabit Media, Inc.
www.burstabit.com/
e: jeff@burstabit.com
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