Word of mouth has it that there will be an additional payment confirmation will be added to ringtones. Nobody knows exactly when, but possibly soon. These are all "rumors" as of now, but who knows. Your thoughts? Any of you heard anything?
I hope so... Its just a matter of time before the whole ringtone thing goes away at the current model.
Well you are starting to see lawsuit after lawsuit. I get calls all the time from people mounting cases against large cellphone providers. Its very similar to the reverse billing porn schemes of the late 80's with traditional phone lines.
Maybe if these stupid kids would read the offer before throwing in there cell numbers........they get what they deserve. Its a perfectly legit model the cell phone companies are running. The problem is the legal system: We live in a society where people eat fast food and then get health problems so they sue the fast food companies..... AHH.....Really.....how does the human race survive?
question: might this lead to higher CPA rates? If the ringtone companies are getting fewer cancellations and lawsuits because of this additional step wont they be willing to increase payouts? They need affiliates...and they will probably have to do something to keep them happy and promoting their products and services.
Yeah, I've had it confirmed by several affiliate managers of mine and also some industry friends, I did a little post about it at my blog you can read about it if you want, link is in the recent blog post thing.
That's the first thing that came to my mind also. If conversions are dropping 30%, you would think/hope that the ringtone providers would raise their payouts 30% to offset this. Yes, it's going to cost them more, but clearly they are saving money in lawsuits, cancellations, etc.
Word on the street is that after you confirm the SMS pin # online, your handset will be sent another SMS asking you if you agree to the $9.99 a month charge that most consumers don't realize exists. If that's true, than I think a 30% drop in conversions is being on the conservative side. Again, all rumors for now.
One more note: if this occurs it will be simple economics. Some in the industry wont be able to profit if conversions drop 30%. They will leave and the decrease in competition will help those who remain in the industry. I think the drop will also depend on the specific landing page - the one I'm using now is pretty clear about the $10 per month charge, so I doubt conversions will decrease as much as they will on some "sneakier" landing pages.
This change is forthcoming. This is due to pressure on the entire mobile industry to change their ways. Most ringtone companies have a 35-50% unsubscription rate within the FIRST 24 hours - does that not make it clear that pricing is not conspicuous enough to the end users? This change may crush the current online ringtone market.
Haha, I highly doubt it will crush the ringtone market. I have to agree with most others that have said... If they add a 3rd step and more people realize they will be charged and are okay with that and still sign up they will be able to raise payouts as those are people that will stay with the company for at least a couple months.
It may inspire the big ringtone providers to switch from a subscription based model to a per-song model. Charge the user $1.99 for a download, pay the affiliate $1.25. Give the affiliate a 90 day cookie so when the consumer goes back to get some more songs, they can rack up the commissions.
I don't see that at being an option that most will go for. Could be wrong of course I just don't think it makes much sense...I mean they are paying the way they are now yet they know that ~50% of the leads that affilaites send them are going to be people that are going to cancel the first month...So they pay us 13.00 dollars or whatever it is you get and make only 9.99 of that back on ~50% of the people that sign up. So if they implement a new step which will stop most of the people that didn't realize they were getting charged (you can debate this but yes there are still plenty of stupid people that don't realize it because they don't read the offer) from signing up for the offer meaning that instead of losting 50% the first month they may only lose lets say 25% (please note these numbers are just an example, I don't know the true numbers) So now they are paying out to affiliates yet, they are having the people that sign up stay longer than a month meaning they actually will probably save money in terms of what they are paying out considered to what they are making, basically increase their ROI, which as some say could lead to higher payouts, may keep payouts the same, who knows.
What happens if the user erases the cookies? I know plenty of people who clear their cookies and cache daily. You could have a 365 day cookie. It will do little good.
I'd guess only 1-2% of internet users could even explain what a 'cookie' is and does. And the average user is not going to know how to clear their cache. If this was of any concern affiliate marketing wouldn't even exist and be profitable.
I guess it’s more profitable to offer a subscription service then offer per download. I think it will depend on how the law suits turn out.
This will be beneficial to a few but detrimental to most. Thankfully with the information you have you can use it to your advantage right? Make some lemonade. Mmm...