Pay to play....

With the ever increasing amount of Spam being sent and received these days, the model for sending real and legitimate email (both personal and marketing email) is slowly starting to shift.

As reported by McAfee in a recent study, in a little less than five months there has been a 140% increase in total spam volume. And even more impact-full is MX Logic's recent study showing that Spam has reached it's highest point of penetration, currently accounting for nearly 97% of all email being sent and received!

With these staggering numbers it is clear why the ISPs need to take some sort of action to get the Spam problem under control and have better mechanisms for 'real' email to get through there countless filters. As a result, Yahoo has recently begun talking about their CentMail concept which would essentially charge a sender $ .01 for every email they send to a Yahoo user (that $ .01 would actually be donated to charities). While this does not seem completely feasible and/or economical for potential senders, the discussion sparks the beginning of the next phase of email delivery. Of course there are various third party certification and reputation companies that can help a sender better deliver their mail, however there is no model today whereby the ISP directly charges a sender to send to their user, so this would be a first.

Who knows how the Spam industry will be defeated but based on the growing problems, it is clear that new mechanisms must come into play and it looks increasingly like paying for those benefits is one of the simplest solutions available. It should be interesting to see how this all plays out but rest assured we will be keeping a keen eye on the developments and making sure that we stay one step ahead of the game!

MRK

Affiliate Summit NYC

Affiliate Summit East is coming up next week and Proffiliates has many things to talk about. We're helping companies monetize their data extremely well both in the US and abroad. We've also built an industry leading confirmation page offer that is generating a significant amount of incremental revenue for folks in multiple verticals.

We're curious to see how big the NYC conference is compared to Las Vegas. We're also wondering who is going to have a big presence as it seems like there's been a lot of changes and fallout in the email marketing landscape over the past 12 months. Either way it is gearing up to be a successful show. If you're planning to go to the conference, let's meet up!

Seven years young

Before you know it, seven short years have passed and we are still plugging away and working with the same great folks doing the same great work.

As we reflect on our journey to this point, we just wanted to take a moment to thank all of our great colleagues, co-workers, clients, advertisers, list owners, employees and anyone else that has graced Proffiliates with their presence. It has been such great fun working in this young and thriving industry and we look forward to continuing to do the hard work that is necessary to keep our niche and our industry alive!

So here's to another 7 quick years of hard work, fun, creativity, progress and some more fun! Thanks again to everyone that has helped to make Proffiliates what it is today and we hope we continue to provide the same great service that we have strived for.

Cheers!

Quantity vs Quality

In this high-paced world of online marketing and, specifically, email marketing.....the money is in the message. With that in mind, it seems harder and harder to get that message out to end-users with each passing day and each newly sent email.

Sure, there are plenty of filters and add-on software to help manage the constant influx of emails (both wanted and unwanted) but as anyone who has tried them will know, you will inadvertently lose a number of important and wanted emails.
Even the outspoken and well known entrepreneur Marc Cuban can relate to this never-ending (and constantly growing) problem.

So...now what?? Clearly at the personal correspondence level a simple cutback on the Reply All button would help to decrese this influx :-)
BUT, at the commerical and marketing level it seems that the simples approach is for all of us email marketing companies to start focusing back on the quality of the message and getting completely away from fixing revenue problems with a simple quantitative approach. Yes the concept of "the more the merrier" works in some walks of life, but as years of trial and error have seemed to prove, "the more qualified the better" is a much more accurate assessment of the email marketing industry.

As consumers become less bombarded with email and other commerical messages, they are able to focus on those that they actually have interest in. This means no more lost emails to unruly filtering mechanisms, no more need to decrease personal communication just to free up clutter and surely no more missed opportunities...now these users (aka customers) will receive, read and act upon those emails that they are truly interested in....and that means higher conversion rates for all.

Yes. The money IS in the message.

MRK

Tipping point....

You see these payday loan offers in your inbox all day long. "John Smith can get up to $1,500 USD by tomorrow." They look really enticing, but what purpose do they serve? According to Wiki, a payday loan (also called a paycheck advance or payday advance) is a small, short-term loan that is intended to cover a borrower's expenses until his or her next payday. Typical loans are between $100 and $500, on a two-week term and have interest rates in the range of 390 percent to 780 percent (APR).

For a student or young professional who needs to cover their cell phone bill until their next paycheck, a cash advance could be a decent option. Once or twice here and there isn't a big deal. Now adays folks are acting on these quick cash come-ons to help pay for their houses. According to this story picked up by reuters over the weekend, hundreds of thousands of American Homeowners are using payday loans to pay off their mortgage bills. As more and more people choose this option to pay their mortgage, outstanding debt may swell and the overall economy could worsen. There is legislation pending that would put a cap on the amount of interest that these payday loan companies can charge to their customers. If that passes, it would be very beneficial to the consumer but potentially detrimental to the short term lenders. There would probably be many less companies offering pay day loans and inevitably less cash advance offers in the inbox. How would folks pay for their homes? We'd start to see more emails like "There are 200 foreclosed homes in John Smith's area" ;)

Darryn

CASH - The Comeback Kid

Good news for all!! We're starting to see more credit card offers popping up out there and this is surely good news for everyone in the industry, especially on the Cash Advance side. Reason being, we all know that cash marketers love to bundle credit cards along with their cash sites.
It's a good upsell to the consumer while also allowing the cash sites to better monetize the consumer and pay more per lead.

Things got super tight in the middle of November as banks pulled back their email budgets and cash lenders heavily restricted their lending polices and qualifications. This one-two punch left cash sites and mailers running for cover.

It's really encouraging to see that the banks are allocating budgets for email again and there is a light burning at the end of this dark tunnel....now it's time to "cash in".

Be aware -- Proffiliates is hiring! If you know anyone with online advertising experience who wants to help take things to the next level, please pass along this job post and have them get in touch...

Until next time, BYE FOR NOW.
Darryn

And so it begins....

In keeping with the times, or really just catching up with them, Proffiliates has decided to start keeping tabs of all things Email Marketing, List Management, Online Advertising, Lead Generation and any other topics we can touch on...and what better place than a blog.

We intend to share our thoughts and opinions on the industry, any commentary that may fit, ebbs and trends that we are seeing and of course where and when you can find us on the road. Hopefully this can one day transform itself into a place of shared thoughts and ideas by all of us in the industry, but we will surely do our best to get the collective ball rolling and get some of our thoughts and experiences down on 'paper'. And remember, these are just that -- our thoughts and experiences -- and should be taken as nothing more than one group's findings.

And as mentioned we will keep tabs on what events and shows we'll be at and hopefully be able to connect with folks along the way. In the meantime, you can always find us at:

Proffiliates.com

Proffiliates Facebook Page

Welcome to the Proffiliation Nation. Cheers!
MRK