Major new program for sponsors
csi4admin
It’s a fact: One of the biggest frustrations for SFI sponsors is that
many new affiliates become inactive shortly after signing up. They
seemingly log in and then vanish.
Today, we’re excited to announce a new promotion designed to directly address these issues.
We call it
TCREDITS WELCOMES (TW). Put simply, you’ll now have the option to offer a small allotment of
TCredits to new SFI registrants as an incentive to actively check out SFI and TripleClicks.
What’s distinctly different about TW is WHEN the offer occurs. Once
you’ve signed up to participate in the TW program, your new PSAs will be
presented with your gift in a fashion that
can’t be missed and does not rely on an email being delivered, opened, and read!
Literally the instant that your new PSA has submitted his or her
registration to join SFI, he/she will see a screen like this (featuring
your photo). The page is of course dynamic and will automatically
reflect the number of TCredits you’re offering, the value of your offer,
etc.
For those accepting the offer, we then let them know (on a second
screen) the TCredits are in their account, ready for them to use
immediately…and we provide them a link to the
Mighty TCredit page as a jumping-off spot.
And you’ll like this: For any TCredits not redeemed within 24 hours, they are immediately returned to your account!
HOW TO GET STARTED
Getting set up to participate is super quick and easy. Just go to our new TW Manager here:
If you have TCredits on account, it will show how many you have (a
link is also provided if you need to buy some TCredits). Next, you need
to:
- Click the on/off switch to turn it ON.
- Choose if you wish to make an offer to ALL, 50%, or 25% of your registrants.
- Choose how many TCredits you wish to offer (choose 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9).
- Choose the maximum number of TCredits you’re willing to spend on the TW promo each day (your daily maximum limit).
- Choose whether to pause participation if your daily maximum limit is reached.
- Click the “Save” button
That’s it! The very next person you sign up will be offered
the quantity of TCredits you’ve set up. And it’s just as easy to turn
off whenever you want. Just return to the TW Manager and turn the on/off
switch to OFF.
TIP: Perhaps you want to be around so that you can immediately get in touch (e.g.
SFI Instant Messaging)
with those accepting your offer to maximize impact. Hence, you could
turn participation ON when you’re at your computer, and off when you’re
not.
You’ll also notice the STATISTICS section located on the right side of the TW Manager page. In this area, we will provide
real-time statistics so you can see how your campaign is doing minute by minute.
By the way, this is a good time to think about ROI (Return On
Investment). Though you’ll know immediately when new affiliates have
accepted your offer of TCredits, you may not know for at least a few
days, and possibly weeks, if your investment is paying off with more
active affiliates.
For example, are those receiving TCredits going further in the E365
contest? Going Fast-Track? Are they becoming EAs, EA2s, or Team Leaders
more frequently? Are they setting up Standing Orders? These and other
metrics will be very important in determining your ROI. The simple stats
on the
TW Manager page will help you get a quick, general idea, but you’ll be pleased to know we’ve also added a new QuickFilter to the
Genealogy.
By selecting the new “Rec’d TCredits Welcome” filter, you can really
“crunch the numbers” and compare all kinds of aspects vs. those who do
not receive TCredits. This new QuickFilter is also great if you wish to
send a mailing to this group (perhaps you want to “extol the virtues” of
TCredits in general or give guidance on the best way to use the
TCredits you’ve gifted to them).
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Q: How does providing TCredits help get new affiliates engaged?
First of all, it’s a gift of real value…and no one wants to waste a valuable gift. Moreover, participating in
Eager Zebra games, bidding in a
Pricebenders auction, downloading
music, etc. is the best possible way to get to know about some of the key elements of the SFI program.
Getting people STARTED is the key.
People that get started and get engaged with the system are about 20
times more likely to stay engaged and become active SFI affiliates.
Q: How is this better than just transferring TCredits via the Genealogy like has been available for years?
HUGE difference. There, you had to hope the recipient even knew about
your gift. That is, they had to receive AND open AND read the email from
you or us letting them know about the TCredits (or somehow otherwise
notice the TCredits in their account at TripleClicks). Indeed, our
research indicates that many people sign up in SFI using secondary email
accounts they rarely if ever check. And many ISPs inadvertently/wrongly
send our emails to junk folders where they’ll likely never be seen. So
sending an email is
often a COMPLETELY WASTED EFFORT.
Recipients of your generosity also had to figure out what to do with
those TCredits. AND, with the TW program, you get your TCredits returned
to you if they are not used within 24 hours! And here is what is likely
the biggest difference of all: The TW offer is made while they are
still at our website–at the very moment they are at their highest
interest level (they just submitted their registration a split second
before) and the offer literally cannot be missed.
Q: Why do the TCredits have to expire so quickly?
By utilizing a short “time fuse,” recipients will be much less likely to
procrastinate and, hence, be more likely to use them. The whole idea,
of course, is to get them to use the TCredits. So it’s good for them,
and it’s good for you. Note: To help, we send two emails reminding them
of the expiration (one immediately upon accepting the offer, and another
16 hours later if the TCredits haven’t yet been used).
Q: How will I know that a new PSA has accepted the TW offer?
For starters, we’ve added a line to the New PSA Notification email you
receive from us each time you have a new sign-up. We’ve also added a
“TW” to the subject line for this email so you can know without even
opening the email. We’ve also added a new “Rec’d TCredits Welcome”
QuickFilter on the
Genealogy.
Use this filter to pull up all PSAs who have accepted your offer for
special group mailings and/or to compare the activity of those who have
and have not received TCredits from you.
Q: What if I change my mind and don’t want to participate in the TW program any longer?
You can turn it off any time you want by simply updating your preferences in the
TW Manager.
Q: Why in the TW Manager do I have the option of making the offer to all or just some of my new sign-ups?
This is so you may do what is known as “A/B Split Testing” so you’re not
“flying blind.” That is, by choosing to award TCredits to some but not
all, you can compare results, in the same time period, and determine if
participating in the TW program works and makes sense for you.
Q: In the TW Manager, I have the option of awarding 3-9
TCredits per person. Can I change this as needed to test different
amounts?
Yes, plus we’ll be tracking the results companywide. When we’ve
identified the “sweet spot” (the number of TCredits that statistically
is proving to be most cost-effective), we’ll make this information
available so you don’t have to spend more TCredits than is necessary.
Q: Hmmm. Even the minimum three TCredits, purchased at the
lowest price of $.29 each, means an investment of $.87 in each person
who accepts the offer. How can I justify this extra cost?
You have to really look at the big picture here. You’ve
already invested in the advertising to get them signed up. Will you
make more in the long run by investing a little more now–while you have
their attention? Or will you make more hoping they’ll get active
with SFI without you “sweetening the deal.” We don’t know that today,
but that’s why we’ve made the various tracking tools available to help
you answer this question.
Tip: You may be able to significantly decrease your cost for the TCredits by winning them at Pricebenders.
Q: In the TW Manager, I have the option of setting a maximum limit of TCredits for each day. What is the purpose of this?
This is simply a protection feature for you. TCredits are valuable of
course. We would not want to you to wake up one morning and find out
that more TCredits than you wanted to spend had been spent.
Q: In the TW Manager, I have the option of having the system
automatically pause my participation in the TW program if my daily
maximum limit of TCredits is reached. What is the purpose of this?
This is for your protection. Even a nominal daily limit, if reached day
after day after day, will add up. We want you to be aware so you do not
receive an unpleasant surprise. Note that if you DO reach your daily
limit and have your preferences set to pause participation, we will send
you an email to alert you so that you can turn participation back on
when you’re ready.
Q: I notice that the offer screen will feature my picture. Is a good picture important?
Absolutely. If you don’t have a good picture for your SFI account, replace it with one
here!
You should be smiling and look professional. The photo should also have
good lighting and not be blurry. Details count; a poor image could cost
you a LOT of money! You’ll increase your chances of engaging your new
affiliates if your photo comes across as someone they would want to work
with, so don’t overlook this small but very important element!
Q: What if recipients get confused and somehow lose the webpage to redeem their TCredits?
They’ll receive an immediate email from us reminding them of your gift
and where to go to redeem their TCredits. We’ll also send them another
reminder email after 16 hours of their acceptance of the offer (if they
haven’t yet redeemed their TCredits). Additionally, at the Affiliate
Center, on their
Alerts page, they’ll see a special alert at the top of the page that reminds them and provides the link to redeem their TCredits.
Q: Could new affiliates get sidetracked by the TCredits offer and forget all about SFI?
Not likely. For starters, upon accepting the TW offer, the link they’re
provided to redeem their TCredits opens in a new window, so their path
to the
SFI Affiliate Center
remains in place, waiting for them. Also, all new affiliates receive an
immediate “Welcome to SFI!” email from us and then a series of emails
kick in on day two regarding LaunchPad, etc. It would be very difficult
indeed to not be aware that they’ve just joined SFI. And this is all
without whatever welcome letter you, as their sponsor, might send them,
too!
Q: It would be nice to know, companywide, which amount of TCredits works the best. Can you provide this information?
Yes! We will be carefully tracking results. After a few weeks, once we
have a decent-sized sample (a few thousand offers accepted), we’ll
publish the results. We don’t want our affiliates spending more TCredits
than is necessary any more than you do.
Q: What’s to stop people from signing up multiple times just to get free TCredits?
We automatically block any attempts at signing up with the same email
address more than once. We also use other tools to monitor sign-ups.
Beyond that, however, it’s mostly in your hands. You are responsible.
That is, if you’re participating in the TW program, you definitely need
to be diligently reviewing your daily sign-ups for anything that looks
suspicious–especially if your sign-ups suddenly take a big jump up and
there’s no other thing you’re doing that would cause it. By comparing
names, email addresses, countries, registration times, etc., you will
often be able to identify persons engaged in shenanigans. The preference
options in the TW Manager are also designed to help you in this area
and we will develop additional tools should the program begin attracting
unwelcome persons.
Q: What if someone who did not receive the offer learns that I gave TCredits to others but not him?
If this were to occur, and you wanted to give the person some TCredits,
you always have the option of using the standard TCredits Transfer
feature located in your
Genealogy to transfer up to ten TCredits.
Q: Is the standard TCredits Transfer limit of ten per affiliates extended by the TW offer?
No. You are still limited to transferring no more than ten TCredits to any one affiliate.
Q: Can I get my TCredits back if I decide that I didn’t want a recipient to have received them?
Sorry, no. You are responsible of all TCredits you distribute while participating in the TW program.
Q: I’m not convinced that this new TW program will work for
me. Can I wait and see how it’s working for others before I start my
participation?
Of course, yes. We’ll be tracking results companywide and we’ll let
everyone know how the program is working, so you can decide based on
actual data. And if you don’t ever want to participate, that’s fine,
too; it’s a 100% optional program.
