Thought I would post something about the multi-variate testing that Lovefilm has been doing to improve conversion on our website. As we send most affiliate traffic to our homepage all affiliates should have seen increased CCR from the recent tests.
Our digital and usability product manager Craig Sullivan recently spoke to e-consultancy about the work we have been doing in MVT. Below are the key points and the whole article can be found at http://www.e-consultancy.com/news-blog/365649/q-a-lovefilm-s-craig-sullivan-on-a-b-and-multi--variate-testing.html
So how long has Lovefilm been testing for?
We've been A/B testing all sorts of stuff for a few years now but we recently found a really good Multi Variate testing solution from Optimost (www.optimost.com) that has been getting us good results. We're trying to do loads more tests because the gains are so fundamental to our bottom line. It's also useful for us to assess the impact of changes we sometimes make rather than trying to guess the outcome.
What benefits are you getting from MVT?
There are obvious financial benefits - because of our fast growth as a business, we drive a lot of traffic to our site. We recently did a test with 192 elements and found two major changes that increased conversion. This gets us substantial additional revenue each year.
The other brilliant side benefit is that time spent endlessly tweaking designs or choosing 'the best design' is now reduced. I spend less time in long pointless meetings arguing about whether we should use dropdowns or whether the button should have shadows or what colour an element should be - our customers let us put all the ideas into a bucket and see what things work.
What are the key lessons you've learnt?
MVT testing is easy and everyone should be doing this. There are solutions that are completely free all the way up to thousands of pounds so there is plenty of choice in the market.
The biggest things personally for me are how it radically changed our design and approval process and how it removed the guesswork from site changes. We shouldn't be trying to 'guess' customer behaviour and we just shrug now, accept this fact and get on with letting the customers settle it for us.
credit: e-consultancy
Friday, 27 June 2008
Monday, 16 June 2008
Affiliate Marketing People in Good Cause Shock!
Thats right, affilliates, affiliate networks and publishers worked together to do something good for once - Dragon Boat Racing for charity!
Thank you to those who donated to the charity event in aid of The Anthony Nolan Trust on the 12 of June. Tradedoubler entered 4 strong teams and in all participates raised over £10.5k for charity, and you can still donate if you like at http://www.justgiving.com/tradedoublerdragonboat
Below is proof of said activity, with guns pumping after a hard fought race. Lovefilm’s involvement with Tradedoubler’s Viking team also helped us to thrash our competition on our way to winning the final and being showered in glory. Smaller contributions were made by the likes of Nectar, TMN Media, Jessops, CK Net Ltd and Tradedoubler themselves - George 'Splasher' Head and Wolfy “check out these guns” Light-Wilkinson
The Anthony Nolan Trust takes back lives from leukaemia by managing and recruiting new donors to the UK's most successful bone marrow register as well as undertaking vital research leading to improvements in the effectiveness and safety of bone marrow transplants.
The Anthony Nolan is responsible for finding suitable unrelated donors for patients who require bone marrow transplants. Fewer than 30 per cent of patients who need bone marrow transplants are able to find a compatible donor within their own families. The rest rely on the generosity of strangers who have volunteered to donate bone marrow to anyone in need.
Thank you to those who donated to the charity event in aid of The Anthony Nolan Trust on the 12 of June. Tradedoubler entered 4 strong teams and in all participates raised over £10.5k for charity, and you can still donate if you like at http://www.justgiving.com/tradedoublerdragonboat
Below is proof of said activity, with guns pumping after a hard fought race. Lovefilm’s involvement with Tradedoubler’s Viking team also helped us to thrash our competition on our way to winning the final and being showered in glory. Smaller contributions were made by the likes of Nectar, TMN Media, Jessops, CK Net Ltd and Tradedoubler themselves - George 'Splasher' Head and Wolfy “check out these guns” Light-Wilkinson
The Anthony Nolan Trust takes back lives from leukaemia by managing and recruiting new donors to the UK's most successful bone marrow register as well as undertaking vital research leading to improvements in the effectiveness and safety of bone marrow transplants.
The Anthony Nolan is responsible for finding suitable unrelated donors for patients who require bone marrow transplants. Fewer than 30 per cent of patients who need bone marrow transplants are able to find a compatible donor within their own families. The rest rely on the generosity of strangers who have volunteered to donate bone marrow to anyone in need.
Thursday, 5 June 2008
June - back on TV, time for affiliates to cash in
The latest LOVEFiLM.COM TV spot featuring a voice over by Simon Pegg is now out. Clips from I Am Legend, The Golden Compass, Sweeny Todd and some classic clips. Its my favourite so far due to a clip from The Big Lebowski that always makes me laugh.
As always TV exposure is great for our affiliates - you guys get to close the deal and take the commission. Let me know if need anything from me to help with this, and you can always embed this ad on your page with your links.
As always TV exposure is great for our affiliates - you guys get to close the deal and take the commission. Let me know if need anything from me to help with this, and you can always embed this ad on your page with your links.
Thursday, 8 May 2008
New Gaming Package and Creative
Lovefilm have just launched a new package that focuses on gaming at our lowest price ever.
For £9.99 a month members can rent 4 games and have 2 at home at any time. We think this is better than any other option from other rental companies. We are now also stocking Nintendo DS titles alongside Wii, Xbox, PS2 and PS3 so this offer is great for affiliates that promote gaming. We had GTA 4 stock on day of release for our members to rent.
Also to promote the new package we are promoting an extended 1 mont trial on Tradedoubler. Banners in our gaming rental section in sizes 728x90, 468x60 and 120x600 will be promoting this special offer.
We continue to offer our normal commissions of £10-£17.50 depenign on your volume every month.
For £9.99 a month members can rent 4 games and have 2 at home at any time. We think this is better than any other option from other rental companies. We are now also stocking Nintendo DS titles alongside Wii, Xbox, PS2 and PS3 so this offer is great for affiliates that promote gaming. We had GTA 4 stock on day of release for our members to rent.
Also to promote the new package we are promoting an extended 1 mont trial on Tradedoubler. Banners in our gaming rental section in sizes 728x90, 468x60 and 120x600 will be promoting this special offer.
We continue to offer our normal commissions of £10-£17.50 depenign on your volume every month.
Friday, 2 May 2008
New PAYG Promotion - Toshiba HDTV Giveaway
For the month of May LOVEFiLM.COM are running a special promotion for our Pay As You Go offer. Everyone who buys a pack of rental credits will be entered into a prize draw to win a Toshiba Regza 40 inch HDTV worth over £1000.
LOVEFiLM PAYG is the alternative to a monthly subscription and is aimed at film lovers who do not watch enough films justify a regular membership. With LOVEFIlM PAYG a user would buy a pack of credit and be able to use this to rent when they like. They get the same great LOVEFiLM.COM features with no late fees, full site access and the ability to rent every DVD available in the UK.
We have updated out banner creative for this offer as well as the landing page, in order to help communicate the great prize on offer. We are also still paying £15 for every sign up for this service.
I would hope this help affiliates to promote the offer - when you have used prize draws previously for other offers we have seen a good response increase.
LOVEFiLM PAYG is the alternative to a monthly subscription and is aimed at film lovers who do not watch enough films justify a regular membership. With LOVEFIlM PAYG a user would buy a pack of credit and be able to use this to rent when they like. They get the same great LOVEFiLM.COM features with no late fees, full site access and the ability to rent every DVD available in the UK.
We have updated out banner creative for this offer as well as the landing page, in order to help communicate the great prize on offer. We are also still paying £15 for every sign up for this service.
I would hope this help affiliates to promote the offer - when you have used prize draws previously for other offers we have seen a good response increase.
Saturday, 19 April 2008
Do Affiliate prefer a high CPA or a stronger offer to promote?
Here at Lovefilm we have built our affiliate program on promoting a 2 week trial and paying our affiliates £12-17 (volume pyramid) for every person they drive to our service. Our affiliates are told not to promote offers not on the network, such as the longer trials we use to win customers back or premia included promotions (wine, cinema tickets).
I am looking at allowing some affiliates to promote special offers such as a longer trial and cinema ticket giveaway, but this moves some of the affiliate commission budget into the offer instead. Affiliates have a choice - promote the normal offer and take the money, or try the different offer on a lower CPA but hope conversion is better (as it should be).
What do affiliate prefer though - a higher CPA with less risk or the gamble of 3 times as much (or less) money in the bank if the special offer works?
I am looking at allowing some affiliates to promote special offers such as a longer trial and cinema ticket giveaway, but this moves some of the affiliate commission budget into the offer instead. Affiliates have a choice - promote the normal offer and take the money, or try the different offer on a lower CPA but hope conversion is better (as it should be).
What do affiliate prefer though - a higher CPA with less risk or the gamble of 3 times as much (or less) money in the bank if the special offer works?
Thursday, 3 April 2008
Best week of the year for Lovefilm's Affiliate Marketing
Last week saw the best week of the year for Lovefilm in terms of affiliate marketing - a great achievement. Although we were advertising on TV in January the current TV spots that started 2 week ago seem to be having a better halo affect on affiliate based promotions.
Considering the doom and gloom currently going around regarding the economy are people seeing affiliate marketing bucking the forecasts? I would hope affiliates promoting great savings and offers would prosper right now.
Considering the doom and gloom currently going around regarding the economy are people seeing affiliate marketing bucking the forecasts? I would hope affiliates promoting great savings and offers would prosper right now.
Friday, 14 March 2008
Lovefilm.com - Retail/Leisure Business of the Year
This past Wednesday I attended the Fast Growth Business Awards in London as part of the Lovefilm.com team, hoping to win the Retail/Leisure Business of the Year Award. Not only did we win this category, but we also made the top 4 for the overall award - something we had not expected. Below are the judge's comments:
LOVEFiLM disruptive nature and meteoric growth was simply too impressive for the judges to overlook. Since forming just six years ago in 2002 it’s captured the online DVD rental market with frightening pace, harnessing a market that brought in revenues of around £65m in 2007. Determined to stay ahead of the game, LOVEFiLM has also invested heavily in the emerging digital downloads market and struck deals with a number of major film studios, as well as white label agreements with the likes of Tesco. The pace of growth and drive for innovation has come at the expense of profit, but the judges felt the founders’ acceptance of risk in a bid to rapidly capture market share, was the essence of entrepreneurial zest that the awards aim to champion.
Not only did we do well at this awards ceremony, but on the same night we also came 7th in the Media Momentum awards which aim to identify the UK’s 50 fastest growing media businesses. This is the third year running that we have been recognized in the top 50.
All of these awards and recognitions for growth have would be happen without the hard work of everyone at Lovefilm, but also the hard work of every partner and affiliate. I would like to thank anyone reading this that has worked on our affiliate campaigns or any other promotions that we have run. Our affiliates have played a key part in our growth and it is great to be able to say that our affiliate marketing is a major success.
LOVEFiLM disruptive nature and meteoric growth was simply too impressive for the judges to overlook. Since forming just six years ago in 2002 it’s captured the online DVD rental market with frightening pace, harnessing a market that brought in revenues of around £65m in 2007. Determined to stay ahead of the game, LOVEFiLM has also invested heavily in the emerging digital downloads market and struck deals with a number of major film studios, as well as white label agreements with the likes of Tesco. The pace of growth and drive for innovation has come at the expense of profit, but the judges felt the founders’ acceptance of risk in a bid to rapidly capture market share, was the essence of entrepreneurial zest that the awards aim to champion.
Not only did we do well at this awards ceremony, but on the same night we also came 7th in the Media Momentum awards which aim to identify the UK’s 50 fastest growing media businesses. This is the third year running that we have been recognized in the top 50.
All of these awards and recognitions for growth have would be happen without the hard work of everyone at Lovefilm, but also the hard work of every partner and affiliate. I would like to thank anyone reading this that has worked on our affiliate campaigns or any other promotions that we have run. Our affiliates have played a key part in our growth and it is great to be able to say that our affiliate marketing is a major success.
Tuesday, 11 March 2008
Lovefilm.com back on tv - expect affiliates activity to increase 30%!
Just a quick message to tell you that Lovefilm.com is going to be back on the telly as of the 14th of this month. As those that are already on our program know - being on TV makes our affiliate activity work even better. Every time we have been on TV I have watched our affiliate numbers increase, around 30% last time in January.
30%!! - get those Lovefilm.com links up now. The TV ad is the same as our affiliate offer of a 2 week FREE trial while you can earn £10-£17.
Contact myself or your Tradedoubler contact to get involved.
30%!! - get those Lovefilm.com links up now. The TV ad is the same as our affiliate offer of a 2 week FREE trial while you can earn £10-£17.
Contact myself or your Tradedoubler contact to get involved.
Thursday, 21 February 2008
Easy Cinema and Lovefilm PAYG - Commission changes and updates
Commission Changes
The Easy Cinema brand (powered by LOVEFiLM.com) has experienced some great growth thanks to affiliates over the last year. However over the last few months, LOVEFiLM has developed a new Pay As You Go offer which we want to now focus on with all your support. We are offering a whopping £15 commission in order to bring as many new people to this Pay As You Go plan.
The Easy DVD rental commission will be lowered to £4. £4 is still in line with, or more than, most of our competitors in the DVD rental sector. This change will occur as of Monday 25th February 2008.
We feel that the LOVEFiLM PAYG is the best offer on the market for those people who want to rent DVDs (plus Blu-Ray and HD titles) with no subscription. We're so sure of this that we're offering 2 free bonus rental credits for every new customer, which make rentals cost from just £1.76 each, plus all the film content and community which LOVEFiLM is famous for.
The £15 commission is also extremely strong for incentive and cash-back sites to offer. You can access Lovefilm PAYG creative on the main Lovefilm program.
Thank you for your continued support and hard work. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to call or email your Tradedoubler contact or send me a message.
The Easy Cinema brand (powered by LOVEFiLM.com) has experienced some great growth thanks to affiliates over the last year. However over the last few months, LOVEFiLM has developed a new Pay As You Go offer which we want to now focus on with all your support. We are offering a whopping £15 commission in order to bring as many new people to this Pay As You Go plan.
The Easy DVD rental commission will be lowered to £4. £4 is still in line with, or more than, most of our competitors in the DVD rental sector. This change will occur as of Monday 25th February 2008.
We feel that the LOVEFiLM PAYG is the best offer on the market for those people who want to rent DVDs (plus Blu-Ray and HD titles) with no subscription. We're so sure of this that we're offering 2 free bonus rental credits for every new customer, which make rentals cost from just £1.76 each, plus all the film content and community which LOVEFiLM is famous for.
The £15 commission is also extremely strong for incentive and cash-back sites to offer. You can access Lovefilm PAYG creative on the main Lovefilm program.
Thank you for your continued support and hard work. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to call or email your Tradedoubler contact or send me a message.
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