March 2007 Archives

This week, Borders bookstores announced the promised changes to their Borders Rewards program.

1. Holiday Rewards and Personal Shopping Days are being eliminated.
2. For every $150 you spend, you get a $5 GC.

$5 GCs must be redeemed within the calendar month they're issued. Members will be able to redeem any existing funds in their Holiday Rewards accounts starting April 12.

Compared to the old program, this really rather sucks.

Before, if you spent $50 in a month, you'd get a "personal shopping day" -- 10% off your entire purchase on a specific day the following month. Also, 5% of your purchase totals would go into your Holiday Rewards account, which you could cash out beginning in November.

SmartMoney.com did a great analysis of how members will fare under the new rewards program rules compared to the old program. (They also analyze the revamped rewards at Best Buy RewardZone, DSW Reward Your Style, and Staples Rewards.) Their conclusion: book readers would fare better with a $25 Barnes & Noble membership, thanks to the extra discounts they offer members (such as an extra 20% off hardcovers and 10% off paperbacks, CDs, and DVDs).

Dmitry at QuickRewards.net emailed to say that the website will probably be down this weekend for a "database makeover."

To compensate, QR will be raising the rate on their daily paid surveys to $1.25 -- the highest amount offered by any rewards program -- and they'll be offering a bonus of up to $1 for every shopping order until the site is back up and running.

More details are available on the QuickRewards Blog.

There's more to Jellyfish.com than Smack Shopping...not that you'd know it, as much as I chatter about the Smack. But at the heart of Jellyfish is its comparison shopping engine -- search for an item and see how cheaply you can buy it, including cashback rebates, at many online stores.

That's what we see from the consumer side. But how do all those online stores get into Jellyfish's "database"? Do they include every online store in the universe? Of course not!

The online stores that show up in a product search are Jellyfish's advertisers. They don't have to pay to have their store's items included in the search results, unlike at Google, where those "Sponsored Links" on the right-hand side of the page when you do a Google search are paid ads. The advertiser pays for placement in the results. You may click the advertiser's ad, go through to his site, and not buy anything. That's the risk the advertiser takes. They're paying and not necessarily making a sale, plus they're opened up to click fraud -- an example would be competitors clicking their ads to run up their ad bill or to run out their paid clicks so THEIR ad gets top placement.

I know this can get confusing -- please hang with me here.

Unlike Google's setup, at Jellyfish, the advertiser doesn't pay for top placement in your product search results. They only pay if the Jellyfish member buys something. So they have an incentive to offer lower prices to Jellyfish members. Instead of paying for every visitor to their store, they can drop the price of a particular item hoping it will generate a sale. They then give Jellyfish a commission for sending them your business. (Jellyfish shares this with their members as cash back, though obviously they don't have to. The cash back rebates are an incentive to consumers to shop through Jellyfish's comparison shopping engine, versus say PriceGrabber or MySimon.)

According to InformationWeek, Google announced last week that they are dipping their foot into the Cost Per Action model. In addition to their traditional method of charging advertisers by the click, they're also trying out the cost per action model that Jellyfish uses.

Can Jellyfish compete with Google?

Google obviously has a lot more eyeballs looking at its website than does Jellyfish, although Jellyfish has had an amazing first 9 or so months of operation. On the other hand, Jellyfish shares the money its advertisers pay them with their loyal members. That's a great incentive for consumers, but do advertisers care what Jellyfish does with their money once they pay them?

With Google getting into the game, will advertisers have as much of an incentive to deal with Jellyfish at all? Why would an online store bother setting up an account with a smaller website like Jellyfish when they may already have an existing account (for the old-style, pay per click ads) with Google?

On the official Jellyfish blog, the site's founders posted last September that, "The current pay per click system may hang on as the dominant model for several years, but CPA is inevitable in my opinion." Perhaps sooner than expected.

More information on how Google's cost-per-action ads work is located on their AdWords Blog. Info on how Jellyfish envisions their model is located on their founders' blog and on Jellyfish's "How We Lower Prices" page.

WinAtlanta.com and SixQuestions.com have both been down for several weeks.

WinAtlanta appears to be an intentional site closure -- the site's domain name expired on March 2. Now this DID happen last year also, but by the 10th of March they had re-registered the URL and the site was live again. Also, last year their other site, BigWinCity (which was basically a mirror site), was still live and WA members could access their accounts there. But this time, while BigWinCity is live (the domain doesn't expire until May), it's requesting a member authentication login and password and won't allow anyone in.

The story with SixQuestions is a little different. When you visit the site, you're greeted with an error message. The owners have another site, FiveQ.com, and it's giving the same error message. Is it something they're working on, or have they just abandoned the sites? The SixQuestions URL is registered through 2009; FiveQ.com expires in June of this year.

My guess: WinAtlanta's down for the count (did they ever send prizes out, anyway?). I give SixQuestions 50/50 chances of returning, possibly in a new format.

If you have any inside information on either of the two sites, please email me.

Brian Wiegand, co-founder of the Jellyfish.com rewards program, was called a "serial entrepreneur" by the Wisconsin Technology Network, as they announced today that he had sold his second internet startup.

NameProtect, founded in 1997, was just sold by Wiegand to a company out of Wilmington, Delaware called Corporation Service Co. for an undisclosed amount.

According to the Capital Times of Madison, WI, Wiegand sold his first internet company, Business Filings (established in 1996), to a Dutch company for $14 million in 2002.

Wiegand says he's got no plans to start any new ventures, but... it's never terribly reassuring to hear the owner of one of your favorite rewards programs even in jest be called a "serial entrepreneur." Not that there's anything wrong with that -- I'm a big believer in free enterprise and the profit motive. But it makes you wonder: what is Weigand's long-term commitment to the site? Will Jellyfish be just another notch in his belt? Guess we'll just have to wait and see!

On Tuesday, the new QuickRewards site went live. All did not go as smoothly as expected. The site had been in beta-testing with nearly 50 testers for a matter of months, but some bugs did manage to slip through to the live release.

One of these bugs, a rather huge one, resulted in users logging in only to find they were logged in as OTHER users...with full access to view their names, account balances, and passwords. This problem was rectified "within 2 to 3 hours" and was the result of bad code added after the site was launched, intended to speed up the site. QR reviewed all user transactions to ensure that no one in that 2-3 hour period immediately cashed out someone else's account -- they did not (QR members are honest, it appears!), but to be very cautious, cashouts have been suspended for a few days and members are urged to take this time to change their passwords.

I spoke with Dmitry of QuickRewards by phone at length today about the new release and the many questions he's receiving from members. Here are some of the things he wanted to communicate to them:

1. The hosting problem that kept members from logging in HAS been fixed. The goal for today and tomorrow is to transfer all user data from the old site to the new one, and to confirm that everyone is able to log in to the new site.

2. The next goal is to switch on the Instant Creditor feature to be certain that all offers will be credited instantly. Dmitry assures me that any signups and shopping rebates ARE being tracked and the credit will appear in your account as soon as possible. NO EARNINGS HAVE BEEN LOST, they are being tracked and will be posted as soon as the Instant Creditor feature goes live. (In the next few days.) Trivia will return within the week after the above goals have been met. The new site games will follow, as will the new site message forum. Last but not least, look for an option to earn points for printing coupons -- you don't even have to use them, just print 'em!

3. There is a line in the Clicks section that says, "Submit offer confirmation and and run offer tracking." This line will be removed. In the new QR, offers including clicks ARE automatically tracked. In order to get credit for a click, you can either click on the offer name, on the banner, or on "Do Offer." Some offers will have a timer and others will not. If it does have a timer, be sure to wait until it says the visit has been credited. You can refresh the page to verify whether a click has credited.

4. This is a big one: Although it now takes 100 QP (QuickRewards Points) to convert to a cent, the value of a click was also increased. Instead of 3, 2, and 1 point clicks, they're now 30, 20, and 10 point clicks. Everything increased by a multiple of 10. Where three 3 pointers and a 1 pointer used to be worth a cent, now three 30 pointers and a 10 pointer is worth a cent. SAME values, just add a 0 to the end! And, unlike the old QuickRewards, in the new system when you reach 1c worth of points, it automatically converts to cash for you.

Dmitry's message to members: "We're working very hard -- around the clock -- to fix the issues we've had with this new version. After we're done, you'll see a lot more earning opportunities that no one else offers. Please feel free to let us know your suggestions in email or in responses here or on the QuickRewards Blog. We're listening, and we'll be changing the site to accomodate the needs of our members. Please bear with us as we upgrade to our new site -- you will not be disappointed with the final result!"

You may want to bookmark the QuickRewards Blog to have access to the latest updates on the new site.

My commentary: I've seen the evolution of "the new QuickRewards" over the past years and months as a beta-tester, and last weekend I told Dmitry I didn't think the site was ready to go live. Obviously he didn't listen. I think that the site navigation could be much better (two different lines of menu options is a little overwhelming) and I really dislike the Search & Filter option appearing on all of the pages where you can earn.

That being said, several features of the new site, including an offer timer that resets at midnight, and instant crediting of offers, are a huge improvement. I've been entrusted with some information about upcoming features and I do think members will LOVE them and that they will be very unique in the rewards program world. So, as frustrated as I am that they rushed the new version out before it was 100%, I think that Dmitry has hustled so hard for us in the past that we owe him a little patience and indulgence as he works out the kinks.

Let him know what you dislike AND what you like! Please respond to this post with your suggestions and comments, or head over to his blog and voice your opinion there. He said that he was very flexible and willing to listen to our ideas. Let's help him make QR the site WE'D love it to be!

3/20 Update: I was notified by Oomph today that I WON! There were two prizes of either $5000 or a trip for 4 to the Dominican Republic. I'm so shocked I really don't know what to say...except THANK YOU to all my friends, associates, and family who supported me with the contest! You ROCK!
3/16 Update: I didn't win the money -- #1 beat me by 100 referrals! -- but I still feel like a winner because of the outpouring of support that I received from my friends, family, and associates. Thank you for taking the time to help me with the contest. I'm sincerely humbled. I still recommend the Oomph.net website; it's a great place for people, especially women, to connect with other women for support, friendship, and fun.

Hello, faithful readers!

I hate to ask for a favor, but I'm desperate, so here it is:

I'm in second place in a contest ending tonight at midnight with a prize of $5,000. The prize goes to the person who gets the most friends to join Oomph.net (a website run by Oprah's TV channel, the Oxygen Network).

The site is free to join, they don't spam, and they even give you a free mood ring for signing up (got mine in the mail yesterday). You have to be sure to click the link they send in the confirmation email, which verifies you're a real person. Only ONE entry per IP address is allowed, so please don't sign up more than once!

If you can help, PLEASE, I'm desperate here, PLEASE join TODAY by clicking here: http://www.oomph.net/invite/reford

Thanks for considering it. I appreciate it.

Can't get to the Jellyfish Smack of the Day during the day because of work or other obligations? Tune in tonight for a Wednesday Primetime Smack which will get cranked off at 8pm Central time. It looks like the first item up for reverse auction (the cashback increases over time, which decreases your final cost) will be the Apple iPod 80GB! This item sold out at 24.5% cashback on 3/6, 30.2% cashback on 3/5, and 29.6% cashback on 2/21. Remember, if they have more than one to sell (quantities are always unknown until the auction ends), sales may have taken place at lower cashback amounts; these are the best deals someone got on this item.

Other items will be up for sale, too! And remember, after each auction, the member who guessed closest to the best cashback percentage, without going over, gets a spin on the Smack Wheel with a chance to win free cash and prizes!

Not a Jellyfish member yet? Sign up here! (For more info on how the Jellyfish Smack works, read my post here.) If you see me in chat there (as CompareRewards), say, "Hi, Becky!" :)

Well, this seems to be a recurring theme lately, doesn't it? Yesterday, OTXsx, a survey program I've been with since its inception in February 2005, announced that they would be making some "exciting changes" to their program (yeah, that's never good) which would include ending their referral program effective immediately.

In January, OTXsx surveys dropped in value from 2000 points to 1000 points. 8000 points remains the price for a $10 gift card, but $5 redemptions are no longer available.

Eight surveys for ten bucks still isn't a BAD deal, but since some of these surveys can go on for 30 minutes or longer, it's not nearly as attractive as it used to be.

Note, 4/07: OTXsx has changed its name to SurveyExchange.com.

Update, 3/19: The member who had been waiting for credit for a purchase at ClubMom in mid-January and was told on 3/9 that "our system is being upgraded and we are unable to award points to members accounts at this time. Once our systems are operational, your points will be applied, which should be toward the beginning of next month. We appologize for the inconvenience" did receive her points at the end of last week.

Got an email from yesterday from ClubMom saying they're shutting down their affiliate program (that's the program that pays webmasters for referring new members, if you're new to this stuff). They said they're not actively seeking new members but trying to focus instead on site improvements.

Now, I don't know what that means exactly. What site has "enough" members? Over the years, I've seen this happen often when a program is in trouble. Basically, the affiliate program is shut down because they're not getting enough return on the new members to justify the cost of paying referrers to bring them in. They have to try to rework the program to better incent members to bring in income for the site (through shopping, completing offers, even clicking banner ads)...or else, sadly, the program sometimes just has to close down.

Last September, the company got a new VP of Business Development, Laura Fortner, whose duties include "overseeing company revenues, strategic partnerships and new customer acquisition efforts." So this would be a decision that came down from her. Also, I think it's noteworthy that the ClubMom Corporate Blog hasn't been updated since last October.

In a press release last May, ClubMom gave their membership number at "more than two million." The site was founded in 1999. The rewards portion of the site began in 2001.

If I had to guess, I'd estimate that only around a third to a half of a rewards program's membership are active users. The shopping aspect of ClubMom (ClubMom Rewards) seems to be getting less and less attention on their own site, so I'm willing to bet their participation rate is significantly less. But even giving them the benefit of the doubt, say half of their members are active -- that's just a million members. After 8 years of operation, I'd call that a failure.

Just for comparison's sake, Ebates boasts "over seven million members." Upromise claims "over six million" members. MyPoints says they have six million (though during the company's sale last year, they supposedly had 4.5 million members, with only 1.4 million active members).

Do I predict that ClubMom will shut down? No. But I think this indicates that the rewards portion of their website (and probably their website as a whole) isn't nearly as profitable as they'd like it to be. You don't shut down your affiliate program because things are going well. So I guess we just have to wait and see.

There's an interesting interview up with Greg Kaldor (VP of Merchant Services at Jellyfish.com) on GetElastic.com. He talks about, among other things, Smack Shopping (how it got its name, the psychology of chat, themed Smacks, etc.).

You all know I'm a big fan of the Jellyfish Smack. If you're not a member, you definitely need to sign up -- they're having EIGHT Smacks this week, including one going on right now!