Cross Sells - Good Or Bad For Adult Webmasters?

[Lee]

Cross Sells - Good Or Bad For Adult Webmasters?

I'm sure we have all seen them on our sponsors tours just about as sure that I am that every webmaster in the adult industry has an opinion on them. What are they? Cross sells, those little check boxes often pre-checked on paysite tour pages. It is only recently that this sales tool has started to become talked about more and more yet they have been around forever so I decided it was time to look at cross sells a little more closely and weigh up the pros and the cons of them when used on affiliate programs join pages.

Cross Sells - The Basics.

In essence a cross sell is an effective marketing tool which will enable sponsors to gain more income from each individual join they get to one or all of their sites more often than not however, these cross sells don't make the webmaster sending their traffic to the paysites a dime however, thankfully this is changing.

Cross Selling - How Do You Do It?

For the most part cross selling involves offering the surfers hitting your join page the 'option' of acquiring another membership or item in addition to the one they are already interested in purchasing from your site usually, this will be for a site operated by one of your business partners in the same niche as yours or, at the very least, a complimentary niche as your site.

Upon the surfer hitting your paysites join page or products sales page they will also be presented with another item that they may wish to purchase at the same time however, for the most part cross sells are usually the least easy item on the join page for the surfer to find and this is where potential problems can occur.

Cross Selling - The Benefits.

Irrespective of whether you like or dislike your sponsors utilizing cross sells on their join pages the one fact that remains undisputable is they do work and, more importantly, they are profitable, for the paysite owner. Often PPS (Pay Per Signup) sponsors will add an unchecked or in most cases, a pre-checked cross sell item to their join page and, if the surfer chooses to accept that cross sell they will be billed not only for the membership to your site but also for the cross sell. Bear in mind that many PPS affiliate programs pay you an excess of the trial transaction price that a surfer makes this enables them to meet their overheads whilst still paying you anywhere from $25-$100 per signup. However, as I mentioned above the cross sell can also have a negative effect on a sites sales.

Cross Selling - The Drawbacks.

As mentioned in the last paragraph the primary purpose for sponsors adding a pre checked cross sell on their join page is so they can balance out the funds they pay you for each signup you send them yet, this in itself is where the potential problems start for both you and your sponsor. For the most part surfers have become increasingly dubious about joining paysites and, who can blame the with all the tales they hear about fraudulent billing practices, identity theft and a whole entourage of other scams pertaining to the collection of their billing and private information.

That said however, cross sells on paysite join pages can also put the surfer off even more from joining the paysite in question after all, if you saw that you were going to be charged $29.99 for a months paysite access with an additional charge of $59.99 for some cross sell you would be dubious about the site too. In fact it may even put you off buying a membership altogether.

That is just one train of thought about cross sells from the surfers point of view however, from a more practical standpoint, yours, how do cross sells effect your business?

One thing that I am personally wary of when it comes to cross sells is why they are there in the first place, specifically if using a revshare business model, if a revshare site is using cross sells you can pretty much guarantee that their site members area does not ensure the surfer converts of course, this isn't always the case but 9 times out of 10 it is. The same can also be said for paysites using the PPS model, if their sites members areas actually retained the surfers you sent to the site who joined in the first place, the sponsor program would have no need to have a cross sell on their join page.

Adult Cross Sells - Roundup.

When all is said and done about cross sells and looking at both sides of the argument for and against them there is no denying that overall they will increase the program owners profits however, you should also be aware of the reasons why many programs place these check boxes on the join page to start with and, as mentioned, more often than not the primary reason for this is that the sites members areas don't hold the surfers attention for long enough which in turn, means you lose out and the program owner loses out. After all, you want your surfers to join a site and, when their membership expires, you want them to join another site making you a further commission on the sale.

Article written by Lee.

http://www.studmoney.com

[gel]

I personally dislike "crossells" and avoid sponsors that use them.


Now a terminology question. If this is a crosssell what is is called when a sponsor links to other sites in thier portfolio in side the tour? I previously called this cross-sales.

I have one sponsor that does this effectively.

Probaly 10% of my sales with that sponsor are on a different site than I sent the surfer to.

[Topbuckslee]

Excellent Article Lee!

We still utilize x-sells and thus far, still reap some benefit from that use.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this relevant subject

lee

[basschick]

i think cross sales can be okay. this being said, epoch right now is going through some changes because some people - in order to make a few quick bucks - were making their cross sales invisible, or almost.

now, ironically enough - probably through a script error - yesterday, all cross sales using flexpost were black on white with nothing to make them stand out. not good.

on the other hand, cross sales can give your surfer a chance to visit two different sites. for one extra buck, you can enhance his porn experience. if the surfer stays a member, he may choose only your site OR the other site. so that could be a problem if the surfers always chooses the other site rather than yours - but i think that would be more of a problem with your site at that point.

why are non checked cross sales perceived as a problem for so many webmasters? they are only checked if the surfer reads the offer and decides it sounds fun and chooses to check the box.

[CuriousToyBoy]

Lee,

Thanks for an excellent viewpoint mate!

I share the view that cross-sells in the main, while good for bottom line, are bad for repeat business and bad for the industry because too many people have misused them for SO long.

Cheers

:bandana:

[basschick]

just because people have misused them does not mean that they cannot be used in a surfer-friendlier way.

[Lee]

Originally posted by basschick
on the other hand, cross sales can give your surfer a chance to visit two different sites. for one extra buck, you can enhance his porn experience.

Of course this is true however, more often than not, cross sells often cost the surfer more than the initial membership they are primarily interested in and again, often the terms of these cross sells are not made clear for example, it may show that an additional chage of $30 will be billed upon submitting their information but more often than not they are billed continuously for as long as they let it go on without them realizing it.

I do agree though that cross sells are both good and bad for the industry overall as well as our pockets however, love them or loath them they are going to be around for many years to come.

Regards,

Lee

[CuriousToyBoy]

Originally posted by basschick
just because people have misused them does not mean that they cannot be used in a surfer-friendlier way.

I absolutety agree!

All my point was is that MOST have misused them BADLY in the past.

Some always did them well and in a way that was surfer friendly and a positive experience.

Unfortunately, they were in the small minority, thankfully a small minority which is getting larger and larger.

:bandana:

[basschick]

lee - considering the epoch cross sales tell you they rebill on the offer, i don't see why people wouldn't know they would rebill.

CuriousToyBoy - hopefully epoch will find a happy medium soon. recently i've seen some really REALLY hard to see pre-checked offers. i seriously doubt that they did the buyers of those cross sales any good since i bet not 1:20 people saw that there was a cross sale on the page - and i would think that would be a big cause of chargebacks.

[CuriousToyBoy]

Originally posted by basschick
CuriousToyBoy - hopefully epoch will find a happy medium soon. recently i've seen some really REALLY hard to see pre-checked offers. i seriously doubt that they did the buyers of those cross sales any good since i bet not 1:20 people saw that there was a cross sale on the page - and i would think that would be a big cause of chargebacks.

That was the point exactly I was making re misuse (from a surfers standpoint anyway).

Big ticket cross-sells in "fine print" are a HUGE source of chargebacks.

I just look at the accounts of some traffic I have sent programs with cross-sells over time. Looks nice and the front end but when CB's come, they come hard and fast.

Small ticket, easily recognizable cross-sells are the go, and we are seeing more of those across the board thank goodness.

My 2c

:bandana: