Expected sponsor response time?

[natalie]

Hey guys
After the radio chat yesterday I am still waiting for a response from a sponsor. I noticed when we were discussing how long is too long to wait there was a differing of opinions... so how long is too for you? I mean when you have a question about a program and you email them.

I guess how long depends on things like how much money you make there and other factors.

I know, I know, I should ICQ them but I added them and seem to be offline when I am on due to the time zones.

Natalie

[Toby]

I expect a reply to an email by the end of the second business day. If I don't get one, I start moving up the food chain.

[MadMax]

Originally Posted by Toby

I expect a reply to an email by the end of the second business day. If I don't get one, I start moving up the food chain.

Agreed. We aren't all "whales", but a smart business person knows that you can't predict who will be a whale in a couple years and takes care of everyone. I've dropped many programs because I couldn't get answers to simple questions. If they're too busy to interact with me, they obviously don't need my traffic

[Useless]

With the mega sponsors, I'm exceedingly impatient. If they can afford to haul their entire staff to shows around the country, they can afford to hire someone to reply to my damned emails - rapidly -. Conversely, I'm much more patient with amateur paysite owners, realizing that many of them have day jobs and what-not.

[Surfn]

I already gave you my opinion

[Allfetish]

If I get a response within 1 business day, I am impressed. Within 2 business days, I find it acceptable.

I will add that if a sponsor does not reply at all to repeated attempts to contact them, then I assume that they do not respect me. To me that means that I cannot trust them.

[Jim]

Any program I was involved with, most questions were answered within 10 or 15 mins. At least a "Let me look into this, I will get back to you" type of response. Of course most times the questions were asked on whatever board I was running.

As someone sending traffic to a program, you should not have to wait more than 24 hours for some kind of reply. Unless, it's a weekend or some type of holiday. Then, you should get a reply the first day of business.

[Surfn]

Originally Posted by Jim

...As someone sending traffic to a program, you should not have to wait more than 24 hours for some kind of reply. Unless, it's a weekend or some type of holiday. Then, you should get a reply the first day of business.

That's what I told her. If they don't get back with you in 24 hours move on to another sponsor.

[natalie]

Well this morning I got an email from two people at the sponsor. The original person I had sent it to gave me a sincere explanation of my email being accidentally deleted with the spam. As well as an apology and gave me what I had asked for in the original email. Now normally I would put it off as excuses but it was very sincere and she sounds like a lovely person.

[Kinky]

if your mail program has the "request return reciept on read" function check it every time, some sponsors never get back to me unless I check it

[spazlabz]

24 hours or less should be doable, even if it is just a reply stating that they are looking into the problem your having... in that situation a quick follow up should be done in a reasonable amount of time.


Jim

[cosmiccat]

In April 2005, I contacted a sponsor on ICQ with a question. I'm still waiting for authorization. And I just got an email yesterday from the same person telling me if I need anything to hit her up on ICQ. Same person - same number. Think that's too long?

[ronnie]

I am having a problem with a sponsor also, taking forever to post wires, and not getting much response through e-mail, cant fnd any ICQ contacts. Guess time to switch links.

ronnie

[nekrom]

If I'm sending traffic to a program and send an email. I expect a reply in 24hrs. If not I shit-can them and move on. And jup I'm also the same if it's an amateur/1 man program I have more patiance for them

-N

[PR_Tom]

Our office is closed from friday at 5pm eastern time until monday 9am eastern time. So if someone emails on a friday at 6pm, it's gonna be monday earliest before a reply gets back.. I think most offices are that way.

I do support on ICQ mon-fri, but if someone needs support sooner that I can handle and it's off-hours, then cc the email to tom at pimproll dot com as well. I'm not online as MUCH at night and weekends, but I do check it several times daily at least.

[LB]

Affiliate hat on ... I want a response straight away! I am happy if they can respond in 24 hrs, especially to emails, but most take over 1 week to respond, and I recently dropped a sponsor that took upwards of 2 weeks.

Sponsor hat on ... usually have someone on icq all the time, but aim for a 24 hr turnaround on emails. However small programs generally have to try harder for webmasters ... the large programs don't have to give a damn.

[Wild_Unicorn]

Maybe I have been lucky but most that I have ever e-mailed generally reply within a couple of hours (which I see as probably the time difference) but on the whole a maximum of 48 hrs is what I would call a limit.
As it's been said, I would probably keep the links I have for them up but don't think I would be as ready to continue pushing them as hard as others that are more responsive.

[PR_Tom]

To say the larger programs dont have to give a damn is really out of left field to my ears

When your program gets huge, are you saying you'll flip a switch and stop with your great affiliate and customer support? 'Course not, it just doesnt make common sense. It's like saying rich people don't save money, but I think you'll find that they're some of the tightest penny pinchers and smart investors out there.

I spent about 4 hours one day a few months ago with a brand spanking new newbie. He knew html and some design already, so I suggested some things he could build right away. (niched pages with niche ads and niche fhg's along with relevant text and site reviews, all interlinked.) A few weeks ago he messaged me and has #2 on MSN for a very big niche term and is making sales. I dont really think the result would be much different with any program with a dedicated affiliate support person, or plenty of time to invest.

I'm not sure, but it might actually argue that a small site without a dedicated support person might not have the time for that sort of thing? I seriously doubt thats true either; good support is absolutely critical regardless of size. Poor response will hurt any sized program

Just seems to me that there is no threshold beyond which you can stop responding or helping people out of all sizes and experiences. I think it's just too temptingly easy to say, but it doesnt bear out in my personal experience.

[basschick]

what i expect is very little. what makes me happy is something else.

i have 2 sponsors who took 2 months (yes, you read that right. i said 2 months!) to get back to me. one sponsor took 3 months. one sponsor - who actually does pay - usually doesn't get back to people at all. i've talked to others and it's not infrequent to never get a response.

i'm happy if i hear back from a sponsor within 24 hours.

a lot of sponsors seem to take 2 days to 2 weeks. the ones who take 2 weeks always seem to apologize and tell you why it took so long - even if it always takes then 2 weeks

[LB]

Originally Posted by PR_Tom

To say the larger programs dont have to give a damn is really out of left field to my ears

When your program gets huge, are you saying you'll flip a switch and stop with your great affiliate and customer support? 'Course not, it just doesnt make common sense. It's like saying rich people don't save money, but I think you'll find that they're some of the tightest penny pinchers and smart investors out there.

I spent about 4 hours one day a few months ago with a brand spanking new newbie. He knew html and some design already, so I suggested some things he could build right away. (niched pages with niche ads and niche fhg's along with relevant text and site reviews, all interlinked.) A few weeks ago he messaged me and has #2 on MSN for a very big niche term and is making sales. I dont really think the result would be much different with any program with a dedicated affiliate support person, or plenty of time to invest.

I'm not sure, but it might actually argue that a small site without a dedicated support person might not have the time for that sort of thing? I seriously doubt thats true either; good support is absolutely critical regardless of size. Poor response will hurt any sized program

Just seems to me that there is no threshold beyond which you can stop responding or helping people out of all sizes and experiences. I think it's just too temptingly easy to say, but it doesnt bear out in my personal experience.

Was just speaking from my experience.

They don't have to give a damn, but many still do. However its my experience that the larger programs look after the whales, but can really neglect the bottom of the pool. With 5000+ affiliates they might not have the resources to handle everything.

Case and point ... I joined a very popular dating site sponsor recently, sent around 40 sales in a week to test them out, and then emailed them some questions. Took almost 1.5 weeks and a follow up email to get a response.

Then again to be fair I have programs like pussycash where adam hits me up almost weekly to see if everything is ok and if theres anything I need from them.

One of the main gripes I think I have is internext and other trade shows. Some sponsors almost cease to exist during those periods, and if you need support you are just going to have to wait a week until they all get back to work. I have two sponsors which do very well for me, but I just switch traffic off over the 2 weeks around internext because in the past when things have gone wrong there was noone home.

[basschick]

ars used to (and may still) have superlative reps. emails were answered the same day and we had phone numbers to call for almost everyone in the company. i don't know if ars still offers this level of support, but their rewards person is still really fast.

last year, my stats for a big program stopped working - just as i started a new campaign. not only did not new stats show, but my old hits and sales disappeared. i emailed my rep, and didn't hear back for around 5 days. she said she'd contact technical support. a week later i still had no hits or sales showing, and tried to contact her again. i had already turned off my google hits, but was hoping to get something going again.

i heard back from her - she forgot to contact the techs but said she would do so. a week later, after not hearing anything and still having no stats, i wrote to someone higher up in the company wondering if anyone else was having this stats program and hoping our problem could be fixed. i heard from our rep again, angry i had gone over her head.

not long afterward, another sponsor was proud to announce she had moved to their program.

so i'm thrilled to pieces when i can find a company that communicates within 24 hours and actually tries to help.

[JohnWebcams.com]

24 hours tops unless it is something that requires a lot of research, in which case you should still receive a 'we're looking into it' response to touch base