Third-party processing company Epoch’s recent across-the-board upgrade of products and services already is causing a buzz in the adult industry, but among the benefits to clients, one stands out a bit more than the rest, according to Vice President of Sales Harmik Gharapetian: A close integration with Mansion Productions’ MPA3 sales-tracking and statistics software is giving affiliate programs a clearer picture of their affiliates’ performance.
It’s also putting more money in affiliates’ pockets, Gharapetian said.
According to Mansion Productions Chief Executive Officer Oystein Wright, the key is in the way MPA3 handles cascading billing. With other sales-tracking tools, when a surfer is declined by a website’s primary billing company, the all-important browser cookie that identifies the referrer often is lost before the surfer is approved by a secondary processor. That means the referring affiliate doesn’t get credit for the sale. Although pay sites can gain 10-15 percent in sales volume by employing a cascading billing system, Wright said as many as 30 percent of sales are mis-tracked when cookies are lost between primary and secondary processors.
MPA3 preserves cookies throughout the process, however, ensuring referrers are credited with all sales, he added.
“It’s a true cascading system where all webmasters get credit for sales through secondary processors,” Gharapetian said, adding that some affiliates may see revenue gains of 15-20 percent.
Better tracking also benefits affiliate programs, he said, by allowing program owners and their affiliates to get a clearer picture of conversion ratios. Program owners may be surprised by whence their converting traffic comes, and affiliates will be encouraged to send more traffic because their conversions appear to be up.
MPA3 tracks cookies between primary and secondary processors, and assures that affiliates get all revenues that they are owed.
Under a contract with Mansion Productions, Epoch provides all of its clients with a free, hosted version of MPA3. Gharapatian said the offering is one way Epoch can demonstrate a commitment to smaller webmasters who sometimes feel underserved when financial companies have clients spanning the economic spectrum.
“Our main goal is to make sure our clients are getting as much money as possible,” said Epoch Chief Operating Officer Esther Martinez.
Epoch is demonstrating its upgraded program and services in a deal-making suite during this week’s Internext Expo in Las Vegas.
