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I am becoming very cheesed off with Plusnet referrals system

Chris
Legend
Posts: 17,724
Thanks: 600
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Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: I am becoming very cheesed off with Plusnet referrals system

Quote from: juliasdream
would you be able to test it for me

I'll check this later on for you and let you know whether it worked or not.
Former Plusnet Staff member. Posts after 31st Jan 2020 are not on behalf of Plusnet.
James
Grafter
Posts: 21,036
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Registered: ‎04-04-2007

Re: I am becoming very cheesed off with Plusnet referrals system

Hi George,
I hear where you're coming from.  However, we pay you for referrals, but if we have no way of knowing if a referral came from you, then we can't pay you for it.  You might want to look at doing more on your own site to ensure that you are getting the referral bonuses for any signups, otherwise it negates the point of you having the banner up in the first place Smiley
glloyd
Rising Star
Posts: 1,670
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Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: I am becoming very cheesed off with Plusnet referrals system

I can't think of any way you can make sure that  if somone looks at PlusNet via banner adds then signs up direct you get the referrals, can you?
mal0z
Grafter
Posts: 3,486
Registered: ‎02-10-2008

Re: I am becoming very cheesed off with Plusnet referrals system

Maybe the link should direct people to a specific landing page - that invites them to add the name - or email address - and offers them a special discount for say the first month ?. That way the PN system can track them.
?Huh
James
Grafter
Posts: 21,036
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Registered: ‎04-04-2007

Re: I am becoming very cheesed off with Plusnet referrals system

The sign up journey *always* asks for a referral username already though.
mal0z
Grafter
Posts: 3,486
Registered: ‎02-10-2008

Re: I am becoming very cheesed off with Plusnet referrals system

yes but that presumes the person remembers the referers user name ?
It's all too easy - that in the process - all the new user wants to do is get signed up, and if they can't remember - they will just skip that part.
I can't remember now, does it ask any other questions like the personals real name, or the web site, email  they saw the logo first ?

Chris
Legend
Posts: 17,724
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Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: I am becoming very cheesed off with Plusnet referrals system

Email address of the person who referred you might be worthwhile, not sure about name however. Can you imagine the fun of I was referred by John Smith Smiley
I'll point Chris C in the direction of this thread when he's back in the office tomorrow and see what he thinks.
Former Plusnet Staff member. Posts after 31st Jan 2020 are not on behalf of Plusnet.
jelv
Seasoned Hero
Posts: 26,785
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Registered: ‎10-04-2007

Re: I am becoming very cheesed off with Plusnet referrals system

1. Can you confirm that if someone follows a referral link and has a look, then completely closes the browser without signing up, if they subsequently type www.plus.net in to the address bar and signs up the referral is still given?
2. If that is the case, presumably it is done via a cookie, what is the life of the cookie?
3. If it is done via cookies, is there any matching by IP address to cover the case where someone has cookies blocked or has them set to be deleted on exit?
jelv (a.k.a Spoon Whittler)
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Chris
Legend
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Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: I am becoming very cheesed off with Plusnet referrals system

Quote
1. Can you confirm that if someone follows a referral link and has a look, then completely closes the browser without signing up, if they subsequently type www.plus.net in to the address bar and signs up the referral is still given?

Yep, I actually checked that this morning and it still place the referral on the previous account I'd looked at.
Quote
2. If that is the case, presumably it is done via a cookie, what is the life of the cookie?

3 months, see the attachment below.
Quote
3. If it is done via cookies, is there any matching by IP address to cover the case where someone has cookies blocked or has them set to be deleted on exit?

Not sure on this one, I'll speak to Chris C tomorrow and find out if he knows what happens in the instance of cookies being blocked.

Former Plusnet Staff member. Posts after 31st Jan 2020 are not on behalf of Plusnet.
Chris
Legend
Posts: 17,724
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Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: I am becoming very cheesed off with Plusnet referrals system

Quote from: Chris
would you be able to test it for me

I've tested this now and can see the test referral on your account so the banner from the link you provided seems to be working correctly.
Former Plusnet Staff member. Posts after 31st Jan 2020 are not on behalf of Plusnet.
pjmarsh
Superuser
Superuser
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Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: I am becoming very cheesed off with Plusnet referrals system

One situation where it is virtually impossible to work around is if someone clicked on a banner at work, did all their research there, but signed up at home using www.plus.net.  One possible way around that may be to ask the person registering where they found out about Plusnet and get them to enter a URL if it is from a website, then try to find the referer based on the URL.  There are a few different ways how Plusnet could determin the referer from the website such as if the domain is hosted here, they could work out the account owner, or make it something that referers can enter somewhere in the portal.
The problem with this is how many people would actually enter (or remember) your website, or would just enter nothing or anything instead of meaningful data.
I don't know what proportion of people sign up without having someone set as their referer, and I'm sure Plusnet wouldn't want to tell us, as I'd guess that would be quite sensative data.
I wasn't referered by anyone when I signed up (in 2003) as I didn't know anyone on Plusnet.  I did my research while looking for an ISP just before my exchange was due to be adsl enabled, and found Plusnet supplied everything I wanted at a good price and had good reviews, and here I am a couple of weeks over 5 years later.
Phil

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

mal0z
Grafter
Posts: 3,486
Registered: ‎02-10-2008

Re: I am becoming very cheesed off with Plusnet referrals system

I think Mark kelly gave some figures on referal percentages on his video
http://community.plus.net/blog/category/video-plusnet-news/
Username
Grafter
Posts: 203
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Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: I am becoming very cheesed off with Plusnet referrals system

As Mark says in the video - Word of month is much better than banner ads...
Everyone hates advertising on websites and most won't click through, all the adverts do is to bring about Brand Awareness.
If I'm shopping for widgets the last thing on my mind will be getting a new ISP, the banner add may register somewhere in the back of my mind, so when I'm then shopping for a new ISP I'll think "I'll have a better look at XYZ I've seen their adverts"...
mal0z
Grafter
Posts: 3,486
Registered: ‎02-10-2008

Re: I am becoming very cheesed off with Plusnet referrals system

And you wouldn't remember where  you saw the banner, so there would be no referral credit  Sad
pierre_pierre
Grafter
Posts: 19,757
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Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: I am becoming very cheesed off with Plusnet referrals system

When I first started using the free web space it was a requirement that we had a banner on the front page, dont know the rules now, that was about 8 years ago