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Two new daily clicks - Ebay and Amazon!

Posted: Wed Jun 08 2011 10:08am
by richard@imutual
As you may be aware, we have links to Ebay and Amazon which generate funds for imutual (your company!) when you use them to visit and make purchases. However, we are not permitted to offer cashback to imutual members as a reward / incentive.

By way of a trial, and to encourage imutual members to visit Ebay and Amazon, we are going to offer one share for every day you visit either of these merchants :) There is no obligation to make a purchase, although obviously we hope our members (who are also shareholders) will support imutual by doing so :thumbup: Share rewards will normally be added to your accounts the following day

These have now been added to our Daily Clicks section and we'll see how the experiment goes. If successful, we may extend this to other merchants and special offers. In the meantime, make the most of this easy opportunity to top-up your shareholding on a daily basis :)

Re: Two new daily clicks - Ebay and Amazon!

Posted: Wed Jun 08 2011 12:41pm
by Sport Billy
Thanks Rich!

If you/we are not permitted to offer cashback to imutual members as a reward/incentive, how come you/we are allowed to offer shares as a reward/incentive?

I have clicked through, so hopefully both transactions will show up on my statement tomorrow...

Re: Two new daily clicks - Ebay and Amazon!

Posted: Wed Jun 08 2011 12:51pm
by kevinchess1
I'm guessin Rich wood argue that Shares hav an 'Unkown value' and can't actually be exchange for anything
cept Control of who wins POTM
But as that prize is also shares...

Re: Two new daily clicks - Ebay and Amazon!

Posted: Wed Jun 08 2011 1:16pm
by richard@imutual
Yes, it's partly that shares don't have a known monetary value. Some merchants take a particular objection to 'cashback' not just because it is such a strong incentive to use affiliate links for repeat purchases, but also because it is seen as a form of 'discounting' - which does not fit with their brand image

But the more signifcant point here is that we are not incentivising any kind of activity once you've clicked on our link; there is no obligation to make a purchase (which is the only way imutual earns money). So we may end up giving out shares and receiving no commission to compensate. But this seems a reasonable risk to take; in a month or so, we'll have stats to help us assess the success (or otherwise) of this initiative :thumbup:

Re: Two new daily clicks - Ebay and Amazon!

Posted: Thu Jun 09 2011 8:29am
by kevinchess1
Both mind trac and were awarded :)
Saves me makin a claim :D

Re: Two new daily clicks - Ebay and Amazon!

Posted: Thu Jun 09 2011 12:34pm
by Sport Billy
Well, they both tracked for me! :mrgreen:

Makes a nice change from having to make manual claims...

Re: Two new daily clicks - Ebay and Amazon!

Posted: Mon Jun 13 2011 8:12pm
by Ric
imutual members are asked to consider accepting lower cashback rates than other competitors offer because of the 'attraction' of earning shares.

Then shares are handed out free for clicking on links. This dilutes the share base.
The hardcore daily clickers will still use a.n.other cashback site to earn ebay cashback and rewards back for amazon purchases (eg nectar points which have a known monetary value and is effectively cashback).

Handing out free shares like this will earn a bit of revenue for imutual as there will be a small cohort of people who will leave imutual's ebay and amazon cookies on their machines and make future purchases without bothering to click through via elsewhere first. It may help to pay the salaries but it does nothing for the value of the company and undermines those who are earning shares by making purchases and building up imutual.

Re: Two new daily clicks - Ebay and Amazon!

Posted: Tue Jun 14 2011 8:42am
by richard@imutual
Hi Ric, It's only the right that you should question whether this will unfairly dilute others' shareholdings so let me try to put minds at rest....

With the 100% cashback model, we clearly need members to support the site by also clicking on non-reward links. And Ebay and Amazon have been our main 'sponsored links' to date. However, hardly anybody has clicked on them :( At least, until I introduced this 'daily share' incentive, which early stats indicate has already achieved two things:
- It has increased the revenue generated (from nothing to 'a bit')
- It has raised awareness that the links exist. Now there are 100+ members who know we have links to these sites, they have actually used them and they know that (in cases where purchases are made) they help generate revenue for THEIR company

So it does look like the experiment is going to show some success in the short term. Of course, in the long term purchase activity might tail off and so we'd have to question whether it was worth offering the share incentive. But bear in mind that we are giving away a very modest number of shares here (1 per daily visit, compared with 100 shares for a new member just for registering). And you could argue that, as this is actually generating net profit for the company (as opposed to shares in addition to 100% cashback, which doesn't) then it actually increases the value of existing shares.

Re: "paying salaries but not adding value". The company has to pay salaries sufficient to attract, retain and motivate staff; that's in everyone's interests. If shareholders ever come to the view that salaries have become excessive (unlikely at present, as the directors have yet to take a penny in salary since imutual started 12 months ago :( ) then they have the power to do something about it. Without money to pay salaries (or any other necessary costs), imutual ceases to exist and your shares become worthless. Therefore, any initiative that generates funds must by definition add value to the company.

I have a longer term plan to vary this offer, to ensure that it continues to make sense for imutual shareholders (I don't want to post details in case any competitors are reading this, so you'll have to bear with me).

I intend to keep trying experimenting different kinds of offers based around shares; in doing so, I will always have a concern for whether shares are being given 'too cheaply' and hence diluting existing shareholders. But sometimes these ideas won't work and I hope members will tolerate these 'trials', because every so often we'll hit upon a winning formula which will help grow the company to everyone's benefit :)

Re: Two new daily clicks - Ebay and Amazon!

Posted: Tue Jun 21 2011 1:20pm
by colsey
I don't mind putting my purchase through imutual on these sites, (never much just small value items) as it helps our company, however, I would like to think that we are making all efforts to get it so we can incentivise purchases with cashback, (eventually).

Re: Two new daily clicks - Ebay and Amazon!

Posted: Fri Jun 24 2011 6:03pm
by afcbtim
THis is a good idea - Yes I am claiming the daily clicks and not nuying at present, however my next purchases from either will be through this site.