Interview with VigLink CEO, Oliver Roup
Interview
Rae Hoffman, a veteran affiliate marketer, interviewed Oliver Roup about VigLink following their $5.4 million Series B funding round. The interview covered VigLink's business model, merchant relationships, and the affiliate marketing industry.
Rae: Your merchant page states that merchants have the ability to say they don't want certain publishers using their links in your program. Do you provide me with a list of the merchants who've decided they don't want my sales so I know not to link to them?
Oliver: Merchant domains may be not "on for you" for a number of reasons: they've asked for whitelist affiliation where only domains they specifically approve get affiliated; they've specifically turned off your site; or the merchant may not have approved VigLink at all. Merchants that are off for you are listed in best merchants for total revenue with a "-" (a hyphen) instead of a numeral.
Rae: No where on your site could I find an exact percentage you'd be taking from folks using your service as publishers. What is the exact amount?
Oliver: VigLink takes a cut of the commissions a publisher earns, typically 25% although we occasionally negotiate a smaller share for particularly large or strategic customers. It's worth noting that many merchants offer improved rates with higher volume. In some cases VigLink receives a rate more than 25% higher than an affiliate can get for themselves and in those cases the affiliate will receive more money working through VigLink vs on their own.
Rae: Is there or will there be the ability to use VigLink within mobile applications as well?
Oliver: Yes, VigLink runs unmodified on mobile browsers and developers wishing to integrate VigLink directly into their app can make use of our API.
What Rae Learned
Rae concluded: "I looked at VigLink as a professional affiliate publisher and not as a typical blogger or hobby site webmaster. Oliver (I assume he caught onto that in our conversation and by the questions I asked) added: 'A majority of our customers do not think of themselves as affiliates, but just as web publishers, many of whom are completely unaware of affiliate marketing as a concept until we introduce it.'"
She noted VigLink's potential for "catching what falls through the cracks" for publishers who don't have time to set up many affiliate programs, and recognized the strength in numbers that VigLink's aggregated volume provides for negotiating higher commission rates.