Recurring commissions

Continuing my analysis on Dating white labels…..

I’ve used a few systems to run my own brands on, but most recently whitelabeldating.com and worlddatingpartners.com.
If you are looking to launch a site on a 3rd parties platform, especially where they provide the support and billing infrastructure you should also consider things like their client/partner support as this can make a big difference in getting you off the ground and running in the first place. But for the basis of this exercise I am purely looking at a few statistics and nothing else.

I have to stress that it is impossible to do exact comparisons without me being allowed to look in to each companies own traffic logs and financial summaries. I think that is asking a little much, and I’m not even all that interested!
I have also NOT conducted these comparisons under any sort of scientific conditions. I have simply run enough volumes, over long enough periods to produce what I consider reasonable data sets. Others might disagree, and of course may have seen different results…….

OK – Disclaimer over!

I’ve opted to use indicators most people don’t consider to highlight some differences which will make a big impact in long term bottom line. And it’s all common sense anyway so I am sure I am not telling you anything new.

Here are the KPI’s I am looking at:
Rollover commission. The % of previous months commission from sales that has rolled over in to recurring commission this month.
3mth Recurring. The % of commission from sales 3 months ago, that has rolled over in to recurring commission this month.

White Label Dating First 4 Months
Rollover Commission = 72.3%
3mth Recurring = 29.3%

Notes: Expect both to climb as sites are only less than 4 months old and these figures only include members who at most have paid 4 consecutive months.

World Dating Partners First 4 months, Best, Last 4 months
Rollover Commission = 27.2%, 55.7%, 44.1%
3mth Recurring = 1.21%, 15.5%, 13.2%

Notes: The “Best” and “Last 4 months” figures were taken on sites which had been running for over 12 months, so DO also include members that could have been paying for well over 12 months.

Conclusions
Take a look at the following two cases. Assume both have the same fee structure, initial commission and have the same conversion free members in to to paid.

1) with 50% rollover commission, £1000 earned commission in month 1, 6 months later this will have earned a total of £1985.
2) with 75% rollover commission, £1000 earned commission in month 1, 6 months later this will have earned a total of £3466.

This means over 6 months you’ll earn 75% MORE with a rollover conversion of 75% instead of 50%. Over 12 months that’s 95% more you’ll earn.

So your lesson to learn: The rollover % is MASSIVELY important on any residual income you generate, forget conversion rates!
I am obviously happy that right now, with same traffic and forgetting any improvement in initial conversions rates, I am set to at least double my sales from the same traffic. If you pump that back in to marketing, as we are, you get much MUCH faster growth….