iHerb Rewards - How to Turn Bad Into Good When Too Much Competition Among Participants Heats Up

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iHerb Rewards is iHerb.com's equivalent of a Loyalty Program. A Loyalty Program is s strategy by retailers, both online and offline, to induce customers to keep on coming back, and of course, buy some more. كود خصم اي هيرب

I'm a self-confessed raw food fanatic. But eating "raw" all the time may not be realistic. So, I buy my raw food "condensed" from natural health shops. I discovered that buying them online is cheaper, and more convenient, by buying them offline, because they offer deeply-discounted products.

(Meaning, if a pound of Spirulina sells $10 at Walmart, GNC,or Walgreens, you can buy the same, or their equivalent at $5-$7 depending on which online store got the better deal from the manufacturer.)

One the shops I frequent is iHerb.com. In 2009, they created their own Loyalty Program. Each buyer gets his own "iHerb Referral Code", any by using it, the Buyer gets a slew of benefits ranging from instant cash discounts, added check-out discounts depending on the amount purchased, free shipping given a certain level of purchase.

One benefit that got unnoticed by regular buyers is the benefit of getting sales commissions across a certain number of levels when they give or promote their iHerb codes.

It ranged from a high of 4% to a low of 1% over the life of the customer.

The ordinary member shrugged the lowly commissions. Saying "Ooh shucks... 4%? 1%?... forget it!"

But the entrepreneurial segment, comprising of the 5% "usual suspects" did not.

Two years later, when iHerb began publishing their top 20 "earners", the rush to promote their own iHerb codes, from the ranks of the unsophisticated marketers, began.

That's the first Bad.

Too much competition. And when there's competition from amongst first-time marketers, some unhealthy tactics came out.

Like this one.

When the company promoted a "products review" contest with really hefty prizes (say, $10,000 for the first place, and $100 to the 100th place), some "No-bombing" surfaced.

This is because the product review is judged by the number of "No" and "Yes" votes. The more Yes votes, the more chances that product reviewer will win. And the more No votes? You get the idea.

The practice got so bad that the Company was not able to ignore the complaints about it anymore. Their solution? Throw out the "No" button, and just leave the "Yes" button!

Touche! That was the First Good.

The Second Bad.

The products review section of the company site began to appear like a circus because the majority of the product reviews that came out lately gave more prominence to their iHerb referral codes than the actual review of the product!

It's so laughable when you read such blurbs as 'Use this to get $10-Off Your First Purchase'! -- in the Headline Title of the Product Review!

The Company itself noticed this ugly development. They sent out a circulate that all reviews containing an iHerb referral code anywhere in the content of the product review "shall be removed" by a certain date.

In short, the company banned such grossly unsophisticated marketing in their iHerb Rewards program.

That was the Second Good.

So in summary, like the Yin and the Yang, when there's competition, and the desire to win creates negative tactics, it behooves the Company or the Sponsor to act swiftly and decisively, to always level the playing field.. This ensures that their Program stays healthy and sustainable over time.

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