Promoter Program - Did Your Referals for Other Designers (using aff. code) Drop off Jan 2022?

[CreativeLeahG]

I am in Promoter Program but when promoting Designs of others, I of course use my affiliate code the way we always did pre-Pormoter Program.

After a steady record of referrals for other Designer's products, they stopped dead January 2022.

My own Self Promoter Referrals by comparison are daily ( 60 cleared/pending so far for this month).

In this time ( Jan till now) I have had a couple of Designers let me know how grateful they are that sales of items I promoted increased (jump-started) after a feature/promotion I did and yet, I have never received a referral for them, so can't at all take credit, though I am happy for them all the same.

Weird coincidence? Customer had already been to Zazzle before seeing my posts? These are reasons why my efforts may not be responsible for their sales.

Or something else? Blip in the system?

I was just wondering if anyone else in the promoter program noticed the same tied into the month January 2022?

Thanks

[shellifitz]

I am not in the PP just the normal affiliate program but I haven't had a fresh referral since 6/1.  27 days with nothing... 

That doesn't sound that bad until I compare it to the average I've normally gotten over the past 2 years which was at least 5 referrals a month MOL.   So I see a steep drop off in referrals.  I wish there was some way to determine why this has happened, whether it is just because it is the summer of a bad economy, war time and inflation or if there has been some change to the way affiliate links are handled internally or what...  but unfortunately, the world may never know. 

[PAZP]

I'm in PP2. I don't get a lot of referrals from other people's products but was averaging 1-2 a month. I hadn't had one since 11.21 until 6/8 when I got two. Those two were from very old referrals on Pinterest.  

[Malissa]

So oddly, all the referrals I was getting in recent months were from pins on Pinterest dated from 2019.  This month I have seen 2 referrals from pins from 2022 so I am hoping new pins pick up.  Plus my linkovers have dropped drastically since November as well.  For me, since Pinterest is my main source of affiliating, I have been thinking Pinterests changes have affected my pins getting seen.

[PAZP]

Not trying to change the OP topic, but my linkovers have pretty much halved to double digits since April this year too. You may be right about something happening at Pinterest because that's the only place I promote now. 

[PAZP]

VERY INTERESTING. The day I mentioned about my linkovers lagging lately, the went back up to three digits. Since then, they have climbed incrementally each day. 

[shellifitz]

Probably right about Pinterest changes.  I know I personally got disinterested by the drastic drop in my monthly views.  I lost 2.5 mil a month and that made me feel like why bother, so my activity level also dropped. I hate places that make us jump through hoops or pay to play... If Pinterest history is any indicator it will be just about time for another major change at holiday shopping season and I will wait and see what that brings before deciding if I will give them back my past effort levels. 

[Malissa]

I am in the promoter program, but I don't get many self referrals.  I have however gotten a small handful in the last month or so, so it may be picking up....but, ALL of my referrals, self or otherwise, since December 4th are on the first page of my referral earnings report if that says anything. 

There have been several months where I have only gotten 1 or 2 referrals if any.  The bulk of those have been in December and ironically, this month.  I was getting daily referrals almost all of last year and then in November all referrals and even sales for me just fell off a cliff.  It has slowly picked up in May and June, but not by much. 

Bear in mind that during good months I am doing a tiny single digit fraction of what you do in a month so it is all relative.  I am with Shelli, there are a lot of factors it could be.