Ways to Improve PDC Affiliates & CarbonPoker

[CarbonAtil]

Hi Guys & Gals,

I have been receiving a lot of great feedback from both an affiliates and players prospective over the past few weeks. I wanted to open the discussion to PAL member and listen to what each of you had to say about PDC Affiliates and CarbonPoker as a brand.

Please don’t hold back any thoughts, ideas, feelings etc. I want to hear them all and resolve/implement them (if it makes sense).

Lets start this discussion by asking a question that has been brought up in a different thread and in the past; is out 40% tiered revenue share plan good or bad for affiliates? Would it be better if we paid affiliates less?

I'll sit back and listen to what you all have to say before chiming in. Lets the discussion being.

[pokerprop]

It is certainly not bad for affiliates as most of us have learned by now to approach this as making as much money as possible. I think at one time many were more willing to buy into the partnership stuff. Where it is at now its good for both the affiliattes and for the company because it is where it is set at and can't take it away easily just got to deal with what has been created.

As far as how it can be improved. Bodog like support and Bodog like payments.

Of course there is a lot of people that remember Bodog for the bounced checks, long 20-40 days paper check delays that lasted maybe 4-6 months when they had some major processing issues. But that's not Bodog and they did a great job restoring things and have been operating smooth for over a year now.

My account number is many digits shorter than most here so I've seen how they've done things for a long time. For years I'd call Bodog and always in less than 2 rings a customer support agent was on the phone, and they were polite friendly enjoyable to talk with and knowledgeable and appeared dedicated or passionate about their jobs as if they owned a piece of it (that's how it truly came off).

If I emailed bodog they would email me back in under 5 minutes and on the rare case they didn't they'd send a higher than usual sales volume auto message and say they would respond in 1-2 hours.

When it came time to cash out I could submit a cash out and then go pick up moneygram or western union that same day (sometimes 30 minutes later they'd have MONEY actually cash in my hands but always the same day as long as I called by noon).

While things have changed a little. I still get a response from Bodog in under and hour most the time. A clear nglish speaking rep answers the phone in under 5 rings. When I want a cash out i can get it in 48 hours via money transfer or a courier check arives at my door step in and average of 4 business days. Sometimes it is 2 sometimes it is six , but 4 is about the average. And that's how they been operating the past year.

My biggest tips on how Carbon could be better. Everyone in the company go get Bodog accounts and then strive to offer the same level of service that Bodog does.

[actyper]

Commenting on carbon poker; I know you have been soliciting for a new tournament schedule, and thats a huge step forward. Also when you do get a new schedule in place, synchronized breaks at 0:55 is a must. Carbon itself does not have the mtt field to support players playing mtts solely on Carbon, so therefore should be piggybacking off the other major sites. A lot of people stay away from sites that aren't in sync.

Need more satellites. Add sats to the $50k throughout the day. Get more fish into the tourney and forget the overlay.

I also remember there being more tournament series at Carbon, are those still happening? Tournament series are huge traffic boosters for sites.

Need some turbo tournies. Frankly no one site has owned the "turbo" title, yet players are always asking for more turbo tournies.

All I can think of right now

[Student]

Improve the player withdrawels THEY SUCK
and don't want ot hear oh we have improved them . I have been hearing same thing from most merge sites. and many player with a check withdrawel wait 5-8 weeks not the 3 weeks as stated. Forget about instant transfers to wallets some times it 2-3 weeks NOT a few minutes like most sites. may be if you paid interest on 'funds in transit" wallets and checks would speed up lol

While i am ranting - Improve support email many players wait 3-4 days for a reply and the reply does not even answer the question asked !

[MPC]

The issue with carbon poker has frequenly been player retention. 40% revshare is very appealing to affiliates, but when the players don't stick around, it wouldn't matter if it was 40% or 80%. Part of this problem has been cause by poor traffic - there's nothing more annoying than staring at your screen for 20 minutes to get a game on. Hopefully the recent events will improve that situation.

There's too many games without the traffic to support them. What's the point? There's no harm in having the games available I suppose, but I would focus my energy on building up that traffic base further and THEN focus on promoting the games. Again, perhaps the move from playersonly and sportbetting will make a difference here as well.

I've said this before but I think that the main problem with merge has always been their primary marketing styratgy and who they target. This freeroll galore non sense has to be stopped! There! I said it!

It's complete madness I tell you! There has been a lot of effort in promoting the freerolls and it's been like that for years. "Free roll every 2 hours". Guess what: Those who are interested in these kinds of freerolls are those with no money, for the most part. It means they don't generate money for the skin, for merge or for the affiliate. Why would you target these players? Change the strategy. Go for "classy" or push "poker pros" or do something else. Anything! Target people who have money. Not those who'll have some eventually when they get a job. (major generalization going on... I know!)

I play poker online. I don't care for freerolls much. In fact, I hate particularly hate them on Carbon Poker. I hate the caliber of players who are playing them. It's like I'm playing Bingo. I don't mind getting a freeroll ticket for one chance to win $1,000,000. PokerStars does quite well with those kinds of promotions. I'm sure you don't have the same budgets, but when you do something, think big. Forget this $50 freerol nonsense. You fill'em up with script kiddies who manage to pissis not something I care for and it won't get you anywhere.

That's my opinion at least.

I'm the kind of player you need to market to - The kind that has a little bit of money to play regularly, and the kind that could probably be enticed to play even more if you played your cards right. Make it interesting for me to keep playing. Spare me the freeroll whores. I want quality poker, not "F34R MY L33T 5KIILZ" poker.

[actyper]

My biggest tips on how Carbon could be better. Everyone in the company go get Bodog accounts and then strive to offer the same level of service that Bodog does.

I agree completely about Bodog being the fastest in the industry (though ipoker might be quicker with the instant chat). Problem with Bodog though (industry wide actually) is the quality. You get a lot of generic responses. took me 2 months before I could deposit onto bodog, finally solved on the affiliate side with a very simple solution. Stars general support might be the best, though the VIP support on most sites is in fact that.

[actyper]

That's my opinion at least.

I'm the kind of player you need to market to - The kind that has a little bit of money to play regularly, and the kind that could probably be enticed to play even more if you played your cards right. Make it interesting for me to keep playing. Spare me the freeroll whores. I want quality poker, not "F34R MY L33T 5KIILZ" poker.

I was going to post something like this, less freerolls, less cheesy gimmicks (animations, rabbit hunting, etc), but without numbers I'm not too sure how much these players actually contribute to the bottom line.

[corpfan1]

This is a good thread, and although I don't have time at the moment to list some things here, I will return to this thread later this week and speak my peace.

[jdwanchalk]

My friend spoke with someone in live chat last week. To say the person helping him was incompetent would be a great understatement. Do people really not understand the value of good support? FTP would have a lot more players if they ever caught on.

[TheGooner]

Pay your players within 14 days.
Pay your affiliates by the 20th of next month.

Putting the money into a "player account" does not count as paying - that's still "funny money". Getting it into players / affiliates bank accounts counts.

Until you can manage that on a regular basis - Carbon poker is never going to be a satisfactory destination. Because in the end - playing poker and poker affiliating is about the money.