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CJ Affiliate vs. Pepperjam Ascend (discontinued)

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    CJ Affiliate

    Score4.3 out of 10
    N/ACJ Affiliate, formerly known as Commission Junction, is an affiliate network and online advertising agency headquartered in Santa Barbara and owned by the Publicis Groupe, a French PR and advertising company. CJ Affiliate's technology offers affiliate personalization, cross-device customer journey campaign management, and a content monetization suite of products for publishers.N/A

    Pepperjam Ascend (discontinued)

    Score4.7 out of 10
    N/APepperjam Ascend was an affiliate marketing lifecycle management platform, supporting discovery, recruitment, attribution, commission, fraud prevention, and payment. Pepperjam is now part of Partnerize since the July 2020 acquisition.N/A
    Pricing
    CJ AffiliatePepperjam Ascend (discontinued)
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    CJ AffiliatePepperjam Ascend (discontinued)
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    User Ratings
    CJ AffiliatePepperjam Ascend (discontinued)
    Likelihood to Recommend
    7.3
    (3 ratings)
    1.0
    (2 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    CJ AffiliatePepperjam Ascend (discontinued)
    Likelihood to Recommend
    CJ Affiliate (formerly Commission Junction)
    CJ would be a great place for any publisher looking to monetize their blog or social media accounts. Products that have broad targeting or rely on bargain hunters would perform really well as there are tons of coupon sites and fashion blogs. Niche products would have a harder time growing as they would probably still need to do a lot of outreach.
    Incentivized
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    Discontinued Products
    For our business, affiliate marketing is by far the lowest ROI marketing channel. If you're looking to get products, brands, and offers listed on coupon sites, Pepperjam Ascend is a great tool. If you're looking to engage with influencers or drive sales without giving away margin, Pepperjam Ascend is likely not for you.
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    CJ Affiliate (formerly Commission Junction)
    • their portal is easily usable
    • communication within the system is supper easy
    • searching for new affiliates is really great
    Incentivized
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    Discontinued Products
    • Lots of coupon sites.
    • Enables different tiers of commissions.
    • Can blast out newsletters to your network.
    Incentivized
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    Cons
    CJ Affiliate (formerly Commission Junction)
    • It's a great platform but have selected countries.
    • Sometimes loading speed is too slow in my experience.
    • Customer service needs to be improved in my opinion.
    Incentivized
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    Discontinued Products
    • The dashboard/platform is the furthest thing from user-friendly. It looks like a high school student with zero experience designed it in excel and hoped for the best with the results.
    • Reports are hit and miss. They may load, they may not! It's ridiculous, in my opinion.
    • No mobile options whatsoever, everything has to be desktop. It's 2022, they need to catch up!
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    Alternatives Considered
    CJ Affiliate (formerly Commission Junction)
    CJ definitely has the largest pool of publishers and is well built out in terms of features. However, it does appear that they have a lot of dead weight in their pool which is something that their competitors claim they have solved. We ultimately selected CJ because we had previous experience with the platform and wanted to tap into their affiliate pool.
    Incentivized
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    Discontinued Products
    Pepperjam Ascend's user interface is way behind these other platforms. It's not intuitive nor is it easy to create custom reports and engage with your publishers. We have been stuck with Pepperjam and many other affiliate networks have a very similar layout without much upside.
    Incentivized
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    Return on Investment
    CJ Affiliate (formerly Commission Junction)
    • we have been able to make a good amount of money
    • we just share the link and then the companies do the rest
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    • I was hitting anywhere from $130 - $450 per month in commission payout before Pepperjam Ascend. Now with Pepperjam Ascend, I maybe get $40! I am still waiting on payouts from January.
    Read full review
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