In-house Vs Managed Performance Marketing Platform

Pros of In-house Software

If you have a lot of cash in your bank account and enough time and resources to make your software, then you can go with an in-house platform. The advantages it holds are:-

• Total Control:-The main advantage that in-house platforms hold is that you will have full control over all the activities. When you get a third-party performance marketing platform, you are introduced to wider sections because they consider all the aspects of every kind of business. In your operations, you might use very few of them, so while building your platform, you can only consider those sections that are helpful to your business and skip the rest.

• Customization:- You can customize your platform according to your preferences if you have tons of money to invest. You can create a platform to ease your work by customizing it according to your business needs, but it needs technical expertise, time, and obviously, money.

Cons of In-house Software

In-house software is a costly affair, plus it is an unpredictable road map. There are many disadvantages to using in-house software as compared to managed performance marketing software.

• Huge Setup Cost:-What if, say, a performance marketing platform’s subscription fee for 25 years is less than the one-time setup cost of building your platform? You won’t believe it, right? But we have examples to prove it!

  Well-built and user-friendly performance marketing platforms like Offer18 have a subscription plan that starts at $49 per month, which means you have to spend less than $15K per month for the next 25 years. But if you are building your platform, then it might cost you millions of dollars.

• Time-Consuming Process:- Time is money nowadays, and building the whole platform from the beginning is undoubtedly a lengthy and time-consuming process. You have to spend extra hours planning things and implementing them properly later on. So think wisely and analyze precisely before taking any decision.

• Requirement of Skilled Manpower:- There is no doubt that you have to hire a fairly large number of skilled manpower to create a fine platform for you. When you build your platform, you have to do a whole lot of work. From recruiting a person, training them, and creating a wholesome work environment, to analyzing their performance, appraising them, and if they leave, replacing them.

• Maintenance Responsibility:- Building a platform is one thing while maintaining it is another. Many people succeed in building the platform with the huge cash their bank accounts offer, but are not able to maintain it because it requires persistent effort. You have to work on it by sparing time from your other business activities, which is a lot of responsibility.

• Minimum Technical Support:- Technical expertise is another challenge you face while following the wrong roadmap of creating an in-house platform and skipping the smooth road of taking third-party services. Developing your platform will not offer you the advantage of technical support, but buying services from a managed platform definitely will.

• Unpredictable Expenditures:- Creating your platform is not as easy as communicating with a salesperson of the service provider, buying a platform and starting working on it the same day. It is a very costly affair. As you start doing it, you will get to know that there are huge, unpredictable expenditures that you have never thought of in the very first place.

Pros of Managed Performance Marketing Platform

Third-party performance marketing platforms are evergreen and ever-growing. They will offer you a wide variety of tools and features to scale up your business. We have discussed a few of the advantages below:-

• Scalability:-These platforms offer the benefit of scalability, which is definitely lacking in in-house platforms. You can take it as a customization facility offered by third-party platforms where you can choose the plans based on the required features. Still confused? Understand the example stated below -

  You started a new affiliate marketing venture and you feel the need to analyze the performance of your campaigns to grow your business. When you contact the service provider, you get to know the pricing structure and features that each plan offers. Since you just started working on it, you can opt for an initial and cost-effective plan. But after a year or two, when your business starts growing, you can go for another plan that offers enormous features.

• Cost Effective:- Performance marketing software is quite pocket-friendly. The only cost you have to bear is the subscription cost of such platforms, which also depends on your usability. If the conversion requirement in your business is less than 10k, then platforms like Offer18 charge only $49, which is less than the cost of buying a one-tier cake, and if usage is equivalent to 40K conversions, then you can buy it at the cost of a two-tier cake. You can also buy enterprise subscriptions for the cost of a wedding cake. So choose your cake and subscription wisely.

• Quality Support:- The commendable auxiliary service that you get from the managed performance marketing platforms is quality technical support. A good platform will offer you technical support, with whom you can contact each time you face any issue or need help in using platform services. This point, in particular, lacks the alternative option of creating your platform.

• Minimal Risk:- The risk you take from buying services outside of your venture is minimal, or should say nil. Instead of risking your business, it offers you security. There are many fraud preventions and security measurement features that performance marketing platforms like Offer18 provide to their valuable users.

• No Installation and Maintenance Cost:- Since you are not building a platform on your own, you don’t need to bear the high installation cost and fluctuating maintenance cost later on. You are all good to go to work after paying a few dollars as subscription fees. So, getting quality services at the lowest cost is the only wise option that you should definitely consider.

• Easy to Migrate:- If you are taking services from one platform and feel like you are lacking in something or the features provided by your existing service provider are no longer serving you, then you can take the best possible decision for your business and migrate to another platform that offers you a wider range of incredible services at a low cost. But for an in-house platform, this is technically not possible. You can not create another platform in a day since you are not satisfied with its services.

• Less Manpower and Technical Expertise Required:- While using the services of a third party, you don’t need to hire a large number of employees. You can work quite well with even fewer people. Also, technical support is already offered by such platforms, so you don’t require that too.

• Cost Predictability:- One of the underrated advantages of taking services from outside is that you can easily predict the cost. Since you have to pay for fixed usage in the form of subscription fees, you can plan your expenditure accordingly. It also helps you with analyzing your future costs and assists you in making wiser decisions.

Cons of Managed Performance Marketing Software

However, there is no doubt that performance marketing software is incredible and offers you a wider area to grow your business. There are slight disadvantages to its holding that can be ignored if you are getting maximum benefits from it. They are as follows:-

• Need to Adapt to Third-Party Policies:-Third-party platforms have defined terms and conditions along with set policies that need to be followed. They curate this according to their objectives and belief system. So to work with them, you need to adapt to those policies.

• Fixed Recurring Expenses:- This can be taken as an advantage or disadvantage, depending on how you perceive it. If you use the services of a third-party platform, then you have to pay subscription fees either monthly or annually depending on your selected plan. This fixed, recurring expenditure is still far better than the fixed setup cost of building one's own platform and incurring the variable cost of maintaining it.

A final piece of advice from Offer18

In the end, it is up to you to consider all the viewpoints and make decisions that will prove to be prosperous for your business, but here is a final piece of advice from Offer18.

• A/B testingis crucial when it comes to choosing a better alternative from the two available options. You can consider the pros and cons of both the alternatives that we have mentioned above and enhance the accuracy of your study.

• The opportunity cost is also an important aspect that most people usually ignore while analyzing. It states the loss of opportunity for the next best alternative while you select the first option. So if you consider the option of building your own platform (which we suggest you shouldn't), what opportunity cost do you have to bear? since building a platform is a time-consuming process. It can usually take a month or even a year to build, which means you have to wait for its development to start working on it, and obviously, the start-up cost is skyrocketing.

  If you had taken the services of performance marketing software providers, you would have earned access to the software on the same day after payment and started working on it. You could have made more connections, have a better client base, generated revenue for the whole year, and let's not forget the experience you will get from using the platform.

• And last but not least, is the ease of doing business and putting more focus on the important areas that will help you stand out in this competitive era. So, instead of creating your platform, which will take up the majority of your time, consider creating your USP (Unique Selling Proposition) and enjoy the industry's largest customer base!