David, if I may, I’d like to disagree with you on this point.

I believe – and have always believed – that the service which generates the most money in the pocket for partners is going to win.

That means the service which generates the highest lifetime value per consumer, the best conversion rates and the lowest acquisition cost.

Although having said that, what you say is absolutely right in principle – we’ve recently started offering customised CRM, template sets and unique features to our Gold partners and we’ll soon be doing that with our Silver partners too. This helps sites to differentiate themselves amongst consumers.

But it should always be about money, not customisation for the sake of it.