TRAFFIC
Operators know :
● ●Lifetime value of all customers versus the affiliate ’ s referred customer ’ s lifetime value
● ●Specific user behaviour . For example , affiliates will often just see ‘ sports ’ in their affiliate reporting software , whereas operators will be able to see extra detail : ice hockey , first division football , greyhounds , etc .
●●User statistics : age , gender and location
● ●Betting trends : where there ’ s been increased betting activity in recent months .
For example , wouldn ’ t it be great if the operator approached the affiliate with some insights such as these :
● ●Your website is mostly talking about football . However , a lot of your referred players go on to bet on horse racing . Have you considered diversifying into other sports ?
● ●Did you know that 35 % of customers you have referred are women aged 25-35 ? You could set up a Facebook advertising campaign targeting this demographic .
● ●We ’ ve noticed an increase in betting on politics in the past six months . Would you consider adding a political betting section to your site ?
Issue 4 : regulation and relationships The current environment between operators and affiliates , with regards to regulation , isn ’ t a pleasant place to be . Affiliates work hard to promote the operators , they send the operators many customers and make them a significant amount of money . Now that there are onestrike policies in place it only takes a single slip-up and that could spell the end of a long-term mutually beneficial relationship . Operators being more involved with affiliates and their websites will invariably mean that sites are more likely to be compliant and thus relationships between affiliate managers and affiliates improve .
Now that we ’ ve highlighted the issues , what are the possible solutions ?
“ The affiliate industry is great at arranging conferences where affiliates and operators discuss performance , financials and their plans . There should be more focus on the technical side ”
Solution 1 : technical affiliate managers A technical affiliate manager would work for the operator or could be part of an external agency . Their responsibility would be to work with affiliates to improve their websites and ultimately increase conversions for the operator . They would manage this in the following ways : 1 . Leverage internal teams to review affiliate sites . This would involve SEO , UX , design , development and copywriting . The internal teams wouldn ’ t need to spend a great deal of time on each site — a highly trained professional should be able to offer more insight in 10 minutes than months of Googling for answers .
2 . Drill down into operator data on affiliate-referred customers to look for opportunities .
3 . Compile a report for the affiliate site once every couple of months or once per quarter . This report would contain recommendations from the internal teams , detailing opportunities uncovered in the data .
4 . Measure and track the growth of the affiliate . This shouldn ’ t just be customers , but also affiliate site visitors , conversion rate and user engagement metrics such as time on site and pages per visit .
Solution 2 : affiliate workshops The affiliate industry is great at arranging conferences where affiliates and operators discuss performance , financials and their plans . Again , there should be more focus on the technical side of the affiliate industry .
Technical affiliate workshops would allow affiliates to speak directly with operator technical experts and figure out where they need to improve their sites and how to go about doing it .
I ’ ll wait for someone else to do it As an operator you might be reading this and thinking : “ If my competition goes ahead and helps these affiliates then I ’ ll see the benefits without having to spend the money .” Perhaps this is true , but then as an affiliate you ’ re more likely to help the operator who ’ s helped you .
Conclusion I believe operators getting more involved with affiliates and helping them improve their websites can only be a good thing . It would mean increased conversions and fewer untrustworthy-looking websites , and would hopefully contribute to a more favourable public opinion of the gambling industry as a whole .
OLIVER LIEBSCHER is head of design for Digital Fuel Marketing , owner of Comparethelotto . com and formerly head of design for Betfred .
10 iGB Affiliate Issue 66 DEC 2017 / JAN 2018