FEATURE
How can operators and affiliates work together better to encourage greater retention , stickiness and loyalty of punters beyond the World Cup ? Richard Moffat : Quite simply by working more closely with those affiliates that are actually willing and able to help , and by recognising that these partners can offer huge value long term . So many of the larger players in the affiliate space now literally just ping players on without offering any value at all . While the numbers are much wanted by operators , there is rarely any relationship or value to the customer . Yet from that one visit they are often paid the same or more as the affiliate that helps customers with their betting on a daily basis over many years . You only need to look at the major players in other industries to see this will change at some point . Large affiliate partners in these industries offer real customer value in addition to generating leads . If you look at UK sports betting affiliates there aren ’ t many of us in a good position to fill that space , so I see this as a real opportunity for OLBG . Gavin Moore : Affiliate products built around punter communities and continuous content ( such as our bettingexpert . com ) tend to be pivotal in assisting operators to retain players . These community sites are becoming truly integrated into the betting experience and facilitate the process of a user going from a tournament player to a recreational punter . Therefore , in years with major tournaments , such as the World Cup , the strong partnerships between operators and affiliates become even more important . Oshri Kostiner : Depending on the nature of each affiliate ’ s business , we ’ ve found hybrid revenue share to be the most productive model for sustaining mutual profitability . We also collaborate closely with our partners , encouraging them to gain a deep understanding of our offering to get the best out of our product and
affiliate platform and achieve the highest possible conversion rates . We co-create content for their sites , gather feedback from their players about bonuses , features , odds , KYC and payments , and work to build value wherever we can . And since most players already hold accounts with the top three bookmakers , it ’ s often in an affiliate ’ s best interest to use their real estate promoting an up-and-coming brand like 10Bet .
Affiliates are arguably better at building communities in the form of , for example , betting forums and tipster sites . Do you think retention would improve if new punters were encouraged to stick around within the affiliate ecosystem as widgets now allow , rather than just being bounced off to an operator ? Richard Moffat : Absolutely . We have thousands of sports bettors visiting our products every day and we can help them with their decision over where to place each and every bet . Every bet placed is a sale for a bookmaker , something that is rarely recognised in the current operator-affiliate relationship . Some of our users tell us that they place 100 % of their bets through our app , never going direct to a bookmaker site . That shows the sort of value that sites like ourselves , other community sites and odds comparison sites can provide over and above pure lead generation .
“ For this World Cup , operators will be working with fewer affiliates – those that still maintain their global demand for traffic but have more control of how their brands are being promoted and presented to the end users ” Gavin Moore , Better Collective
Gavin Moore : Absolutely , yes . A key point to stickiness is giving the users the best experience possible . Third party affiliate community sites , ones that are unbiased in presenting information in a way that operators inherently never can , help shift the power back to the user . The freedom to discuss operators and sports in a pressure-free environment is what keeps them coming back . It ’ s this sort of environment that creates a level of transparency .
Staying in that environment creates freedom of choice , but as soon as you move through to a bookmaker page then the user loses their power . By integrating a bet slip straight onto the affiliate platform ( like we have on SmartBets ) the user remains in the driver ’ s seat and can easily shop around with different bookmakers . We ’ ve found that this strategy ensures all stakeholders win in the long run . Oshri Kostiner : The short answer is yes . While some affiliates remain overly focused on CPA it ’ s clearly wise to embrace the multi-account reality whereby players choose the brand they bet with according to specific events , features and promotions . We have learnt that by sponsoring and contributing directly to relevant forums and communities , we increase our exposure , while our affiliate managers learn more about player demands and expectations .
42 iGB Affiliate Issue 68 APR / MAY 2018