All sports betting affiliates want to sign up with sports betting affiliate programs that convert, however you won’t find a blanket answer to which programs convert the best for everyone. Sports Betting affiliate programs represent different books and those books will convert differently for each affiliate, depending on the type of traffic those affiliates have. The most successful affiliates will do what they can to compliment the strengths of the books they are promoting and to drive the appropriate traffic to the appropriate offering.
There are several factors that affiliates must keep in mind in order to maximize conversion. What books are appropriate for recreational players? What books are better for sharp bettors? What books are the best for what sports? What books have new products? What books have a promotion for the sports event you know your traffic will love?
Its knowing your customer and targeting your traffic that will translate into high conversions with the online sportsbook affiliate programs you work with.
Dan Grigorescu is the Head of Sales for Betbrain.com, a sports betting information and odds comparison website. Grigorescu provided specific examples of what books convert best for Betbrain and why.
“Our best converting bookmakers are Bet365 and Pinnacle. [Bet365] have fast payouts, good customer support and very enticing welcome bonuses which makes them an ideal bookmaker for the recreational punter. Pinnacle excels at offering some of the best odds on the market and having some of the lowest margins which attracts a lot of attention from the more experienced punters”.
EasyOdds.com is another sports betting information and odds comparison site and Amaar Mohammadally as the Senior Account Manager is in charge of all affiliate program relationships. Mohammadally takes a lot of care in understanding the books he’s promoting on EasyOdds and putting these books in front of the right traffic.
“We have to work with the sportsbooks to understand what their USPs are and get them in front of the best audience for them. So for example, some users see price as a key decision factor, thus our odds grids are ideal for sites with competitive odds. For those sites that may not be as competitive on odds, we can look to promote them to users who utilise our free bets and review rankings”, said Mohammadally.
He continued, “Knowing the strengths of the brands we promote allows us to target suitable users who we know will convert for them”.
Richard Moffat, the CEO of OLBG.com has been in the UK facing sports betting affiliate business for years. Moffat has learned that brand names have an influence on conversion rates at OLBG.
“New players to online sports betting who we may attract around big events such as the Grand National or major football tournaments such as the World Cup will feel easier opening their first online account with a well known brand. In the UK we have many betting shops in our high streets and these are typically the brands which people will open their first online betting account with,” said Moffat.
The more specialist brands may not convert as well around events such as the Grand National, but they do appeal to OLGB’s shaper audience.
Moffat explained, “More experienced sports bettors will be much more aware of specialist online sports betting companies. For example, the most popular bookmaker on our bookmaker review pages at OLBG, based on user reviews by experienced sports bettors, is bet365”.
He also pointed out that books who are offering new products or who are new to the scene convert particularly well for his player base in comparison to the older brand names that have been around for a while.
“New products or newly promoted products convert well of course as they are starting with a low market share. Skybet for example have a very powerful brand but haven’t really pushed their sports betting product until more recent years and we have seen good conversion rates with them”, said Moffat.
Moffat added that TV advertising, sports sponsorship and event specific promotions are also good for conversion at OLBG. He specifically mentioned Paddy Power as a bookmaker that is good at captalising on big events such as Cheltenham.
Every sportsbetting affiliate’s traffic is different and there is no “one size fits all” when it comes to what books will convert best for affiliates. In fact, much of the onus is on the affiliate themselves to match the right sportsbook with the right set of eyeballs.
Mohammadally provided a specific example of how EasyOdds cater to the needs of their audience and said, “If a bookmaker is known for their accumulator offer, we might provide tips on what to put in an accumulator each weekend with the offer promoted alongside it which can convert really well”.
He continued, “A good affiliate will always try and capitalise on the strengths of the brands they work with as ultimately this is where we will both succeed”.
