When a sports betting affiliate is deciding what internet sports betting affiliate programs to work with, the commission rate and the conversion rate are two important factors to consider.
Every affiliate wants a large CPA or high revenue share percentage, but if the online sportsbook does not convert for that affiliate, the commission rate is irrelevant. The most important metric for affiliates to keep track of is how much money they are making for the traffic they send to each book, a metric that takes the commission rate and the conversion rate into account.
Richard Moffat, CEO of OLBG.com, a popular UK facing sports betting forum and information site studies his site’s stats- and one metric in particular- to determine which books make him the most money over time.
“From a commercial perspective we look at a wide range of metrics with the main one being how much we earn for the traffic we send. Quality products tend to win long term with their ability to retain and monetise making up for any lower initial conversion rates”, he said.
For EasyOdds.com, an odds comparison and sports betting information site, achieving a high conversion rate is a top priority and they’ve seen that a healthy commission rate will follow.
“It’s really important to get a good mix of both but ultimately if the brand doesn’t convert then having a high commission rate is irrelevant”, said Amaar Mohammadally, Senior Account Manager of EasyOdds.
Mohammadally himself takes quite a bit of responsibility ensuring that the conversion rates are as healthy as possible, and then works on negotiating a higher commission rate with sportsbooks.
“We work closely with all of our partners to ensure the user journey to conversion is as simple and straight forward as possible. We utilise best practices whilst also offering a ground for testing new concepts that we hope can help interaction and conversion. Due to our proactive nature, our clients are more than happy to give us favourable commission rates as ultimately we work as a partnership for both sides to win”, explained Mohammadally.
Affiliate Betbrain.com takes on a slightly different approach than OLBG and EasyOdds, focusing on the quality of the books that they promote rather than the hard commission or conversion rate.
“Betbrain being one of the largest and oldest odds comparison websites we have a reputation to uphold so we try to offer our users the largest possible selection of bookmakers but also we cannot make compromises when it comes to the quality of the bookmakers that we promote”, said Dan Grigorescu, Head of Sales for Betbrain.
Betbrain puts a lot of weight on the service that the sportsbook and affiliate managers provide, usually something that leads to a high conversion rate.
“On our Premium Placements we promote only bookmakers that are established names in the internet gambling industry and have a high conversion rate and offer their punters and affiliates the best possible service”, explained Grigorescu.
He continued, “In some cases we prefer to promote a bookmaker with lower conversion that offers better services to its punters as opposed to another with high conversion but with a lower product quality because we try to place our users’ interest first”.
This type of thinking is long term thinking, similar to OLBG and EasyOdds’ strategy, rather than simply going for the sports book affiliate programs offering the highest commissions or boasting the highest conversion rates.
