Lee-Ann Johnstone, Head of Affiliate & Merchant Marketing at Optimal Payments Limited submitted this Q&A regarding How affiliates can maximise lateral earning opportunities in a highly competitive market.
Every year the number of affiliates who are competing with each other increases and that makes it difficult for them to scale up their business model from creating several new websites. How can clever affiliates tackle that issue without impacting valuable resources?
iGaming affiliates don’t just earn commission when they introduce new players to an iGaming site; they earn for the whole lifetime that a player transacts. Savvy affiliates who want to scale up business revenue don’t just look at new markets or new sites, they look to maximise their earnings by finding lateral revenue opportunities to increase their earnings. An example of this is advertising deposit options such as eWallets or prepaid credit cards to customers that make the most sense to use in a particular region – where traditional purchasing options may not be accessible. The benefits of promoting compatible programs on their sites means they can double their potential earnings from an individual player already converting from their site.
Affiliates who take the time to understand where they can capitalise additional revenue through educating their audience to get the best deals and opportunities are maximising their earning potential. Because those clients have received great information from the affiliates before they start to transact online, naturally their activity (lifetime) increases and that is reflected in the revenue which the affiliates receive. Also this means that as they go about their business, they are earning additional benefits from eWallet customer loyalty schemes.
How can an affiliate differentiate their website from competitors to increase revenue?
A good affiliate’s number one priority should be to build a genuine relationship with the desired audience and offer unique services and expert information that simply can’t be found elsewhere (or at least not at such good quality). It’s essential that affiliates make their site ‘sticky’ and give the audience reasons to keep coming back. It’s no longer enough to simply drive traffic to an operator and it’s getting gradually harder to drive traffic from search too due to all the algorithm changes. By building a relationship with your target market, understanding what makes them tick, and learning where they want to spend their time (and money), you can tailor your website to keep them coming back, referring friends and maximise your earnings.
The partnerships you choose to make as an affiliate can also make a big difference so think beyond the usual.
Here’s a practical example: If you are targeting customers aged between 18 and 35 why not build a relationship with a travel or events company? Then you could encourage your members to use their winnings to buy discounted air tickets to visit land based tournaments and attend other interesting events abroad. That would give you an income stream from three separate sources: the operator site, the payment provider used to purchase the goods (such as NETELLER) and the travel or Events Company who you are also providing customer leads to. You would also be building up your site as a respectable brand in its own right by association with other thriving companies. You can do the same with any other product or service that might be targeted to the same audience. The earning potential is endless.
How are revenue models changing for affiliate programs and what current trends are you noticing in the Affiliate industry?
In the affiliate industry there has been a definite shift toward companies limiting lifetime revenue share, especially within sports book partnerships where the tenure and life time value of a player can be different from that of a poker or casino player. New models are bound to emerge as affiliate programs evolve and mature. The revenue share in the iGaming and payment sectors will stay strong but the days of a 50% revenue shares for affiliates appear to be numbered.
One current trend which a lot of people in the affiliate space are taking note of – is the use of sophisticated online tracking and targeting technologies. Affiliate payment models could adopt similar ways of working to traditional retail models in the future. In those models, attribution revenue can be provided to affiliates in increments based on the pre-determined value chain of final customer conversion paths or limited cookie periods per sale.
Innovation within the affiliate marketing channel is constantly moving forward because affiliates are at the forefront of media trends and online marketing improvements. Every company could benefit by watching how the affiliate space changes and stands to learn something useful from it.
What factors should affiliates take into account when it comes to maximising earnings?
Affiliates work constantly to drive traffic to their websites and because competition is always fierce, they also look for new ways to expand revenue generation potential whether this means improving conversion or looking to attract an audience in a new market by expanding their brand’s global reach. One of the best ways to increase earnings is to partner with programs that will enhance existing business but not detract from the affiliate’s primary objective, which in our case, is usually to direct customers to iGaming sites.
The NETELLER affiliate program does exactly that.
It’s an affiliate program that complements existing programs in a mutually beneficial relationship in that it offers a second revenue stream to maximise affiliate earnings. We’ve created detailed user guides which assist different types of affiliates to convert players prior to the point of sale – which has been a big help in driving traffic too.
What are the main advantages of your affiliate program? Why should affiliates consider joining the NETELLER Affiliate program above others?
We differentiate our affiliate offering by providing an uncapped lifetime revenue share on the player’s deposit activities and also by offering double earning opportunities. NETELLER affiliates earn twice for every member that converts on an operator site using their NETELLER Account. We also don’t limit the amount of revenue that an affiliate can earn from an individual player. The beauty of that is, no matter where the customer plays, (or which operator they move to) a NETELLER affiliate will continue to earn a revenue stream.
We keep in touch with our affiliates and listen to what they have to say about how they are finding the industry and where they are seeing growth – it’s definitely a two-way partnership!
Lee-Ann Johnstone is Head of Affiliate & Merchant Marketing at Optimal Payments Plc. A seasoned Affiliate and Online Media industry professional, Lee-Ann has been a key member of the Optimal Payments team since July 2011 and is responsible for direct member acquisition and strategic development of NETELLER eWallet revenue via affiliate and merchant marketing channels. You can contact her on: [email protected]. If you wish to submit your own editorial please contact Bill Beatty.
