With Q4 coming to a close, it’s safe to say that 2018 was an important year for both affiliates and the iGaming industry in general, with the US opening its door to legal sports betting and high-profile M&A in the European space. We can brightly look at the new year and expect more big changes in 2019.

One way for affiliates to be prepared for change is to focus on taking advantage of key digital marketing trends. Leveraging these opportunities will help them build strong marketing strategies, increase their conversion rates and enjoy sustainable business growth.

Voice Search to Take Precedence in the Years to Come

Technology is evolving at an increasingly fast pace. Against this backdrop, people are consuming and searching for content differently. Therefore, it’s crucial to understand how your audience communicates and behaves in their day-to-day.

The correlated use of mobile and voice search is undeniably on the rise. Yet, it was reported by Search Engine Watch that a whopping 62% of marketers currently have no set plans to implement or accommodate voice search. This is a mistake.According to Campaign, approximately 50% of all searches will be by voice by 2020. In fact, Gartner reports that almost a third (30%) of all searches will be done without screens by that date. Not to mention the most common environment in which people use voice search—alone at home.

Even though it would seem that voice search is limited to asking Siri for the time or the weather, statistics show otherwise. It will eventually become the norm. However, online businesses are lagging behind. Indeed, it was established by Backlinko that only 1.71% of the voice search results had the exact match of keywords in the title tag.

As an affiliate, this puts a spotlight on the importance of tailoring and optimizing your sites for voice search. Voice search optimisation (VSO) is of course very different to SEO, given that users use much more detailed, yet casual, search requests verbally than they do when they type.

Remaining Relevant & Sustainable with AR and VR

One of the issues that all affiliates must eventually face is remaining relevant to their audience and engaging site visitors with their content. Not only is technology constantly changing, as previously mentioned, consumer behaviour is also continuously evolving.

Brands and affiliates must engage a whole new generation of millennials. Bearing in mind this generation’s tech-savviness, shorter attention span and high connectivity, gaming products and affiliate sites should become more social, interactive, viral and personalised.

The use of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) serve as great methods to attract consumers and engage with them. In fact, a recent Retail Peceptions report reveals that 71% of shoppers would shop at a retailer more often if they offered AR.

Utilizing Chatbots to Guide Players

In addition to the growing popularity of voice search, AR and VR, chatbots are being adopted by many online merchants. However, it’s a tool that not only operators can adopt. Indeed, affiliates can also cost-effectively integrate bots on their sites and enhance their conversations with players, and overall conversion rates.

These days, the overflow of information, bonuses and new brands have reached new heights. Players can easily be overwhelmed by this supersaturation.

Once putting the chatbot into effect, it could potentially guide players to the right game, deal, operator or service that they would require.

 

What upcoming trends have you been thinking of implementing for 2019? Let us know in the comments below.