In Part I of our follow-up Q&A for iGB Affiliate’s recent LAC panel ‘What’s Next for Your Business: Thinking Innovatively About the Growth and Management of an Affiliate Business’, the panellists provided their answers for the first three questions they were unable to answer on the day.
Our Senior Marketing Services Manager Alana Levine led the seminar, while our VP of Business Development & Marketing Lee-Ann Johnstone also took part. The other panellists included:
- Nick Garner – CEO and founder, Oshi Casino
- Andrew Edwards – founder, Mad About Bingo
In the second part of our two-piece series, the panel give their insights on questions four and five.Question 4: Do you recommend working with a handful of operators or as many as possible?Nick Garner (NG), Oshi.io: I would build relationships with as many operators as possible initially, then whittle them down to a handful of around six operators that you work well with and who convert. The trouble is, you won't know which operators to work with until you test them in the context of your website.Lee-Ann Johnstone (LAJ), Income Access: Find operators who are prominently advertising their brand in your region. Work with a manageable number of big-name brands and several smaller operators who have more aggressive offers. Spread your risk by diversifying your revenue portfolio across a select group of brands who balance with your business and are keen to expand their relationship with you.Andrew Edwards (AE), Mad About Bingo: You will only really make consistent money from a handful of major operators in the long run. So, I would promote the major brands first. You can still make decent money from promoting 100 smaller sites, so look at getting these on a rev share model if you think they will convert.Question 5: Let’s talk transparency and data sharing. What is the best balance to have in your affiliate business, and what do you need to insist on seeing? NG: You want to know which operators are successful and why. There's a huge variance on what they will share with you, based on the systems they have in place. Many of them are obsessed with data privacy, because it can affect their licence if there is 'data leakage'.LAJ: The brilliant thing about sharing data collaboratively is that it helps programmes grow, and helps affiliates build relationships with operators that are symbiotic instead of one-dimensional. If I was an affiliate, I would want to see:
- Impressions
- Clicks
- Sign ups
- Depositors
- Deposit values
- Wagering values (if on a revenue share deal)
- Net Gaming Revenue (if on a revenue share model) or CPA commissions.
AE: As both an affiliate and operator, I see the pros and cons of data sharing. Having said that, there needs to be a level of trust in this industry if we are to move past the stage where programmes are shut down overnight and terms renegaded upon by operators. You need to see what CRM the operator has planned to help convert the players you send to them.A big thank you to all the panellists! A full recap of the seminar itself is available on our Content Hub. If you have any further questions, please reach out.
