02/14/07
Incentive Sites and CPA
As regular readers to the site will know, I work for a white label gaming operator (for the next two weeks at least) running affiliate programs for 8 different sites. Three of the affiliate programs are run on an Affiliate Network which has a number of incentive sites that are (or have been) signed up to our programs.
In gaming you have to be very cautious of this recruitment method as sites like Quidco may be able to deliver a high volume of players but many can be of a poor quality, bonus hunters signing up to abuse the cashback offers who don’t stay and play after meeting the initial criteria.
Some feel that the best solution would be to stop working with these sites altogether but i’ll give you a good example of why this may not be the case. We had a player sign up in December from one of my least favorite incentive sites so has so far deposited around £15,000 (and lost most of it).
That said I still tend to find myself asking time and time again how to best work with these incentive sites – whilst one or two players can make a huge difference to the profitability of the program if they don’t come though then the potential is there to lose a lot of money.
So what to do? Unfortunately I don’t have all the answers but I would say that regular analysis is extremely important. Make sure that you can track the lifetime of customers recruited via this channel PER AFFILIATE. Reward sites that are providing quality players and make sure that you nip in the bud poor performance and potential abuse before it’s too late.
There are some great sites out there and great people behind them. Darren from GreasyPalm, for example, is extremely honest about this sector of the industry and the kind of customers that are likely to sign up – he understands the profitability risk and helps make sure that this is taken into account before starting a campaign for you.
So if you are launching a program and wondering what to do about incentive sites do make sure that you structure the program correctly against possible abuse and regular monitor the performance.
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Thanks James, for taking the time to comment on your experiences within our sector. It’s very difficult for sites like ours to prove ourselves and moreso stop being tarred with the same brush as some of our less honest competitors. As you’ve highlighted extremely well, it’s important to look at each individual affiliate as a seperate case and consider all the factors without being biassed by any prejudgements or reputation. I’m confident I can make any affiliate program ‘work’ in our sector, providing the merchant is prepared to listen to my advice and take advantage of the experience I can share. You clearly took the time, and we’ve both reaped the benefits – a win, win situation all round. Now all I have to do is convince the 1500 or more other merchants out there to do the same! Thanks again
Good subject James. As you note the issue is less with the reward model than with an understanding on the merchants/networks part of how the traffic and motivations of a rewards site can vary from other sectors like PPC.
As Darren points out it is a win, win situation for the merchant and site to have a clear line of communication so any potential issues can be worked out before the programme launches and to continue tweaking it along the way.
Now if only we had more merchant managers like you
Good luck with everything as you move on to the next project!
Excellent piece James. As you know I worked with a lot of gambling sites at ipoints. I think your experience is quite typical.
Big sites like the ones you mention often get the attention of some serious players who work a bit harder to make their bankroll go further. I think smaller less well extablished sites struggle to deliver value until they attract the attention of these high rollers.
Our experience was that gaming companies who forged long-term relationships with the incentive sites and paid good commissions always did well, even if they had to sit tight and sweat for a while. One of the programmes told us we were their most profitable affiliate at one point.
It’s a long term play, but it looks like you’re getting the benefit of it, I know you work hard on the relations you have so well done.
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