Affiliate marketing, which has become an integral part of the iGaming industry today, allows you to get effective results in promoting an online casino and increasing its profitability. The potential of affiliate marketing can be seen from the example of one affiliated media group that generated €106 million in revenue in 2020 from its casino, sports and financial services channels. Therefore, operators should pay attention to the power of this tool when it comes to the financial growth of the gambling business.
To effectively apply affiliate marketing in gambling, you need to have affiliate marketing software that best meets the needs of your business and contributes to its expansion. You also need to have a clear commission plan, which is the foundation that supports your entire affiliate program.
To increase the efficiency of your online casino or bookmaker through affiliate marketing, you need to create appropriate conditions for your partners, including high commissions that they will receive through a transparent and convenient platform. This attitude will motivate them and make them want to work even harder.
We have prepared additional information that will be useful for both experienced marketers and those new to affiliate marketing. An analysis of the most popular types of affiliate commissions in the iGaming industry will allow you to make sure that acronyms such as CPA or FTA do not hold more secrets for you and understand the most important aspects when setting up a commission plan.
Affiliate marketing uses different types of conversion commissions to pay affiliates.
CPA
This so-called “cost per action” or CPA is one of the main types of commissions in iGaming affiliate marketing. It works like this: the partner receives a one-time payment for the fact that the referred website visitor makes a deposit or takes another action with your platform.
Your task is to clearly define the specific activity that will be paid for under this commission plan. This can be registration, making the first deposit, or money spent by a player on your site. The average fixed cost varies widely depending on the target region or your iGaming niche.
Let’s take an example of the amount of commission that affiliates can receive, depending on the number of new players attracted per month who performed certain actions on the online casino site.
The following list indicates the price per player:
From this example, it can be seen that an affiliate’s earnings depend on his activity and desire to attract more gamblers as part of an affiliate program.
FTD (First-time Deposit)
This commission type (first deposit) is essentially a sub-category of CPA commission and is considered one of the most popular commission types in the iGaming affiliate industry. Operators should use this tool to attract new customers who are ready to start playing. As practice shows, partners note that the first deposit bonus stimulates players well and makes it easier to attract them to the site. And this, in turn, makes it possible for online casino partners to receive their commissions.
Considering that FTD generates commissions for partners only after making the first deposit by the referred player, the operator can independently choose a percentage commission or a fixed fee. For example, if a player makes a deposit of $200, then the partner is entitled to a commission of $30.
Revenue share
This commission structure is considered to be very attractive to iGaming partners because it pays off in the long run. That is, instead of receiving a one-time commission for an action or acquisition, the partner will receive payments on an ongoing basis as long as the attracted client continues to play with the brand, or for a fixed period of time.
Depending on the brand offering the revenue-sharing deal, the partner’s financial share can vary widely from 5% to 80%, or progressive, where the paid share depends on the number of players the partner has referred to the website.
Below are examples of commission percentages, depending on the number of referred players per month:
As you can see, gambling partners can earn decent money for their active work.
Combined commission type
As the name implies, this type of commission is hybrid, meaning it combines the first two commission models, which allows the partner to receive a one-time fixed amount when attracting a new player, and along with it, a percentage of the long-term income received from this player.
As a rule, hybrid plans usually combine a fixed commission from transactions under the CPA model and a percentage of the monthly income that a player brings in by spending money on your gambling site.
For example, your affiliate program might offer the affiliate a $25 conversion fee and 15% RevShare for the revenue generated by the player in the casino in the first 3 months. At the same time, the size of interest and amounts can usually be influenced by the region in which your partners operate, as well as target groups, payment methods and other factors.
It’s no secret that commission plans are the biggest factor in making your affiliate program attractive to the best affiliates. The effectiveness of affiliate involvement directly depends on how beneficial cooperation with you will be for the partner. Therefore, before your partners start working in the program, you must inform them about all the details of your project.
To develop a successful commission plan for your affiliate business, be sure to follow these guidelines:
Demonstrate to your partners an honest attitude towards them and show the real cost of their work, taking into account deductions.
Many operators do wrong and hide from partners the real amount that they will pay. Hidden costs include transfer fees, taxes, various fines and other deductions. And if you warn your partners in advance, there will be no disagreements and financial problems between you!
Do an analysis of the commission rates of your competitors.
When building a successful channel, it’s important to use the experience of your competitors to understand what criteria they use to develop their commission rate strategy. This knowledge will help you create competitive rates for your region and for your audience.
Set up your basic commission plan.
You can use several types of commissions in your affiliate program. To do this, you need to develop an overall framework for the types of commissions you will offer on your website and across all of the marketing channels you use. Be sure to include custom offers for unique affiliates in your basic commission plan.
Determine the duration of your offers
When setting a time frame for your offerings, you must be sure that they will be attractive to partners and meet the needs of your business. For example, you can offer partners higher Revenue Share rates during the first 3 months after the registration of a new player, and then pay a commission according to the CPA model.
Decide if you will offer commission bonuses
The offer of special bonuses for active partners has proved to be a good solution in practice. For example, for promotion, you can choose partners who attract more than 1000 new players every month, you can provide a fixed bonus as an incentive, for example, in the amount of $1,000. Such a reward will become an additional motivation for existing partners and for attracting new ones.
Choose the right ways to pay your partners
Since your partners may be people who live in different parts of the world and prioritize certain payment methods for their commissions, take this into account when integrating the payment system into your platform. Find out in advance what types of currencies and payment services you may need, or choose ready-made partner software with a built-in payment system. This will reduce the operational burden.
Create the Right Affiliate Marketing System
The affiliate marketing platform you need to support the configuration flexibility for your commission plans is an important component in creating the required level of engagement.
The powerful affiliate marketing system from PartnerMatrix has a number of advantages. With it, you get turnkey payment solutions, segmentation and commission generation tools, live data and marketing tools, and a unique security system to protect your affiliate campaigns from fraudulent activities.
The functionality of the software platform ensures the connection of all components into a single mechanism, with the help of which you can independently adapt affiliate marketing programs that are profitable for your business.
