Affiliate Systems: The Business Owner’s Guide

If you start an online casino then you cannot ignore the power of the casino affiliate system. And you definitely need one to not only help in driving traffic but also to amplify the overall earnings of your online casino. So, buckle up as we take you on a thrilling ride exploring the intricate labyrinth of casino affiliate marketing.

What’s in this article?

• Casino affiliate and agent systems in the iGaming industry are used to monitor campaigns, calculate commissions and have a range of management tools that make it possible to increase online casino traffic and revenue. In this article, we go into all the details that a successful business owner needs to know about affiliate systems.
• Casino affiliate marketers utilize promotional tools and materials alongside various commission structures, like revenue shares and CPA models, while managing risks such as ‘Negative Carryover’ to generate passive income. We’ll show you how to streamline the customer acquisition process with affiliate software.
• Building and maintaining a broad affiliate network is essential for online casino promotion, which requires effective recruitment strategies, strong partnerships, and the use of affiliate management software to improve operational efficiency. In this article, you will learn how to effectively manage and recruit affiliates with the help of your management system.

Understanding Affiliate Systems

Affiliate systems make significant contributions to the expansion of customer base and revenue in the dynamic iGaming industry.

If you are planning to grow your online casino with the help of affiliates, a good software solution is a must! Consider it one of the most valuable investments in your startup. If used correctly, it will pay for itself (and all other expenses of your business).

The good news is that you don’t have to hire a bunch of software developers and spend tons of resources to develop an affiliate management system. Many entrepreneurs make the mistake of thinking they need an “in-house” solution, but the truth is that it’s virtually impossible to develop such a solution without extensive marketing experience.

Why it’s not always a good idea to develop an “in-house” solution from scratch

The main reason is that the hundreds of affiliates you will recruit to promote your online casino will already be used to certain systems. Asking them to relearn is too much of a burden. You want to avoid them getting between you and the traffic they generate for you!

Most successful online casinos use third-party systems they can simply integrate with their iGaming platform to get going fast.

From a business perspective, a good platform should solve the following problems:

• Campaign monitoring – this will allow you to closely monitor campaigns and identify underperforming affiliates or channels.
• Calculating commissions – different affiliates may have different deals with your online casino. You need to have a way to monitor each account and its performance.
• Easy management – managing 10 or 1000 affiliates should be easy! Affiliate systems should reduce the time and effort required to manage the entire stack effectively.
• Affiliate program integration and operation – the interface should feel like part of your business. You should be able to design your platform, choose colors, create terms and conditions, and set the commissions.

The Basics of Affiliate Systems

Affiliates promote online casinos and earn commissions by directing players to operators. The process kicks off with enrolling in a casino affiliate program.

Once enrolled, they receive a unique link they place strategically on their website or any other asset. When individuals click on this link and register or deposit funds at the casino, a percentage of their generated revenue is remunerated to affiliates.

As simple as that! And since customer acquisition is the most important process for any business, they get renumerated beautifully!

In the grand scheme of affiliate marketing, the software plays a vital role. Some key features of affiliate software include:

• Interface – affiliates use this interface to access marketing materials, track performance metrics, and retrieve important information related to their partnership with the business.
• Administrator interface – administrators use this interface to oversee the entire network, monitor performance across affiliates, manage commission structures, and make strategic decisions based on comprehensive data and insights.
• Sign-up form – it collects essential information from individuals or businesses interested in becoming affiliates. This includes details such as contact information, sources of traffic, marketing strategies, etc.
• Performance tracking tools – affiliates use these tools to monitor the success of their promotional campaigns in real time. Administrators utilize them to gain insights into the overall performance, identifying the best money-makers and areas for improvement.
• Contact details storage – personal or business contact information, payment preferences, and communication history are stored here.
• Customized commission plans – customized commission plans allow businesses to tailor their reward structures for different accounts.
• Payment Processing Integration – this streamlines the payment workflow and ensures that commissions are paid out to affiliates on time and correctly (so you don’t have to make hundreds of transactions manually).

Advantages of Affiliate Systems

Without marketing software, you would have to manually code every tracking link for hundreds of affiliates, and then you would probably have an Excel sheet to track the performance of every single account and a complex structure of commissions they make daily.

You would still have to find a way to track the multiple performance metrics of every account separately, which is a huge challenge by itself.

The life of affiliates wouldn’t be easier as they would have to completely believe everything online casino owners would say – the amount of traffic online casino received, revenue generated, etc.

In other words, this would be a nightmare for all parties.

What is the biggest benefit of having an affiliate system?

They enable growth-focused brands to broaden their reach and enhance their brand exposure in the online casino industry. Getting traffic from thousands of different sources and having a track of every single conversion. Without making any assumptions.

As you will grow you will realize that it’s not just a tool your managers will use. Your PPC specialists, Acquisition managers, and SEO experts will use the same system for tracking reasons.

Your affiliate system will be a tool marketers use daily! Not just for tracking reasons!

They will ask you for assets – such as banners, landing pages, tracking links, and post-backs. This is what makes their affiliate marketing campaigns spin!

All assets must be constantly updated by you in the system so that they can then be easily downloaded by any partner.

Financial Statistics and Commissions

Affiliate programs offer various revenue shares, hybrid programs, and CPA options.

Whatever your deal is, affiliates receive a percentage of the amount the player loses. However, you need to be aware of the “negative carryover” If a player makes high profits that result in affiliates having a negative balance, this can affect their earnings.

Of course, this also affects your earnings as an operator! But that’s not the point. The main goal here is to keep all the great affiliates and give them some support when luck is not on their side.

Affiliate managers usually keep an eye on negative carryover and reset the balance for affiliates who are in the red. Affiliate software helps to track this information and respond when certain accounts lose money for online casinos over an extended period.

You will quickly learn the difference between different traffic sources and the way it affects your online casino profits. The data will help you.

You want to follow high performing affiliates and the numbers they generate daily. Benefit them, but also keep an eye on the carryover. If things turn around for them and they go permanently in the red, you need to address that immediately.

User Features and Affiliate Management

Effective affiliate management requires more than just adding more people and tracking them.

You need to provide a variety of materials for promotional activities. For example:

• Banners – you should upload tons of banners to ensure they align with the relevant content.
• Landing pages – different landing pages for different occasions.
• Social media content – to share engaging content on social media platforms and reach a broader audience.
• Email Marketing Templates – ready-to-use email marketing templates. All your partners will leverage these templates for targeted communication with their email subscribers.
• Promotional Videos – this is a dynamic way to showcase the unique features and excitement of your online casino. It will be used on platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, etc.

These promotional materials are designed to help affiliates effectively promote the product or service.

Best Practices in Online Casino Promotion

A casino affiliate program isn’t only there to attract more partners. Your casino should constantly organize various online gambling promotions and tournaments to help convert potential customers and keep existing customers happy. For this reason, you need enough assets to promote welcome bonuses, no deposit bonuses, free spins, high roller bonuses, no deposit bonuses, cashback bonuses, etc.

All these bonuses wouldn’t make sense without real tournaments and the best online casino promotions.

The best thing is that you don’t have to organize them yourself. Many software providers are constantly organizing different promotions to push their games. You can use these events to help to attract potential customers. Without spending your budget.

Prepare all the important assets, distribute them across the system and you’re ready to go!

Building a Wide Affiliate Network

The partner system alone is useless. You still have to put in some work and recruit affiliates.

Many people ask me – “Is it still an effective marketing strategy today?”

The truth is that any marketing strategy works in gambling! SEO, PPC, influencers, social media, etc. It depends on local regulations, the GEOs you choose, and your goals as to which strategies are right for you.

Affiliate marketing is proven to be the smartest way to promote online casinos. Every entrepreneur knows that it can grow your business geometrically. That’s why this strategy is so popular.

You need as many affiliates as you can get. There are no limits. Building a broad network has numerous advantages:

• Access to a diverse pool of advertisers – this diversity can include different marketing channels, geographical locations, and promotional methods. For example, affiliates might utilize social media, content marketing, or paid advertising to attract players from various demographics and regions.
• Enhanced brand visibility – your casino can reach a wider audience, increasing its visibility in the market. Affiliates act as additional touchpoints, introducing your brand to potential players who may not have discovered it otherwise. This leads to increased brand recognition and trust among the audience, ultimately contributing to a stronger online presence.
• Low start-up and ongoing costs – compared to traditional marketing methods, establishing active network typically involves lower initial and ongoing costs. Affiliates are compensated based on performance, often through revenue-sharing models. This cost structure allows your casino to allocate marketing budgets more efficiently, paying for actual results rather than upfront expenses, making it a cost-effective marketing strategy.
• Reduced risk – the performance-based nature of affiliate marketing reduces the financial risk for your online casino. Since affiliates earn commissions based on the players they bring in or the revenue generated, you only pay for tangible results. This mitigates the risk associated with traditional advertising models where upfront costs are incurred regardless of the campaign’s success.
• Targeted traffic – affiliates often specialize in specific niches or have a particular audience demographic. For instance, if a group of them focuses on a sports betting niche, the traffic they bring in is more likely to convert into active players if you run a sports betting website. Crypto-focused affiliates will drive quality traffic for 100% crypto online casinos.
• Flexibility – as your casino grows, you can easily expand the network by onboarding new affiliates. Additionally, you can adjust your marketing strategy based on performance data and market trends, ensuring that your online casino promo efforts remain aligned with your KPIs and the evolving landscape of the online gambling industry.

Affiliate marketing is the least expensive way to promote your online casino. And the most effective. You don’t have to invest in building huge marketing teams, paying salaries, or burning cash to prove something to work.

A wide network is a valuable asset for any online casino.

Recruitment Strategies for New Affiliates

There are dozens of ways to attract affiliates. It all depends on your budget, your team, and your ability to participate in trade shows and conferences with your own booths.

If you’re looking for more information on how to attract more affiliates to your online casino, you can read this post where we explain “How to Attract the first 100 iGaming Affiliates to Your Business”.

You have to follow some rules to succeed on your journey and the right Affiliate system can help you with significantly:

Clear Commission Structures

Make your commission structures transparent and appealing. Affiliates are more likely to join when they understand how much they can earn. Add competitive commission rates and bonuses for high performers!

Your affiliate system will provide important key metrics to track. Avoid ones that don’t go deep enough into the numbers and are not transparent. Your affiliates need to be sure that they are not being cheated and that the data they see corresponds to reality.

User-Friendly Onboarding

Simplify the onboarding process. Want to know what people hate most in this age? Bad experiences. If you make them wait longer than necessary or give them an affiliate system that is the opposite of what they were using before, you have a recipe for failure.

A user-friendly platform and straightforward registration can encourage potential affiliates to sign up. Provide easy access to marketing materials and tracking tools so they can get started quickly.

This means you can’t use just any affiliate system.

Many companies claim that their software solution is the best. The only true way to find out which system is best for your business is to talk to affiliates and find out the two names they like the most.

Attractive Promotional Materials

Supply affiliates with eye-catching and effective promotional materials. This includes banners, landing pages, and other creative assets. Quality marketing materials make it easier for affiliates to promote your casino and attract players.

Make sure your affiliate software is not just used for tracking. Affiliates love it when there are assets they can use for their work. And when these assets are constantly updated.

Streamlining Operations with Affiliate Management Software

The only way to grow your online casino business is to use the right tools. And you’ll need several for your business – both for customer acquisition and customer retention.

It’s not rocket science, but many entrepreneurs fall into the trap of thinking that one company can offer the best of everything. Instead of putting in the effort, they simply believe in “one-stop-shop” solutions and get ripped off.

Your iGaming affiliate software needs to meet both the needs of the affiliates and the needs of your business. And if you rely on your affiliates to grow your business, their needs come first. Because without affiliates, you have no business.

Once you realize this, you can streamline the entire process and unleash superpowers for your online casino:

Achieve Operational Efficiency

By automating and centralizing critical tasks, casino affiliate marketing software simplifies complex processes, allowing operators to focus on what matters most – providing an exceptional gaming experience.

Customer acquisition tactics are not the only means of achieving operational efficiency. You get the most out of your affiliate management system when you combine it with customer retention.

Here’s an example:

Let’s say your affiliates bring your online casino 1000 new registrations this month. You do your job and get all the data out of the system. 600 of them make a first deposit, which is 60%. Let’s say you paid $10 for each new sign-up ($10,000 in total).

Let’s say the average deposit per user is $30, which brings you $18,000 in revenue (600 x $30).

Combined with the customer retention strategy, the number of first-time depositors can increase from 600 to 800. This is because people who have never placed a bet will receive top online casino promotions that will resonate with them.

This one step increases revenue to $24,000. See a $6,000 difference?

The best is yet to come…

After three months of no retention strategies, you may only have 400 active players left.

Let’s say the average turnover per user is $400. That’s $160,000 ($400 x 400 players)

Teams that achieve operational efficiency by implementing both customer acquisition and retention will have the same number of 800 or close. That’s $320,000 ($400 x 800 players)

That’s twice as much money as you would make! This is just an example, but the numbers can be 3x, 4x or even 5x higher if you strive for operational efficiency!

How does this affect the business? Smart teams generate more revenue, more profit and can spend more on each signup. This gives them more flexibility to negotiate with partners when looking for new partnerships.

In this article, you can find out more about how you can increase the customer retention rate for your business.

Real-Time Performance Insights

The affiliate system will give you access to real-time performance data – clicks, conversions, revenue, and others. You will have enough data to make informed choices, identify top-performing affiliates, understand player behavior, and fine-tune marketing strategies on the fly.

Precision in Partner Management

You will be able to streamline the onboarding process and install customized commission structures. From tracking payments to providing marketing resources, the Affiliate Management System will allow smooth and mutually beneficial relationships.

Maximizing Returns

At the core of most successful online casinos is a robust affiliate network. A good Affiliate System will optimize your operations and enable you to maximize returns on investment.

Conclusion

In summary, the online casino industry thrives on the functionality of affiliate systems. They drive traffic, increase brand exposure, and play a pivotal role in customer acquisition.

• A powerful affiliate software platform is essential to increase customer base and revenue in the dynamic iGaming sector. Investing in a good software solution is a must and a valuable asset for startups, provided it meets affiliate preferences and industry standards.
• Trying to develop an “in-house” solution from scratch can be counterproductive. Established systems are preferred as affiliates are used to certain platforms and switching to a new platform could disrupt traffic generation.
• A well-designed platform should meet key business needs such as program integration, campaign monitoring, commission calculation, and management.
• In casino affiliate marketing, affiliates promote online casinos and earn commissions on player registrations or deposits referred through their unique affiliate links. Affiliate software plays a crucial role in this process, providing interfaces for both affiliates and administrators.
• Such systems are the backbone for growth-oriented online casinos. They allow them to expand their reach, increase brand awareness and track key performance metrics for effective decision making.
• Effective management goes beyond recruitment and offers a variety of promotional materials such as banners, landing pages, social media content, email marketing templates and promotional videos to support affiliates in their marketing efforts.
• In addition to recruiting affiliates, online casinos also need to organize promotions and tournaments to attract potential customers. The use of promotional tools such as banners and landing pages from software providers can complement the efforts of affiliates.
• A diversified network provides access to various marketing channels, increases brand visibility and offers cost-effective, performance-based marketing with low financial risk.
• Clear commission structures, user-friendly onboarding and attractive promotional materials are key factors in recruiting new affiliates. A transparent commission structure and easy access to marketing materials can increase interest and trust.
• To grow an online casino business, the right tools are crucial. By automating and centralizing operations, online casinos can focus on providing an exceptional gaming experience while maximizing returns on investment.

In summary, a well-integrated affiliate system is not just a tool for affiliate managers, but a daily necessity for various teams within an online casino that contributes significantly to the overall success of the casino.

With the iGaming industry undergoing rapid expansion, the affiliate marketing sector is anticipated to grow significantly in the coming years.