Brand creativity and brand trust are of the utmost importance as the challenge of customer retention intensifies for igaming affiliates.
Speaking at the SBC Summit Canada, Keith Denis Geary, director of casino, Game Lounge urged affiliates to think outside the box if they plan on succeeding in the new landscape.
Tyler Amirault, chief executive, Hot Takes Sports, added that operators are looking to identify cohorts and understand the granularity into why some players are being retained and others aren’t.
Amirault said: “How we keep our deals growing and healthy is by doing our best to collect data on players. We have to think about how do we stay compliant in different regions, as we do that, but I think consumer profiling is really how you can set yourself apart.
“We’re not just […] collecting some clicks and then disregarding that action. We’re trying to understand who these users are, what’s motivating them. Let’s use our data to check, like, how can we increase their session times on our sites, and how can that translate to more value for our operator partners.”
Timing is everything for affiliates
Amirault pinpointed the vital nature of timing and showed the players what they want to see at the vital moment of intent.
He underpinned that he believes they gain a significant advantage from the ability to profile players across a myriad of different channels and to provide operator partners with a far deeper visibility.
Andrew Garven, head of affiliate marketing, Bet99, highlighted that true value comes from long-term thinking and a true roadmap for success, replacing short-term strategies:
“I’d love to see more like long-term partnership building. I know there’s been a lot of pressure on the industry, which has forced businesses into more short-term decisions – chasing the higher dollar, but I think we’d be a lot better off across the board if we kind of approached partnerships more of a long-term standpoint.”
UX in focus
While there are limitations to the frictionless experience in the igaming sector, deeplinking was cited by Calvin Konya, co-founder, Linemate as potentially key new shift in the way players engage with affiliates and the user experience in the mobile-first era.
The user experience was elevated as a vital ingredient to the relationship between affiliates and players by Konya, who outlined that personalisation and customised experience, “are North Star bullet points on a whiteboard for us to achieve in the next 12 to 24 months”.
He emphasised that data is no longer a differentiator – it is about meeting the experience expectations of the player when it comes to placing a bet and engaging with content.
Geary identified the potential of AI to increase the levels of personalisation for affiliates and raising the bar in terms of data availability and usage.
“Engagement is going to be the name of the game,” according to Geary, urging affiliates to leverage data to boost player retention.
“Affiliates used to be just written content-based gaming SEO as much as possible, now it’s more of a media programming – channeled diversification and engagement through communities leveraging AI.”
He outlined that while affiliates were previously just content-based and SEO-focused, they now must also consider elements of gamification in order to bolster personalisation and subsequently build communities of players, where loyalty can thrive.
Garven stated that affiliates must have a unique offering if they are to thrive in the new landscape – setting themselves apart and building community. He stated his belief that what let down the SEO affiliates was a lack of community being built.
Largely, if you can become habitual, the road to success and sustainability is far clearer for affiliates, with Konya highlighting the real challenge of becoming a brand and not being just a tool.
This article was first published on Affiliate Leaders’ sister title, Canadian Gaming Business.
