Why Astrobingo.co.uk are in it for the long game
What did we do with Astrobingo.co.uk that makes this bingo affiliate program unique and so successful? (Astrobingo.co.uk were amongst the first online bingo companies to launch in the UK back in July 05)
Firstly we did our number crunching, its one of the few industries where by a percentage of revenues coming in goes out in player redemptions. Players are like squirrels, bless em, they will store their winnings until they have accumulated a nice chunck of cash and then they will withdraw it all, only to find themselves starting the whole cycle again within days. But unlike die hard casino players who will pump their winnings back in, bingo players play within a fixed budget. The other factors we also needed to incorporate are the all important freebies, seasonal and promotional branded goodies as well as on the spot prizes. Once we figured out the numbers, it was then my turn to look at the affiliate networks in terms of software capabilities. I needed a company that could turn and twist, adjust and be innovative and accommodate my requirements. I also needed a network where bingo affiliate programs were already a familiar feature and affiliates (publishers) were used to promoting bingo merchants (advertisers). PaidOnResults.com as always was able to offer the technology that I needed in order to incentivise prospective affiliates. And Cj.com had a few bingo merchants in their network. The idea I had was to get the US affiliates who are targeting the UK market to join up and promote astrobingo.co.uk.
We hit the first obstacle with CJ.com Their technology was not sophisticated enough to cope with flexible percentage of gross player losses. So we had to reconcile ourselves to the fact that the two affiliate program would be slightly different. Having been a casino affiliate in the early years, I was well familiar with the way in which you could reward affiliates. The most popular casino commission structure is worked out according to how much a player looses. Example if a Player deposits £100.00 and looses it all, the affiliate referrer gets an industry average of 17%. Some casino affiliates prefer a straight forward player introduction fee, called CPA. With Astrobingo.co.uk I wanted and needed to attract, the casino affiliates (by the nature of bingo 70+ percent are women) life style affiliates. I needed to come up with a commission structure that was not only flexible but lucrative to the affiliates and still have the company making increasing profits.
It was decided to go for a one off CPA and % of gross for the life time of the player. Based on historical stats, we knew that affiliates in it for the long game would benefit far more greatly then a one off CPA. One off CPA via our competitors are in most cases higher, but a really savvy affiliate will know just what the long game would yield.
By constantly introducing more ways for players to win, we consistantly stive for looking at how our affiliates can earn more commission. Our latest manouvre is giving our affiliates a percentage of our progressive jackpots if the winning player is attached to an affiliate. Its all about numbers and conversions and our loyal customers
Some one once said and I can’t remember who, “I always thought that an affiliate manager was a glorified administrator.” As the affiliate manager of Astrobingo.co.uk and 80% of revenue coming through affiliates and all shareholders very happy smiley people, some of us would like to think we are a little bit more then just glorified administrators. But the real success of Astrobingo.co.uk is our loyal affiliates, they have put astrobingo.co.uk on the map!
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