GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 25 - June 2013

For affiliate programs: How to update terms FROM THE GPWA FORUMS #1 BlackjackInfo (Private Member) I understand that the casino side of the business is tough. It’s ultracompetitive and margins are under attack from all sides. Everyone gets a piece of the pie, from payment processors to affiliates. So, what can you do if you find that the current terms you are offering affiliates are too generous, and you need to scale back to remain viable? There are a lot of different ways you can reduce affiliate commissions, and we affiliates, we’ve seem them all. Here are a few: 1) Reduce the program percentages overall. 2) Increase the requirements for the higher tier levels. 3) Institute negative balance carryover. 4) Put in a quota system, requiring new player signups to achieve the highest commissions. 5) Change the commission formula, putting more expenses into the equation. Of course there are plenty of unethical ways to reduce affiliate commissions, but we’re going to assume your program is completely aboveboard and wouldn’t consider cheating. The problem of course, as you have seen, is that affiliates don’t like any of these reductions. Hey, any way you look at it, it’s a pay cut. Now we get to the controversial part of this post. I can accept any of these under the right circumstances. Just follow these line items, and I’ll consider quietly accepting a pay cut, and continue to send you my best traffic: • DON’T make the change in terms affect my existing players. I sent those players in good faith under one arrangement, and that needs to be honored. • Publicize the changes. Mention it in your e-mails, post it on the forums. Let us know, so we can make a valid decision of how your revised program compares to your competitors. • Make it clear that new player traffic will be subject to the new terms. No wishy-washy claims like: “We know that term sounds bad, but we’ll never use it.” We affiliates want to know exactly how you’ll behave, even if we don’t like the changes. Yes, it’s difficult to have multiple sets of terms affecting an affiliate’s slate of players. But it’s the right thing to do. Be honest and straightforward about your needs, and you’ll find that most affiliates are willing to work with you in a way that is sustainable. Reply With Quote casinobonusguy (Private Member) I agree with what you say here. Many of us will see it as incentive to drive more traffic to the programs that honor the past contracts. When you introduce quotas you create fear that goals won’t be met and the affiliates tend to abandon ship, which is probably the opposite of what the owners are trying to accomplish. #2 Reply With Quote The GPWA Forums are a great place to learn about the iGaming industry, but they’re also a great place to find common ground between programs and affiliates. While relationships between operators and affiliates can sometimes be testy, the forums can serve as a place to develop an understanding of the other side of an issue. In the first post of this thread, BlackjackInfo (read his interview on page 44) explains what changes he’s willing to accept from affiliate programs, and what changes he thinks are clearly out of bounds, while Louis Deering of Income Access (read his article on mobile optimization on page 10) provides some insight into the operators’ perspective.