GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 27 - February 2014

with a live-streamed event is the amount of markets available for bet365 players. bet365 runs its own affiliate program. What are the advantages for affiliates in working with a program that only repre- sents one brand as opposed to multiple online casino brands? The beauty of the bet365 affiliate program is the direct rela- tionship you have with the brand you are promoting. Trust and transparency are at the forefront of the way that the program is managed. We also have our own unique affiliate backend and this feature is some- thing that has been spoken highly of by our affiliate partners, due to the simplicity of pulling new creative, tracking links and analyzing statistics. It is important to remember that bet365 offers multiple products within one brand, so affiliates can promote any of the fol- lowing products – sports, casino, poker, bingo, games, financials and mobile – all from our affiliate program. How do you see the GPWA fitting into bet365’s marketing efforts? Why is fo- rum participation important for affili- ate managers and affiliate programs in general? For some affiliates forums are a key source of information for their affili- ate activity and from this, recommenda- tions on programs to join can emerge from threads and reviews. bet365 has partnered with the GPWA for many years now and we do feel it is an important part of our strategy to ensure that bet365 is a brand that is constantly considered by both new and existing affiliates as one to promote. I myself have been among the top monthly posters within the affiliate manager par- ticipation rankings and the main reason for this is to interact with affiliates who require help with anything related to their bet365 marketing efforts. Of course anything specific would be dealt with via e-mail but as a first point of call some af- filiates do prefer to open up a discussion within a forum. As with any partnership communication is key, and the GPWA provides a further option for both affiliates and affiliate managers alike. In order to get paid commission by bet365, affiliates must have at least five active referred customers. Many small affiliates are not fans of terms and conditions such as these, as they may struggle to meet that threshold. Why does bet365 include that clause in their affiliate contract? The five-player target is an initial benchmark affiliates must achieve before they can withdraw earnings from their account. It is important to note that this is a onetime target and once any account has referred five active players it becomes irrelevant. We are part of a performance-related in- dustry and as such the first benchmark for an affiliate is five active players. A key point I would like to mention is the support that the bet365 affiliate team is able to provide. Being a team of a substan- tial number of staff we are able to offer all affiliates top-level support, and it is just as important to us that affiliates achieve the five-player mark as it is for affiliates themselves. Our knowledge is available for affiliates established or new, and the five-player term should only be looked at positively as the more players on an af- filiate account the greater the chances of earning more commission. It’s one thing to bring in new people to a site. It’s another thing entirely to get them to stick around. What does bet365 do to retain players sent by affiliates? Although you may think our opening of- fer is just an acquisition channel, it also plays a huge part in ensuring the new players spend time at bet365. We offer the greatest introductory bonus and this al- lows players to place numerous bets and in the process they spend time browsing through the bet365 site and getting used to its features and general functionality. When players then become comfortable it is more likely they will return and of course deposit again. We of course have an excellent CRM team in place that works hard on engaging our players but I am not going to disclose our strategies here other than to say they work very well and affiliates enjoy fantastic player values that aid the all-important commissions that they earn! Social media is also playing its part, and one of the features that you can find on Twitter is “In-Play with Ray,” which works in conjunction with our TV advertising around sporting fixtures. Describe the office culture at bet365. If there were a fly on the wall, what are some of the topics of conversation it would hear about at the water cooler? Being such a large team you can find few moments of silence! As well as the sounds of mouse clicks, keyboard pushing and “ “It is important to remember that bet365 offers multiple products within one brand, so affiliates can promote any of the following products – sports, casino, poker, bingo, games, financials and mobile – all from our affiliate program.” 65 Affiliate Manager Interview Series