Hello everyone! In our new article, I’m going to explain why it’s crucial to pay attention not only to the cost of advertising but also to the quality of traffic! This will be useful for beginners, teams, and experienced solo webmasters alike.
What we’ll cover in this article:
💠 What advertisers look for when assessing traffic quality;
💠 Factors influencing traffic cost;
💠 How to find a balance between traffic quality and price.
In gambling, balancing traffic quality and cost is a key issue. It’s not just about how much you’re willing to spend. It’s also about the type of traffic you need to meet certain KPIs and get payouts, as well as new caps for the product you’re working with.
In this vertical, the requirements for traffic are some of the strictest. Here’s why: for instance, if we work on a CPA model, advertisers simply can’t cover the costs with minimal one-time deposits that go to webmasters.
On average, the payback period for a player in gambling ranges from several weeks to 1 year (depending on the terms set by the advertiser and the traffic source). Therefore, if you bring advertisers players who have low activity (small average check and no repeat deposits), such traffic can be outright rejected or put on hold until the players become more active.
Generally, you have to pay much more for players who are willing to make larger deposits and play longer on the product than for a regular internet user. This is because almost every traffic source charges more for advertising to a more solvent audience.
So, how do you find a balance between advertising cost, to stay profitable, and traffic quality, to get that much-awaited payout and new cap? Let’s break it down step by step.
What advertisers look at when evaluating traffic quality
- (CR) Conversion from registration to deposit (first/repeat). This metric helps understand the financial capabilities of your players.
- Average check of all players. Indicates the average deposit size made by a player. If the majority of players only make the minimum deposit, such traffic will not be considered high-quality, and webmasters may be checked for fraud.
- (RR) The number of repeat deposits. A very important indicator, as if your players make one deposit, a couple of spins, and no longer play on the product or make repeat deposits — this makes advertisers think (especially if 95% of your traffic behaves this way).
- Interaction with advertiser’s mailings. In terms of importance, this indicator is not the most objective, but advertisers also pay attention to it. They look at the % open rate of the emails pushed to your players at the email address provided during registration.
The webmaster’s traffic source. In the advertiser’s analytics system, it’s possible to see the referrer for each player. The referrer is a record in the server’s log files about a site visitor, showing the platform from which the player came to the site. If a webmaster claims that their traffic source is FB, but the referrers for their players contain the domain of a task posting service (active advertising system) or push network, the advertiser might question the traffic.
The time players spend on the site. This indicator reflects the overall picture of players’ activity. If players frequently visit the product to play, it means the traffic is maximally targeted — players are motivated by gambling and will continue to play.
Retention or percentage retention on the site. Shows how many people return to the platform after a certain period.
The number of pages viewed by a player. If a user doesn’t go beyond 1-2 pages, it’s a sign of their lack of interest.
What affects traffic cost
- Audience size. Advertising to a broader audience is usually cheaper than targeting a small group of people.
- Competition. The more “overheated” your GEO is in your traffic source, the more expensive the traffic itself will be.
- CTR of your creatives. In most of the most popular traffic sources — the more clickable your creative is, the cheaper you can buy traffic.
- Device type and platform. Advertising to owners of newer and more expensive devices costs more. The platform for displaying ads should also be noted. Showing ads to iPhone owners costs more than showing to Android OS owners.
The most important thing: How to find a balance between traffic quality and traffic price
Finding a balance between price and traffic quality is a challenging but achievable task.
Here are some ways to help you do this:
Target audience: Clearly define your target audience for whom you will be launching advertising. This will help you direct your efforts to attract those users who are most likely to play on the product, make good and large deposits — thereby improving the quality of your traffic and saving on tests.
In gambling, the target audience is: men aged 24 to 45. If you mix your traffic with a female audience, trying to show ads to a wider audience, you risk getting players with low activity (as women generally have a low average check and % of repeat deposits).
This situation is not the same across all GEOs. There are GEOs where the female audience plays quite well in casinos, and the quality of traffic is no worse than the male target audience. In Australia, according to a 2022 study, 54% of players are men. At the same time, women gamblers in Australia account for 46%. In Canada, there are slightly fewer – 38%. Pretty serious figures, agree?
Data analysis: Use analytics tools to track and analyze your traffic. This will help you understand which sources, platforms, ads, and strategies lead to the most conversions and which are the most cost-effective. Testing and optimization should be done continuously.
Test different audiences. Try changing the audience; maybe you are just working with the wrong users. The more solvent the audience, the higher the traffic quality. If considering Facebook as a traffic source, this article will help you.
Change creatives more often. Make different formats and approaches. A fresh and beautiful creative will always convert much better than a tired creative that a user sees in their feed 5 times a day. To make the conversion as high as possible, you can (and should) use local residents, national symbols, text, and voiceover in the language of the GEO in your creative. This way, you can gain more trust and attention from your TA and increase conversion. The higher the conversion of the creative, the cheaper we buy traffic!
Summing up all the above, I would like to note that the quality and price of your traffic directly depend on the source with which you work and the audience you target. We at Gambling.pro know all about any traffic source, and we will always find a way to help you – just write to us!
If you have any questions about the article – I’m always in touch!
