With mobile gaming becoming more popular, some gambling affiliates have noticed their casino software downloads rising without actually gaining more depositors. How should affiliates deal with a scenario in which there are a lot of downloads but only few depositors?
Understanding the Stats
It’s a common question for affiliates, especially those just getting started: why do I have a ton of downloads but no depositors?
There are a few ways in which this can be explained. First, many gambling affiliate programs will credit affiliates with a download even if someone just clicks the link but does not actually follow through and download the software. Compound this with search engine bots that crawl the web and click on links and it at least partially explains the phenomenon behind high download counts with minimal depositors. Direct download links only further exacerbate this problem.
Also affecting the ratio of downloads to depositors is the nature of the promotion itself. Promotions where players are given the opportunity to “play for free” may result in a significant number of downloads with almost no depositors.
With the growing popularity in mobile app gaming, there are more gaming software installations taking place worldwide but not necessarily a correlating increase in deposits; many iGaming players may not be fully warmed up to the idea of making a real-money deposit to a gaming program on their phone.
Finally, different gaming programs will result in different stats for whatever reason. One program might yield 400 downloads with 2 depositors while another generates 100 downloads and 30 deposits. To increase player conversions, it is sometimes imperative to switch things up and try promoting new programs. Sometimes affiliate marketing can be a guessing game as one program is a flop while another shines.
Knowing When to Worry
Affiliate sites for gambling on line deal with a lot of variance in income. The question for many gambling affiliates is knowing when to worry if their stats fall into the range of typical industry variance or are a point of concern.
Higher download to deposit ratios can be expected when visitors from the U.S. are searching for “free casino gambling on line”. Conversely, a visitor from the UK searching for “real money casino games” is much more likely to convert as a depositor.
It becomes tricky to pinpoint a precise percentage of new accounts and deposits relative to the number of downloads than a gambling affiliate can expect. For example, an affiliate using PPC marketing can expect better conversion rates than someone relying solely on SEO.
As a general rule, 20% of downloads resulting in a new account sign-up and 10% of downloads resulting in a new deposit is rough estimate for what you might hope for as a casino affiliate. However, expect individual results to vary significantly depending on marketing approach and program.
When in doubt, ask the others in the CAP forums if your downloads vs. depositors numbers are unusual.