Interview with the AskGamblers Awards Top 10 Candidates in the Best Affiliate Partners Category

We’re entering the final phase of the AskGamblers Awards where you guys still have a chance to vote for your favourite online casinos and slot machines. As most of you already know, the main event is scheduled for January 17th, 2020, which is when the winners will be announced. Since, we are a little bit impatient to find out who will take home these prestigious awards, we’ve decided to talk to the top 10 candidates in the Best Affiliate Partners category and find out how they feel about being shortlisted.

Meet the AskGamblers Awards Top 10 Affiliate Partners

The AskGamblers Awards gala spectacle will be held next month, and we can’t wait to find out who the winners will be. In the meantime, we’ve gathered the shortlisted candidates in the Best Affiliate Partner category, and we are excited about getting their point of view about the Awards.

1. So, let’s start with a hot topic that’s been on everyone’s mind – how do you feel about being chosen among the finalists for the AskGamblers Awards?

Betzest Partners: Being shortlisted in the Best Affiliate Partner category is a huge recognition. We are confident that all nominees for the AskGamblers Awards are industry brands with months of hard work behind their shoulders, and this is why we compete for it for the second consecutive year.

IVY Affiliates: Thank you for the nomination, it is an honour to be part of the AskGamblers Awards and celebrate this with one of our biggest partners since day 1 of Ivy Affiliates’ existence. I am confident that we will be able to take this incredible partnership further and build up even more on the success we are currently experiencing with AskGamblers.

JPJ Partners: This is the first time that we have been nominated for an AskGamblers Award and that alone is an honour and an achievement – to be seen to be alongside some of the best casinos in the industry. Industry events such as this provide an important morale booster to our staff and serve to remind our customers that we are continually striving to be the best.

LeoVegas Affiliate: We’re excited and honored to have been shortlisted! Working with AskGamblers is always rewarding and being acknowledged as one of the Best Affiliate Partners makes it more so. Winning the award would be amazing, but we’re happy to be up against some great contenders for the award!

Max Affiliates: It’s an honour to be chosen amongst the very best affiliate programs in the industry, particularly for the awards as prestigious as these. Looking at the other finalists that have made it this far, myself and my team take pride in our work carried out throughout the year to be listed here along with so many other industry leaders and innovators.

“Industry events such as this provide an important morale booster to our staff.”

Oshi Affiliates: We are very proud to be chosen by our most important affiliate. We love to work with the professional team of AskGamblers and it’s an honor to be nominated at the most important awards of the year.

PlayAttack Affiliates: It is a great honor for us to be part of this exciting event and moreover to be listed among the finalists for the AskGamblers Awards. We are pleased to be aware of the fact that all that we do for our affiliates is really worth it and this is a great stimulus for PlayAttack Team to move on and keep refining our product and service.

RP Affiliates: First of all, thank you for shortlisting us. We had a fantastic time at the reward ceremony last year, and we’re delighted and thrilled to be shortlisted in the category of Best Affiliate Partner this year. As a long-term partner of AskGamblers, we’ve really enjoyed our cooperation together and can’t wait to see what happens on the night.

Stars Affiliate Club: It is an absolute honor to be shortlisted among countless operators and affiliate programs. There certainly is strong competition this year. Although the AskGamblers Awards are still very young, the project has already made a name for itself and last year’s Awards were fantastic. We are extremely proud to be nominated, and we are very excited for the event.

Uffiliates: It’s a big honor for us, especially because it is the first time we are shortlisted. We are always thriving to improve our program, to ensure our affiliates the best user experience, and to maintain the great relationships we have with our affiliates.

2. What all of you have in common is the fact that you feature the best quality casino brands in your directories. Plus, your teams are made of outstanding individuals who are known to be professional, responsive and customer oriented. But, apart from these qualities, can you share some tips and tricks on what makes your affiliate program exceptional? And, what makes a successful affiliate manager?

Betzest Partners: Launched just 1 year ago, BetzestAffiliates is quickly becoming one of the most respected Casino and Sportsbook affiliate programs worldwide. Despite being a young affiliate program, we have successfully built great awareness and recognition due to our affiliate-friendly concept, strong focus on affiliate, granular reporting, attentive staff and timely payments. Our affiliate program has a combination of key benefits we offer to our affiliates ranging from a high quality affiliate system to some of the highest conversion and retention rates in the market, offering a variety of payment methods, availability on all devices, stylish and fun user interface and our own Betzest slot.

IVY Affiliates: This comes down to have the opportunities of working with an exceptional team with over 30 years combined experience in the iGaming industry. Every brand part of the Ivy portfolio is designed to have a unique look and feel while keeping key elements that keep the established identity of Ivy brands. In this dynamic industry, being one step ahead is always key, reason why all our affiliate managers are constantly informed of any new changes in the industry weather compliance-related or otherwise. And, last but not least, I would say always keep growing and work towards achieving new goals. This is the motto, here, at Ivy Affiliates.

JPJ Partners: Our dynamic affiliate programme is designed to relate as much as possible to the end users and given the rapidly changing market, coupled with evolving needs, we aim to continually improve our offering. A successful affiliate manager has many qualities, but we believe that availability and awareness of what is happening critical. They should be readily available – able to assist with any affiliate need – as well as be a great communicator and fully up-to-date with what the casino is doing. We expect them to put the affiliate needs first and although our team is small, we believe it is of a high quality and fully capable of taking on the many challenges.

LeoVegas Affiliate: With the iGaming industry constantly evolving, it’s important to think outside the box and leave our comfort zone to make sure the LeoVegas Affiliate program stays one step ahead of the game. This is no easy feat but being surrounded by a dedicated team with knowledge in various sectors of the industry means this is achieved. I’ve asked the team about what we think makes a successful account manager and we all agree that it really comes down to having a strong support system. We’re lucky enough to have an Adops team, BI team and an Operations team committed to make sure that we are providing the best service possible to our partners 24/7.

Max Affiliates: You don’t need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to creating a competitive affiliate program. Competitive rewards and offers, optimized conversion funnels and a solid retention plan to make sure partner revenue is a long-term deal are fundamental to a successful program. As for an affiliate manager, I would say negotiating and communication skills are paramount, backed by a strong knowledge of your product to be able to sell it effectively and work with the product team to adapt it to the many variables required when taking into consideration player acquisition.

“You need to be initiative and able to lead your affiliates to success using you high expertise.”

Oshi Affiliates: We offer fair deals to affiliates and pay out within the first 10 days of the next month. A long-term relationship and in best case a real friendship is more important than short time money. A successful affiliate manager should be trustworthy and honest in negotiations and acting.

PlayAttack Affiliates: First of all, we would like to join to the above because top quality casino brands and highly professional affiliate team are actually the main factors to guaranty a successful affiliate business. However, the world on the whole and casino affiliate business is quite changeable these days and therefore in our opinion it is also very important to be a creative and even extraordinary thinker while performing your everyday affiliate duties. It not enough just to be responsive and customer-oriented today. As an affiliate manager of today you need to be initiative and able to lead your affiliates to success using you high expertise in the vertical, your deep knowledge of your product and players. So this is more about teamwork.

RP Affiliates: Flexibility is definitely key. We always try and put together bespoke deals that suit our affiliates, while also being fair with our terms, including no negative carryover. We also have a very creative marketing team who ensure we have a regular flow of engaging promotions. This definitely helps to attract players and we do our best to ensure there’s a wide range of engaging assets for our affiliates to use. In terms of being a successful affiliate manager, we believe you need to have excellent interpersonal skills. Personal contact with affiliates and being available to them when they need you is important, as is loving what you do and being totally dedicated to the role.

Stars Affiliate Club: In March 2019, we launched the new and improved Affiliate Program, Stars Affiliate Club, and moved on to a more advanced system running on the Income Access platform. This change provided a range of new features for our partners. We have an experienced and dedicated team that always aims to go to go that extra mile to engage our partners and maximize their results from the commercial and regulatory perspective. As Affiliate Managers our goal is to ensure that we create strong and lasting partnerships and work together to create a tailored long-term successful strategy.

Uffiliates: Other than many casino brands, we have our own in-house program, which is sometimes challenging, and we do our best to update it on a regular basis to be in line with the standards on the market and to enable our affiliates a great user experience. I think what makes a successful affiliate manager is first of all personal skills, to be able to build strong relationships with each affiliate, and to maintain them. Moreover of course availability and knowledge of the industry, to give the best support possible.

3. With the AskGamblers Awards ceremony approaching fast, we’re already in a festive mood and everything is almost ready for the big spectacle, so we’d like to know – how are you getting ready for the AskGamblers Awards show? Are you nervous? Do you have a speech prepared for the cameras after the show (just in case)? And, last but not least, do you know what to wear?

Betzest Partners: We are very excited about AskGamblers Awards. Betzest has gotten a very strong performance in 2019 and we are pleased to see that the work that we do was acknowledged by our AskGamblers friends, as being shortlisted for Best Affiliate Partner. With so many accomplishments in 2019 for Betzest, to win this prestigious award would be massive recognition for the work with do. It is the same feeling like winning Champions League in football. As always, we will certainly wear dark suits at the awards.

IVY Affiliates: We are ready to head to Belgrade and celebrate with the AskGamblers team! And no, we are not nervous, just tremendously excited to take part in this glamorous evening you have planned.

JPJ Partners: The AskGamblers Awards ceremony is always an exciting event – especially since it takes place in Serbia which gives us an opportunity to meet the AskGamblers team. We are too modest to say whether we have a speech prepared, but we pride ourselves in knowing that our managers are always capable of dealing with any expected or unexpected circumstances that may arise! What we will be wearing will be a challenge given that it is likely to be cold, but certainly the emphasis will be on elegance whatever the weather.

LeoVegas Affiliate: More than nervous, I’d say I’m excited! This will be my first-time visiting Belgrade and what better occasion to do so than the AskGamblers Awards. My plus one, Fran and I do not have a speech prepared, we’ve decided we’re going to wing it should we win! We haven’t got a clue what we are going to wear to the gala yet, but we’re looking forward to getting all glammed up!

Max Affiliates: It’s one of my favourite events of the year, so I always come prepared! I always check who’s attending to prepare for some business and leisure networking, as well as set meetings with my account manager. I’m not really the nervous type as I look forward to speeches and always found public speaking easy. I have the perfect dress planned for the event, and I’m sure you’re going love it!

“It is the same feeling like winning Champions League in football.”

Oshi Affiliates: My best friend and business partner Harald will speak for sure; we are not nervous, we look forward to see the AskGamblers team again in person and are happy to visit Belgrade soon again. We already know what we will wear for sure.

PlayAttack Affiliates: To tell you the truth Christmas is rather close, and we have a lot of things to do for players and affiliates now. We wouldn’t say that we are nervous, but we are pretty excited. We might think of preparing a speech, but in our experience the best option which always works is to speak from your heart. As for the outfit, to tell you the truth AskGamblers Awards is a great occasion to wear a gala dress or a dinner jacket for us as in our everyday life we prefer convenient clothes and mainly casual style.

RP Affiliates: Good question! We don’t really like to prepare in advance of award ceremonies. We’re just going to go with the flow and speak from the heart if we do win. As for what we’re going to wear, it’s got to be a tuxedo. Got to look smart for a such a grand occasion!

Stars Affiliate Club: We are more excited than anything. The AskGamblers Awards ceremony is a great opportunity to get dressed up and celebrate the industry. That said, it would be great to come home with the award!

Uffiliates: We are not nervous at all, of course we will prepare a small speech for the possible win. 🙂 And the outfit will be chosen soon.

We would like to thank each and every one of you for taking the time to answer our questions. Good luck to all of you and we’ll see you at the AskGamblers Awards show in Belgrade, on January 17th, 2020. One quick reminder – you guys still have a chance to vote for your favourite online casinos and slot machines, in case you still haven’t.