Why Referral Traffic Gets Blocked Before It Converts
Referral traffic from the gaming industry is some of the most valuable traffic available to those in the industry. Visitors that come from comparison websites, review websites, influencers, and others with a vested interest in the growth of the industry already have the purchase intent required to contribute to the revenue of the iGaming site.
However, referral traffic is also some of the most susceptible to getting blocked from reaching those iGaming sites and contributing to their revenue.
Understanding why referral traffic gets blocked from contributing to revenue and how to recover that traffic is crucial for both the publishers and the iGamings sites looking to maximize their partnerships.
Why Referral Traffic Is Different
Referral traffic is different from general website traffic in that the visitors have a specific purpose and goal for coming to the website of the iGamings company.
Those with referral traffic typically expect to find the following upon arrival:
A welcome bonus for new players
The option to register with the iGamings company
The ability to browse and compare the various iGamings companies
Promotional deals and offers
If any of these are disrupted at all, there is a significant chance that they will not contribute to the revenue of that company.
Common Causes of Referral Traffic Getting Blocked
Referral traffic from publishers to iGamings websites can get blocked for various reasons.
The most common reasons for referral traffic getting blocked include the following:
Country restrictions
Invalid affiliate links
Expired campaigns
Redirect failures
Unsupported iGamings companies
Compliance restrictions
Broken Campaign URLs
The most common reason for referral traffic getting blocked is that the campaigns and links used by the publisher to direct referral traffic may be out of date.
If referral traffic arrives at an error page or at a page with no landing or promotional information, the visitor is likely to leave the website without contributing to the revenue of the company.
Regional Licensing Conflicts
Many of the individuals that the referral partner will attract may come from a different country to where the iGamings company is licensed and permitted.
In these cases, the visitor will be unable to contribute to the revenue of that iGamings company due to licensing restrictions.
Referral Chains Create Additional Risk
Many referral partners will require visitors to go through a few redirects before arriving at the landing page for the iGamings company.
These redirect links may fail along the way to the iGamings company, which will prevent the visitor from ever contributing to that company’s revenue.
Monitor Referral Traffic Source Performance
Not all referral partners contribute to the revenue of the iGamings company to the same extent.
It is essential to monitor the performance of each of these partners to determine where improvement is needed to increase revenue.
Validate Campaigns Before Launch
Before any referral campaign is launched, it should be tested to ensure that all links and redirects will work as they should.
This will ensure that the campaign does not fall short of expectations when it is officially launched.
Create Backup Destinations for Referral Traffic
If the initial iGamings company does not contribute to the visitor’s revenue, it is possible for there to be another company that will contribute to that revenue with the same visitor.
Creating backup companies that visitors can be redirected to in the case that the first company is unable to do so will improve the chances that each visitor contributes to the iGamings company’s revenue.
Optimize Referral Landing Pages
The landing page that visitors arrive at from the referral traffic should include the same information as when they arrived at the iGamings company’s website.
This will provide a consistent experience and improve the chances of contributing revenue.
Monitor Redirect Speed
The speed at which the visitor gets from the referral link to the iGamings company is important.
If it takes too long for the visitor to arrive, they are likely to leave without contributing to the revenue.
AI Can Improve Referral Traffic Routing
Artificial intelligence can help with routing referral traffic to the appropriate companies by determining which companies are the most suitable based on the visitor.
AI will be able to:
Detect when traffic routing fails
Suggest alternative operators to those getting redirected
Determine the chance of a visitor contributing to revenue
Determine which referral partners contribute more revenue
Optimize routing decisions for specific regions of the world
Automation will allow publishers to recover some of the referral traffic they are losing.
Common Mistakes in Referral Traffic Management
There are a variety of mistakes that publishers can make that will ultimately lead to referral traffic getting blocked.
These mistakes include the following:
Using links from expired campaigns
Ignoring the possibility of international audiences
Failing to test redirect links before launch
Using generic landing pages
Only monitoring the number of clicks on the affiliate links
All of these issues may lead to blocked referral traffic, but the good news is that they can be avoided with proper management.
Best Practices for Publishers
To improve referral traffic contribution to revenue, publishers should follow a few steps:
Audit affiliate links
Monitor the traffic generated by each individual referral partner
Validate campaigns before launch
Create landing pages specific to each market
Maintain various partnerships with iGamings companies
Reduce the number of redirects between the referral link and the iGamings company
Test the iGamings companies’ landing pages on mobile devices
Review the performance of campaigns and partners frequently
Following these steps will ultimately allow publishers to improve the contribution of their referral traffic to their partnered companies’ revenues.
Looking Ahead
The industry is rapidly developing to create better management of referral traffic.
Some of the future innovations in this industry will include the ability for platforms to automatically:
Validate referral traffic in real time
Create dynamic routing of referral traffic to different companies
Automatically verify affiliate links before they are used in campaigns
Utilize artificial intelligence to suggest the best iGamings company for the visitor
Monitor the conversion rate of referral traffic in real time
These innovations will allow publishers to recover the revenue that is lost from blocked referral traffic.
Final Thoughts
Referral traffic is the closest that a visitor will come to becoming a depositing player into the iGamings company.
Blocked referral traffic directly translates to lost revenue.
By monitoring referral traffic, validating links, creating great landing pages, and using innovative strategies for routing referral traffic, publishers and iGamings companies can expect an improvement in the number of referral traffic contributions to revenue.
In an industry where publishers have to generate significant revenue from their links, referral traffic management is one of the best strategies available to increase that revenue without having to spend in creating new visitors.