The first test of a sportsbook affiliate

[betpartners]

There are many many reasons why one should avoid an affiliate program be it their reputation, a history of slow pay, bad terms and conditions and so forth, however i beleive that the very first step anyone should take is testing the customer service.

It is easy enough to get a general idea of the trust worthiness of an affiliate, you can ask in any amount of forums and you will soon be told if they are slow to pay, you can easily read through their terms and conditions and so on.

But customer service can be subjective, for one affiliate waiting 48 hours for s response may be acceptable, for another affiliate waiting 1 working day may be acceptable and so on.

I have a rule of thumb and that is if the customer service stinks then it will follow that the program will eventually stink, if they cannot respond in a polite, helpful and timely manner to the very people that will drive registrations to them then how do you think they will respond to you in time of problems.

If you get a good helpful response in a timely manner BEFORE you sign up it will give you an indication of how their back office operates, how efficient they are, how organised and responsive they are.

If you get a canned response after an indecent amount of time that should give you a good indication of what sort of program they really are.

There are some that i will not use at all because they failed at the very first hurdle with rubbish customer service.

[TheShortStack]

I couldn't agree more with you - if the communication isn't there when presumably casinos/networks are looking to sell themselves to you, why should it get any better once they've got you on board?

It's particularly relevant for me at the moment. I sent a few emails off to around 8 or 10 different casinos just over a week ago ... and only heard back from 2 (Thanks Bet365 & Greg!).

It's honestly like trying to get blood from a stone. I sent a second email out to the rest of them yesterday and still haven't had a response. Those of you who know me from PAL will probably I've always been irritated by programs that don't communicate properly about upcoming promotions ... but this is taking things another whole stage further!

[AffiliatesBPO.Com]

Very valid points especially when you are promoting seasonal events in Sports which give traffic spikes and you want your affiliate manager to be on your side for any help.

[Adamvv]

Your affiliate manager should be on top of his/her emails and inquiries from affiliates because in essence it is a partnership that requires careful building and nurturing to help garner the best possible results - for both sides.

I too believe that especially in regards to seasonal promotions and events, if an affiliate manager does not respond in a timely manner, there is a lack of professionalism and ultimately respect.

If they are too busy to respond, then at the very least, a message regarding their inability to respond right away would suffice for the short-term, however if this becomes a trend then I would look at disregarding the partnership altogether.

Fluid communication is the base of a solid relationship.

[faststeady]

im more concered with dodgy tracking, which i see at alot of places when i test their programs

alot of them skim the turnover before it hits your stats , so first thing you should do before promoting is test bet , track and turnover...once you do that , you'll see what i mean