Gijs de Jager, CCO of OrangeBuddies Media BV, joins the latest series of affiliate interviews on Affiliate Grand Slam

Gijs de Jager and his team at OrangeBuddies are strong in email marketing thanks to their strong open rate, strong click rate, and low bounce rate – follow his story below.

How did OrangeBuddies take off? Is iGaming the only vertical? Tell us a bit more about your business model.

OrangeBuddies is the biggest cashback publisher in Europe. iGaming, in some countries, is a very important vertical. As cashback publishers we are promoting many different verticals to make the best deals for our members.

Email marketing was strong some ten years ago, however affiliates seem to have sold databases to each other multiple times. This coupled with the fact that with today’s spam traps and Google’s increased spam detection mechanisms, conversions with email marketing plummeted. Why do you still bother with email marketing?

At OrangeBuddies we are very strong in email marketing which is an important channel to reach our members. Our members are loyal to us, and with a very strong open rate and click rate we are able to inbox with a low bounce rate, which keeps us strong in email marketing.

GDPR was recently introduced. How has this affected email marketing across Europe?

The introduction of the GDPR has less influence on our business, because all our member databases are double opt-in (DOI).

Is email marketing still strong in areas where GDPR laws are not as rigorous? Which locations would you rate most favourable for conversions in casino traffic?

OrangeBuddies is active in Europe and the GDPR is a European Law. ATM, we are very strong in the UK market. Also, we are waiting for the license system in the Netherlands and in Germany to push Casino offers in these two strong countries.

Plain text email or a mix of nicely designed images? What converts best? Do you even bother with COLOUR SS, design of action buttons?

For most of the newsletters we use a 500*500 banner, with of course a good call to action and incentive for our members. Sometimes we are also using HTML delivered by our advertisers.

Fresh leads vs legacy data. What’s the difference? Should one bother acquiring double opt in, permission legacy data? Tell us a bit what’s the difference in conversion?

Our experience is that fresh leads are working the best; the leads we are buying are all fresh and double opt-in (DOI) before they become members of our websites.

What measures do you take to prevent emails going to spam? What makes your ESP unique?

We developed our own delivery system over the last 10 years. We have a lot of own IP’s and we are monitoring our deliverability on a daily basis. Our technical team is doing a great job for us.

How important is it to have a clean server? Would you encourage affiliates to keep their ESP away from the hosting of the site itself?

If email marketing is your core business and you have the possibility to build your own email delivery system, go for it. Email inboxing is becoming more and more difficult these days, it’s worth to invest in your own email delivery system.

Do you provide cleaning of databases in order for email marketing affiliates to avoid spam traps?

We don’t provide cleaning of databases; this is not our core business and there are no plans to expand in this direction.

Which qualities and skills are essential in an email marketing business?

There are many factors to make your email campaign successful, like the banner, incentive, deliverability, sender and subject line to generate opens, time of the send out, and, for example, A/B testing. What works for brand A might not work for brand B. So, we also recommend testing several options.

Which markets are you eyeing up as a priority and why? Do you see any potential in the emerging markets?

Right now, to be able to focus, we are active in 13 different countries. Last year, we were active in 18 different countries and we closed some of them to have the right focus. In iGaming, UK and DE are our top countries and we hope that by next year we add the Netherlands when the new license system is live.

What sets you apart from other affiliates?

We are a cashback publisher, which means we have a connection with our database members. If our database members are happy, we are happy; we are always trying to make the best deals for our members.

How does technology play a part in your day-to-day?

Technology is very important these days, the development is going fast; it is always good to monitor the trends in technology.

Which emerging technologies like AI and big data will impact the affiliate industry in 2021 and beyond?

We, as OrangeBuddies, will improve the retargeting campaigns, also we want to increase the speed of our websites and we are constantly improving the deliverability of our newsletters.

What can operators do to increase support with email marketers? Do communication and support with operators meet your expectations? How do you manage your relationship with them?

Relation management is the key to success! We are in very good contact with our advertisers to get the best results for both parties.

Have you ever been to SiGMA? SiGMA Europe, Africa, Asia, or Americas – which of these four expo shows would you likely book on your diary for 2021, COVID-19 permitting?

Last year (2019) was our first time at SiGMA Malta which we enjoyed a lot and it is again on our tradeshow calendar for next year.

Tell us a bit about yourself – after all, business is done with people, not just companies! Your hobbies, favourite book, favourite quote, whether you are into Gaming yourself, etc.

My work is my hobby. Next to that, I like doing sports, like CrossFit, road cycling, and mountain biking. I always enjoy a good diner!

About SiGMA College:

The iGaming industry is growing and expanding at a staggering rate. People who entered the market 10 years ago might find themselves lacking in certain areas of knowledge today, that’s why SiGMA College is offering a diploma in gaming! This is an introductory online course, which will be offered completely free of charge to a global audience, and will be aimed at people looking to diversify their knowledge or at people looking to enter the industry for the first time. Should you have any questions or queries, please do not hesitate to contact Emily Micallef.