4 Factors Hampering FX Affiliates in Russia

This article was written by Alexander Koshkin, Head of Affiliates at Alpari.

Affiliate marketing in the Russian FX market stands apart and is not an integral part of the marketing community and ecosystem.

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Only a year ago I noticed a trend that could change the situation — more and more transparent information on rates and conditions is available, more affiliate managers speak at marketing events and discuss common issues with fellow affilliate managers. The total number of affiliate marketing queries has grown by 1.5 times in 2016 comparing to 2015, according to Yandex Wordstat.

The isolation of the affiliate marketing in the FX industry has its origins. Let’s talk about some of them.

1. Brokers' high risks

Any FX broker sooner or later faces fraudulent activity where the broker or a trader can be the target. There are dozens of different fraud types ranging from simple auto referral traders to highly technological entities who use broker’s technological drawbacks. An affiliate program maximizes the risks and makes the whole system more vulnerable to potential fraudsters resulting in reduced transparency of FX affiliate program.

2. High-security standards

FX brokers take the utmost care to protect the data and personal info of clients. In our digital age brokers have tons of data including trading history, deposits, profit, and losses. It’s no trivial task taking proper care of this data. So FX brokers create their own secure ecosystems, including all the software for affiliates programs in-house.

As a result, affiliate managers in FX don’t use the same tools as their fellow marketers in other industries (e-commerce, dating, etc.). So they have fewer common topics/problems to discuss.

3. Negative image of FX market

Despite all legislative and regulation efforts, the FX industry is largely perceived as a non-safe and risky environment. HYIPs and fraudsters that come and go every day make the situation worse. It also hinders the creation of unique and transparent standards for affiliates and FX companies.

4. Emphasis on IBs

From the moment when Russian FX brokers created the first partnership programs, the focus was on Introducing Brokers (IBs). This type of offer was closely tied to those working in the industry and has little connection with internet marketing. The result — even more isolation of FX affiliate programs.

Nevertheless, there has been some positive news in Russian FX affiliate marketing lately.

We are witnessing more intense cooperation between FX affiliate managers, who exchange best practices and share high standards of affiliate support. Conditions and rates are more transparent now and we can see a real breakthrough in terms of Analytics and reporting for affiliates.

Lots of FX brokers interact with major CPA-networks which leads to more open and clear reward models and gives affiliate managers an opportunity to interact with their colleagues from other industries.