One measure of the Forex industry’s sustained growth and evolution is that iFX Expo International, the world’s largest financial B2B expo, has organised more than 10 events since May 2012. An industry that shares a similar trajectory, necessitating its own commitment to progress, is affiliate marketing.
Although commonly associated with high-end global retailers, hospitality, and iGaming, affiliate marketing has been gaining traction in the forex market for years. And while forex tends to be more exclusive than other sectors, the primary objective of increasing customer acquisitions to achieve sustainable growth serves as a unifying theme.
The forex market already provides an appealing opportunity for new market entrants and incumbents, generating more than $5 trillion in turnover every month. However, as is the case with any brand-building initiative, successful affiliate marketing relies on leveraging unique selling points (USPs) more likely to attract new traders.
Whether it is offering competitive spreads, different platforms to meet different trading styles, strict security guidelines or highlighting industry accolades, affiliates can use these details to widely promote a brand and bolster trader acquisitions.
When considering the benefits of affiliate marketing, it’s important that forex brokers also evaluate their existing marketing mix to have a clear understanding of how they envision it fitting into their current strategy. Affiliates are themselves expert marketers across a range of channels, including mobile, paid and organic search, social media, and email.
This makes them not just advertisers but also astute business partners that can help advance marketing strategies through actionable insights.
Building affiliate relationships
Making the most of these affiliate relationships requires that brokers effectively address the selling points that will entice them to enter a partnership in the first place. These include making it easy for affiliates to understand brand USPs, offering reliable programme support, providing clear terms and conditions and, perhaps most importantly, offering a fair commission model through which affiliates can generate revenue.
While all brands should conduct research when determining appropriate models, it’s not uncommon to see cost-per-acquisition (CPA) deals ranging from $500 to $800, depending on performance.
Affiliates can account for upwards of 30 percent of new customer acquisitions and are a cost-effective channel for businesses to leverage. We have partnered with forex brokers that have seen the direct benefits of launching a branded affiliate programme, particularly when comparing commission payouts with net revenue totals.
Customers acquired by the top third of programme affiliates can account for over 90 percent of net revenue generated, which itself can be more than six times as high as the commissions paid out per customer.
A key factor for attracting and running a successful affiliate programme is timely and flexible Payments of referral commissions. Focusing on reliability and choice, many affiliates expect programmes to offer wire transfer, online bank transfer and credit cards as available options. The inclusion of digital wallets, such as Paysafe’s Skrill and NETELLER, will also highlight payment flexibility.
Typically used as a long-term strategy, brands have seen consistent growth through the affiliate channel, sometimes as much as a 200 percent increase from the previous year, across key metrics. These include: trade volume, depositing accounts, new account acquisitions, overall deposits, etc. With this kind of opportunity and proven ROI, it seems only a matter of time before more forex brokers expand their marketing initiatives to include affiliate marketing.
To learn more about affiliate marketing, please attend our Paysafe speaking spot at iFX Expo International on May 23rd from 10:00am - 10:30am in the Workshop Room. Our discussion topic will be: How to benefit from an affiliate programme to increase your acquisitions and maximise your revenues. The Paysafe team will also be available at booth 37 for the duration of the Expo.
About Sarafina Wolde Gabriel, Income Access
Sarafina Wolde Gabriel is VP of Strategy at Paysafe’s Income Access, the marketing technology and services company founded in 2002. She focuses on growing Income Access and driving the evolution of the company's suite of products and services and has over a decade of digital marketing experience.
The company’s marketing platform is used by multiple forex brands, including ETX Capital and GAIN Capital, with the latter launching their Income Access-powered affiliate programme in May 2017. Contact Sarafina via Sarafina.Wolde-Gabriel@paysafe.com
Disclaimer: The content of this article is sponsored and does not represent the opinions of Finance Magnates
