Attract First, then Find Balance: Can Advertisers and Webmasters Find Common Ground? First Part of the Interview with Ilya, CCO of Trafee

"Affiliate networks are a rollercoaster ride. They promise one thing, but deliver another," say mediabuyers on forums like GPWA. "We discussed it all; the traffic doesn't meet KPIs, and multi-accounting is strictly prohibited," reply the affiliate network representatives. Agreeably, being in such a situation is unbearable. Yet, preventing it daily is even tougher: negotiating with all parties so that everyone's happy. But, as always, it's the affiliate network's job.

An affiliate network is also a business. Partners aren't just about keeping them happy and resolving issues — they also need to be attracted: with exclusive offers, high rates, and unique opportunities — like a smart link with 4000 offers based on AI.

Ilya, Trafee's CCO (Chief Commercial Officer), shared insights into how they manage their network and handle traffic disputes. In the interview, he talks about the intricacies of affiliate network management, attracting webmasters and advertisers, integrating AI, and even shares a case where Trafee paid webmasters $10 000 of its funds instead of relying on an accusing ad fraud.

The interview was comprehensive, so we divided the article into two parts:

"I spent a month in support, at the front lines, handling requests from Bangladeshis and listening to their problems," transitioning from offline business to online.

Hi! Please tell us about yourself: how did you become CCO, what's it like working in affiliate marketing, and what are some setbacks and achievements along the way?

I'm relatively new to the industry — just over two years. Before this, I had extensive offline experience managing businesses: co-owning a construction company and a small retail chain. I have a management degree from an economic university and have worked in this field my entire life.

I stumbled into affiliate marketing by chance — 2.5 years ago, I got interested in the topic, and it turned out one of my friends was directly involved in affiliate marketing. I asked him to help me understand what it was all about. That's when I started in the affiliate network support and spent a month there — to grasp how everything worked. When I tried to research information from different websites, the topic still felt like a "dark forest" to me. I spent a month in support, at the front lines, handling requests from Bangladeshis and listening to their problems. Later, I was offered to head the support department and, after several months of modernization, became CCO in the company.

I haven't had significant setbacks, probably because of my offline sector experience, which I applied online.

Tell us about your workday — what tasks do you handle yourself, which ones do you delegate? Do you stick to a strict schedule or go with the flow?

I'd like to say I wake up at 6 am, go for a run, then hit the pool and have morning coffee. But no, that's definitely not me. There's coffee, but I'm not a fan of regimented workdays.

I can be at my computer at 5:00 am, diving into analytics, or at 3:00 pm, working on my tasks. Either way, my schedule depends on the tasks I set for the day or week. I have my standard algorithms: every day I check my email and review overnight and yesterday's analytics. Our main GEO is the USA, and Americans wake up in a different time zone, so most of our traffic comes when we're almost asleep. There are lengthy conference calls every day — we have employees from different countries, and all of our work is remote. I communicate daily with the sales department, weekly with marketers and developers.

As for delegation and operations — I don't believe anyone can completely step away from operations at any level. Any manager will be present in operations, no matter what others say. My tasks include sales strategy and developing commercial channels, but understanding and delving into problems is unavoidable.

Without figuring out our client's problems, you can't build a good product — you won't understand what they need. Without understanding, you can't make the right decisions at any level.

Additionally, I train staff and conduct anti-fraud analysis of our largest webmasters.

I won't say I delve into everything directly. There are KPIs for employees that regulate their actions and decision-making, but I always stay in the spotlight.

Classical offline business and affiliate marketing: what's the common ground?

 Are there differences in managing people online and offline? Has your old experience been useful in the new field?

My offline experience has been quite useful. I believe having marketing or economic skills is crucial for this kind of work — they are universal and applicable in both online and offline environments.

We had such an experience: we used to open offline stores and analyze the funnel — you stand at a point in the shopping center and count how many people pass by. Let's say, out of 1000 passers-by, 100 enter — that's the first stage of the funnel. Then you take statistics and find out that out of those 100, let's say, 10 make a purchase — that's the next stage of the funnel. And that's how you get a total conversion from 1000 to 10 buyers. Then you factor in seasonality, weekdays, and weekends, and based on this data, you arrive at a figure.

The online funnel is built similarly, except you don't need to sit and count with a calculator — there are other tools available that allow for quicker analysis with fewer costs.

But overall, you just need to know the basics.

Are there any solutions and approaches from classical business that are currently needed in our market? What aspects from classical business are you implementing into your affiliate network?

I'm not a fan of taking someone's idea and applying it to myself. I think that's not quite the right approach, and I prefer to make decisions based on numbers. When there's a substantial sample on which you can base a reasonable forecast, then I'll make such a decision.

Regarding team interactions — in our sales department, we have a classic scheme from affiliate marketing where senior managers grow from juniors and consistently manage the same clients.

We've implemented a division: there should be hunters, farmers, closers — those who close deals, and at the “top”, there could be seniors handling top trusted clients.

The right approach, in my opinion, is breaking down big tasks into smaller ones. Firstly, it's easier to control, even using an offline approach. Secondly, it simplifies the manager's job since their responsibilities become more focused. This way, not only does customer satisfaction increase but also the productivity on the affiliate manager's side.

I won't hide it: we do pick up some things from other affiliate networks and then apply them ourselves, but we never introduce anything radical.

About KPIs for affiliate managers—is there something comparable to this from offline business?

The idea of KPIs didn't initially receive support in our team, but then it turned out that things started to work for us. I won't reveal all the details, but our chat response time is about an hour. And this is despite Trafee having tens of thousands of webmasters and only 4 managers.

Of course, we have a smartlink that does a ton of work for managers, but the implementation of KPIs has also played its role.

"When you can't pay him because the ad doesn't give money for such traffic" — on the challenges of affiliate network’s work, market competition, and handling exclusive offers

Affiliate network — where ad requests and webmasters come together. Everyone aims to maximize their profits. Is it possible to satisfy both sides, or is it just a dream? How can we make this happen?

If that happens, I'll personally stand up and applaud. Working in an affiliate network is a skill where you need to sit on two chairs simultaneously: pleasing the advertiser with traffic and not disappointing webmasters with rates. We tackle this issue daily.

Webmasters think we do nothing — grab their traffic, deliver ads, sell, get money, and even make some extra on top. In reality, what an affiliate considers good traffic isn't always seen as great by the advertiser. For the advertiser, quality traffic is what drives sales, regardless of its source.

If it drives sales, it'll have excellent rates, and everyone will want to keep such an affiliate interested.

The affiliate, on the other hand, sees their strengths, costs, traffic volume, and we as an affiliate network, say to them:

"Listen, your traffic is not that great!" They reply, 'Why do you say so?' I need an EPM of at least 240 for Germany here!"

But it's impossible to give them that — their traffic simply doesn't sell. Finding a middle ground is challenging: you're criticized for not fairly paying for work, but you can't pay because the advertiser doesn't pay you for that traffic.

Why is there such high turnover among webmasters? They're constantly searching for new companies that can appreciate their efforts.

We're interested in quality traffic and long-term relationships, but they must be mutually beneficial. Some webmasters don't see or don't want to understand this, but we constantly try to convey it. It's a complex and lengthy process based on trust.

Affiliate managers are often criticized. How does the market address the issue of inexperienced affiliate managers?

Human resources are always one of the most challenging topics, not only in affiliate marketing. Unfortunately, finding a competent affiliate manager from the start is a quest. Educating them is another challenge. And it's also necessary to motivate them to perform well from time to time. We often encounter such issues ourselves, which have many reasons — from qualifications to simple burnout. A manager is also a person, just like all of us. But there's always another side to the story: our client might also be in a bad mood, which can come through in their messages to the manager.

Returning to the question: we work with managers, but the most critical factor is their KPIs. If KPIs are set correctly, it should maintain their motivation.

Also, in our affiliate network, there are levels of communication with webmasters: there is support, and then there is registration. Support handles quick solutions, while the affiliate manager is closer to a success manager who seeks solutions. As it turns out, this division works — initially, webmasters didn't understand why we asked for their statistics from other affiliate networks, but when they saw that we genuinely help them and it leads to increased income, their attitude changed significantly.

What payment model do you use more often? How do you feel about RevShare in gambling?

We've had RevShare in dating from the very beginning, but we only added it to gambling offers a year ago. We tested it, tried running campaigns on it, and even saw results. However, because our focus is slightly different and we need to quickly verify the performance of offers and specific pre-landings, we primarily work on a CPA basis.

Personally, I prefer the CPA model, especially since we have our own media buying team. We not only attract webmasters but also test GEOs and offers in gambling ourselves. We mainly operate on FB and use the CPA model.

We tried to work on the PPC model but encountered a huge amount of fraud, with many registrations from the same IP addresses or through VPNs to quickly earn money for clicks and then disappear. Of course, we abandoned this venture.

Have other affiliate networks ever tried to lure away your good affiliate marketing team? How strong is the competition among affiliate networks in the market, and how do you handle it?

There is competition, and it's fierce — affiliate networks are popping up like mushrooms. Any affiliate who has experience earning on their own, can rent servers and trackers, call themselves an affiliate network, and start attracting webmasters. Typically, such affiliate networks don't last long, but they flood the media for a while.

We maintain our own set of affiliate networks which we analyze to shape our market strategy. Sometimes, we even borrow ideas from them. We know that webmasters sometimes leave us to drive traffic on other affiliate networks — this is completely normal, and it forms the basis of our affiliate cooperation strategy. We attract and try to retain webmasters with a quality product, excellent service, and good offers — these are the three components of success.

It's no secret that many webmasters split test, A/B testing is still relevant in our field. It's important to constantly monitor traffic to see if there are signs of volume decrease from a large team — we find out the reason. Usually, they tell us that the other affiliate network did better. There may be many reasons for this, including those beyond our control. If we can't immediately reach an agreement with them, we wait for some time, and webmasters return to us on their own.

How do you attract webmasters and advertisers to your network? How to do it effectively?

Great question! If I had a straightforward answer, we would be recording this interview somewhere on the islands, sitting in a bungalow and sipping something delicious :)

We try to use a comprehensive approach. Some go into major media, hiring attractive women for the job. I don't approve of this approach, but competition forces us to find new ways. Old approaches are tiresome, and many affiliate network owners follow the market leaders, who in turn must find new solutions.

Our service is important to us — we're in an environment where decisions need to be made in hours or even minutes. Removing and switching traffic to another affiliate network is effortless; it's done in two clicks. Therefore, prompt support is crucial, especially when dealing with trusted major partners.

Returning to the marketing theme — you must constantly be visible so that people don't forget about you. And making the right product is primary.

How do exclusive offers appear in your affiliate network? How to establish such a relationship with advertisers, and how do you determine which partner can be trusted with this offer?

We've been on the market for six years, and we've only been working with exclusive offers for the past two years. We currently have about 20 of them, and not all of them are publicly released. This is a lengthy process involving coordination with the advertiser and internal testing. When I see a recently appeared network shouting that they have exclusives, it means either the advertiser leaked their unsuccessful campaign to this affiliate network, or the network is blatantly lying.

Launching an exclusive offer means taking on a significant financial risk. The average payback period for any company is a year. In general terms, it works like this: you take an exclusive offer, and all expenses on it remain with you. We still haven't made a profit on many of our exclusive offers. They work, we offer them, but we change the target, we change the webmasters to whom we give them. We adapt our strategy: sometimes we use our smartlink, other times we directly drive traffic to them. We test different sources on them, and even after that, we haven't achieved a net profit on all exclusive offers. It's a very long and expensive process.

If an affiliate network has an honest exclusive offer, it speaks to its reliability. At the very least, the advertiser trusts them, and they are financially stable enough to keep this campaign in the red for a year.