The dating vertical is a solid pick for affiliates of all calibers. The demand persists, the entry point is relatively low, and the reward is promising. However, before rushing blindfolded, it’s best to do research and look for the best approaches before actually launching a campaign.
In this article, we’ve compiled some of the best tips for dating vertical in 2024. To make sure we’re on the same page, we’ll go through the basics of dating as well: prospects, sub-niches, and a plethora of tools.
Are you ready to serve as heaven making some perfect matches?
Dating Vertical Enjoys Stable Demand
Designed to reunite loners, dating remains an evergreen vertical worldwide. Every fourth person feels lonely. As of February 1, 2024, that’s 2+ billion people looking for their soulmates. No pandemics, crises, or cataclysms can cease the human need to love and be loved. Whether a user searches for a long-term commitment or a one-night stand — dating is the ultimate answer.
Mainstream dating is a whitehat niche, where users look for stable relationships. This niche is moderation-friendly and requires no cloaking. Compared to the adult alternative, the payouts for mainstream dating offers are higher. Tier-1 countries are a popular pick for these offers: the USA 🇺🇲, United Kingdom 🇬🇧, France 🇫🇷, Germany 🇩🇪, and Canada 🇨🇦.
Adult dating is a less ethical niche. It is designed for adventurers, willing to get everything here and now. Adult dating might be a bit easier to start with, but it’s a grayhat territory — it requires questionable practices, like cloaking. Remember, RollerAds doesn’t work with any form of adult traffic and provides this information for general understanding only.
Dating vertical is a popular pick among both seasoned and aspiring affiliates for a couple of reasons:
- Easy to start with
- Pre-engaged audience
- Simple formats like Push notifications and OnClicks convert well
- Stable conversion rate throughout the year
- Relatively simple funnels
Converting dating offers is easier with a trustworthy partner. At RollerAds, we look 24/7 for new ways to boost your revenue, because we win only when you’re in profit. Our job is to maximize your income, so we’d like to share a couple of our insights on the dating vertical.
Targeting Suggestions
More than 40% of the population feels lonely in Brazil 🇧🇷, Turkey 🇹🇷, India 🇮🇳, Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦, Italy 🇮🇹, and South Africa 🇿🇦. These GEOs might be a solid alternative to highly competitive Tier-1 countries. However, English is not a native language for the majority of these countries. Remember that when trying to mimic a local girl inviting the end user for a date.
Local culture is paramount. Learn more about local customs, habits, and regulations. Islamic countries might have some strict rules regarding female attire and behavior. But even if the GEO of your choice doesn’t restrict certain behaviors, it is good to know the behavioral expectations. Use the Country Comparison Tool or read Wikipedia to get a basic idea about potential GEO.
Men and women feel equally lonely. Mainstream dating appeals to all genders, the unorthodox ones included. However, the LGBTQ+ audience might be a bit harder to deal with, because of the specifics of pronouns.
Younger people feel lonely more often. A quarter of young adults (19–29 y.o.) report feeling fairly or very lonely. This is your chance to win their favor by offering a solution to their problem. This audience is better suited for simple target actions like SOI or DOI.
Elders are more likely to pay for a dating platform. In the USA, people with the age of 30 and older tend to spend on dating apps more. This market is better suited for CPS and RevShare payout models.
Pay attention to the device used and keywords searched. Use Google Trends to see which topics are on the rise to plan your campaigns better. Next, remember about working hours and days off: people are more likely to search for their crushes in the evening. At work, they are more likely to use mobile phones discretely, instead of office desktops.
Separate mobile from desktop campaigns. These campaigns tend to perform differently. It’s easier to optimize them separately.
Campaign Preparation
For starters, pick Tier-3 GEOs. They enjoy milder competition and are budget-friendly. That’s why Tier-3 GEOs are also better for small budgets.
Make sure V-Day is celebrated in your GEO. For example, in Saudi Arabia selling any roses and anything red on V-Day is prohibited.
Talk to your manager when picking an offer. It’s best to choose GEO by traffic volume, not just payout rates. Consult your manager in an affiliate network to learn about the specifics of the offer and which GEO it is suitable for.
Take into account major calendar events. Sales, holidays, special events, phone presentations — these events might affect any niche, including dating. Aligning your campaigns with these events is a good way to summon additional emotions on the user’s part.
Aim for an average bid rate for a certain GEO. Unless your manager tells you otherwise, it’s best to stick to the middle of the road in terms of bids. Later down the road, you can increase the bid size for the most converting sources and decrease it for outsiders. Make sure to monitor your win rate closely.
Use spy tools & Creatives library. This is RollerAds’ special feature, designed for monitoring the creatives online. When using our platform, your creatives won’t be shown to fellow advertisers.
Capitalize on Push notifications. They are relatively easy to set up, hard to miss, and boast some of the lowest CPC starting at $0.005. They are immune to ad blindness, especially when the creative matches the audience’s taste, simple, and direct.
Try out OnClicks. Thanks to the sheer number of users reached, PopUnders can deliver surprisingly good results. They are not as neat as Push notifications, but they get the job done,
Reserve at least $100 for a campaign. Sometimes you can get away with $5, other times you’ll need $300 to test various approaches. However, $100 is a comfortable minimum to begin with, especially when working with Push notifications or OnClicks.
Add exceptions and maintain blacklists. iOS and macOS hide Push notifications by default. Such browsers as Safari and Blackberry are infamous for bot traffic. Exclude them to keep your advertising budget intact.
Remember about frequency capping. For your budget to be safe from click stealing, the optimal ratio is 1–24, i.e., 1 click per 24 hours.
A/B test your campaigns. For the results to be statistically significant, you need to achieve somewhat 1,000–1,500 clicks. It’s not much, considering the average CPC of Push notifications.
Landers and Creatives Suggestions
Optimize landers for mobile devices. The same creative looks different on mobile phones and desktops. Remember, more than half of all the traffic worldwide belongs to mobile phones. Looking for a match is also faster and more convenient on a mobile phone.
The best approaches are plain and simple. “Hello, handsome. I’d love to get to know you”, “Your match is 1 km away…”, or mimic Tinder and other dating apps as if the platform notifies the user. The user might genuinely expect somebody to react to their Tinder profile.
SUPER LIKE. Speaking of Tinder, there is a feature, which enables one to show extra attention to someone. If you manage to implement a Super Like in your creatives, the receiver is more likely to interact with your ad. Just make sure not to be too aggressive.
Landers can be diverse. You can try making a quiz with a bunch of questions regarding preferences, age, and gender, or you can go for a single-button lander. Quiz-based landers tend to have high-quality leads, since the users take their time to fill in the form.
Local beauties are a must. Preferences differ, based on nationality. It is important to know who prefers big sizes and who is into delicate shapes. Use spy tools to see which creatives enjoy the highest conversion for a certain GEO. Whichever creative you use, try to make it intriguing, not invasive.
Focus on average people instead of models. Local stars can serve as a source of inspiration, but you are selling a product to ordinary people — peers and fellows just resonate better and look more plausible.
Analyze the results and optimize your campaign. The key metric to observe is CTR, concerning both creatives and landers. Turn off the least converting ones ASAP.
Capitalize on the most successful creatives. Duplicate top performers and add slight changes to increase your campaign CR and earnings.
Text suggestions
Write dedicated texts to every audience segment. While it might be tempting to copy-paste the same text over and over again, it just won’t work. Seniors and youngsters communicate using different tongues.
Look for the most popular language. This is particularly the case in multilingual countries like India. While English is widely spread, it is not the most popular language in every part of the world. Make sure to learn the local linguistic preferences and adapt to them using a translator.
😉 Add emojis and emoticons. People seem to like this stuff, especially when feeling playful. To mimic the person willing to make an acquaintance, add some smiles here and there.
Conclusion
Professional and aspiring affiliates pick the dating vertical thanks to its relative simplicity. This makes the vertical somewhat competitive. But thanks to persisting demand, the vertical keeps on converting around the globe. Think about it, people predominantly want to find their better half but are not always able to do so.
It’s a perfect chance for you to step into the game. Global digitalization makes it easier for people to connect online. By guiding the users toward one another, you can solve their problem, which is the key to commitment, retention, and profit.
Just do your homework and research the audience before making your move. For the ads to resonate with the audience, they gotta speak their language and have a natural feel to it. Don’t worry though if you have no idea where to start. RollerAds’ specialists are here to assist you, so drop a line if needed.
