Online dating has been booming pretty much since the moment it was introduced. Now, however, with most of the world still grappling with the new normal introduced as a result of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the dating vertical has entered the stratosphere.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. By all accounts, the increased draw to the dating vertical will continue for the foreseeable future and stands to benefit the entire affiliate industry. Circumstances have only served to intensify an already acute need, and, as an advertiser, all you need to do is to figure out how to cash in on the opportunity.
What you need for a successful dating campaign:
High traffic volume. Traffic is king in affiliate marketing. If you don’t have access to sites with a high traffic volume, you could have the best creatives on the market and still not see many conversions. Some of the highest traffic sites, relevant to the dating vertical, are adult entertainment sites. The premium adult sites have an abundance of users who are a perfect match for your offers.
Understanding of the market. To run a successful campaign in any vertical, you should have an understanding of your target audience - what they are looking for on dating sites, what kind of advertising works best, which formats to use, etc. The more you understand the vertical, the better your chances of launching a successful campaign.
Gripping creatives. Even if you calculate everything related to the dating vertical perfectly and have a clear idea of who you need to reach and where to reach them, failure to use engaging creatives could still mean you won’t get the results you want. You’re going to need texts that get a response from viewers, and you’re going to need eye-catching images to bring those texts to life.
Testing and trialing. Content on the internet is in constant flux, and things are changing all the time. What works one day has no guarantee to work the next. In order to orchestrate a successful dating campaign, it’s crucial to start by testing out the reach and scope of your ads. This can help to identify strengths and weaknesses in consumer connection. Next, you must monitor the performance of your campaigns so you can tweak them to focus on more of what’s working.
Top conversion formats for dating
The top conversion formats for dating are:
- Native
Native ads are designed to blend in seamlessly with the site and the surrounding content. In this vertical, three things are essential; your native ads should have an eye-grabbing creative, engaging caption text and use macros and emojis in the headlines.
- Banners
Banner advertising on mobile and desktop requires a bit more creativity than native. In this ad format, you are dealing with prominent placement, so you want your visuals to be provocative, unique, and engaging. Clear CTAs on banner ads are a must.
- In-page push
In-page push notifications are notifications that pop up while users are on the website. Their design resembles classic push notifications, but they don’t require the user to subscribe to receive them. These notifications are usually sent in a messaging format with a catchy image and work best to create a personal connection.
- Classic push
Classic push notifications are sent to desktop and mobile users regardless of whether they are currently visiting the page or not. Like in-page push, these notifications are most effective when paired with provocative imagery and the promise that someone on the other end wants to connect with the viewer.
Tips
It can’t be stressed enough how important it is to test your campaign in order to measure its effectiveness and determine where your weaknesses and strengths lie. To test a dating campaign we recommend that you start broadly by selecting a site with considerable traffic, like xHamster, and pairing that with a parallel RON (not limited to one site) test campaign.
Using a popular adult ad network such as TrafficStars you can quickly set up a dating campaign and experiment with a wide range of targeting options. Then perform the same steps for your RON campaign. Your native ads, banners, and push ads can be tied to specific user demographics, user material preferences, different advertising models, and geolocations. After experimenting with other ad formats and targeting, you’ll be able to find the most effective strategies and build your campaign around them.
Keys to dating creatives
There are a few battle-tested keys to successful creatives. Generally, a dating creative should:
- Be short and sweet (between 35-45 characters is proven to work best)
- Be personal (content should be tailored to your target audience.)
- Inspire curiosity (play with terms like “secret,” “unbelievable,” “surprising,” etc.)
- Include numbers, lists or figures.
- Not be negative in tone (not including terms like “never,” “worst,” “mistake,” etc.)
- Use playful and suggestive emojis and macros.
Conclusion
The winning formula of high-converting ad formats, plus high-performing traffic sources, and kick-ass creatives, make dating an extremely lucrative vertical.
Once you get familiar with creating your ad campaigns and start to see some conversions using the tips in this article, it’s time to add your own twist.
Experiment with trending dating offers, optimize your ads and try out new traffic sources, and you‘ll be well on your way to creating profitable campaigns in no time at all.
While there is a fair amount of legwork that needs to be done in order to launch a successful dating campaign, it is one of the most profitable and well-performing verticals in the industry.
The guide above will help you in your first steps towards achieving some great results. At TrafficStars, we run campaigns that generate billions of impressions daily and we would be delighted to help you start making a serious impact in the dating vertical.
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