Why Do I Have Zero Conversions?

[Golden Goose]

This question comes to the mind when you, well, run traffic and see zero conversions. Given the fact that mVAS offers have their own unique characteristics, it’s not always easy to get all the elements of a campaign right.

But affiliates are not alone. As a network, we also have a vested interest in the success of our partners, and we want you to have the right answers at your fingertips.

And unlike many other «X Affiliate Mistakes» pieces that are vague and not very useful, we will give you actual tips relevant to our platform. So here’s a list of things that can go wrong and render your efforts futile.

1. Unsupported GEOs​

A rookie mistake, but we have to start somewhere. Most of the offers at Golden Goose are GEO-specific, and some GEOs are simply not represented (e.g. US or Japan). You wouldn’t believe how many affiliates fell to the bottom of this pit, having worked with their usual traffic sources. In fact, running traffic from an unsupported GEO is so common that it made it to the top of the list. Not that we’re ranking the mistakes here, but still.

2. Wrong Mobile Carriers​

This one is a bit more tricky than knowing your way around mere 200 colored stripe variations, as each country can have multiple mobile carriers. So even if you get the GEO right, you have to make sure that the carriers of your traffic source and those of an offer align.

YOU NEED TO BE EXTRA CAREFUL HERE, BECAUSE EVEN IF YOUR TRAFFIC SOURCE MATCHES THE GEO AND CARRIER OF AN OFFER, YOU MAY STILL GET A LOT OF THAT TRAFFIC BACK. GUESS WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU RUN A TRAFFIC SOURCE INTENDED FOR ONE CARRIER IN THAT GEO AND YOUR OFFER WORKS WITH THE OTHER. YUP, NOT A VERY SUCCESSFUL CAMPAIGN.

Luckily, such situations can be resolved with a magical tool called SmartLink. SmartLinks are enabled by default in each custom campaign, or can be launched separately. What they do is filter your traffic source and assign relevant offers, so there would be little to no traffic back. Your payouts might not be what you would’ve expected due to the involvement of algorithmically-chosen offers, but such is the cost of saving your traffic, you’re welcome.

However, your clicks might already be gone to the wrong landing page, and in this case, even a SmartLink won’t be able to turn them into conversions.

3. Offer and Audience Mismatch​

Are you showing education offers to the gamers? First of all, nice try. Second, you won’t make much money that way. Thankfully, on our platform you can easily filter offers by traffic type and topics. Mixing the streams is generally not a good idea, but some combinations might work, and you have the chance to stumble upon a gold mine no one’s ever discovered.

4. Dull Creatives​

Well, sometimes even the dull creatives mysteriously convert like there’s no tomorrow. The key here is to pick the right ones for the available traffic. Don’t rely on your personal taste, do the research, learn about your traffic, improvise, adapt, overcome! Also, nothing wrong with going more trashy than your taste allows. There’s no perfect recipe, only an endless field for the experiments.
BY THE WAY, YOU ARE FREE TO USE OUR CREATIVES THAT COME WITH SOME OF THE OFFERS. THEY HAVE ALREADY PROVEN THEIR EFFECTIVENESS AND HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO LIFT YOUR CONVERSIONS FROM A DEAD END.

5. Wi-Fi vs. Cellular​

Since Golden Goose is an mVAS network, our main focus is mobile devices. The thing is, a mobile device can use both Wi-Fi and cellular connections, and offers follow certain flow types which can be incompatible with one or the other. So if you don’t consider the connection type, whoopsie!
"When running tets, it makes sense to create 2 separate campaigns: WiFi and Cellular. You can expect a higher CR with Cellular traffic due to Direct Carrier Billing (DCB), which allows users to make payments right awat without extra steps."

6. Sensitive GEOs and Carriers​

Some mVAS offers require source and site parameters transferred to them, and return traffic if they are not included. This is most common for the offers in the MENA countries as well as the RU GEO, so always double check your url parameters when working with those. You can verify if an offer requires site parameters on its card.

7. Breaking Offer Requirements​

This is important and can’t be stressed enough: ALWAYS CHECK THE TRAFFIC REQUIREMENTS! They’re all listed in a special tab on the offer card. Don’t even think of slipping in something that is forbidden, it’s not going to work, and you will lose money.

8. Inactive Offer​

This is a rare occurrence, but we decided to highlight it anyway just in case. Technical issues happen, and sometimes an offer that is available on the platform may turn out to be inactive. This can be caused by a desync between the offer’s provider and the network, so if you suspect something like this, message your manager and check if your suspicions are valid.
"Offers can run out of their cap. Golden Goose has a dedicated bot that informs you of any offer malfunctions or updates. It's also possible to set your notice subscriptions to get updates via email."

Download the bot​

One Last Tip​

If there’s some uncertainty, talk to your affiliate manager. It’s near impossible to stay in our business without communication and feedback, so chat with your manager as often as you need, learn from your experience and the conversions will come.