Betting Ad Business: Using Epom DSP to Increase CR by 34%

Betting Ad Business used Epom WL DSP to improve their CR, decrease CCR, eCPC, and reduce unnecessary ad spending.

In this case study, we’re showing how Epom’s strategic use of retargeting and bidding rules resulted in 34% higher CR, 28% decreased CCR, 21% decreased eCPC, and, as a bonus, decreased ad spend by 16%.

Betting Ad Business (name under NDA) is a young Indian company that deals in sportsbook gambling. Their custom ad templates, along with creative marketing, have helped them to have a great start even in this competitive sphere.

However, that wasn’t enough to meet the expectations and pay off the initial investments. What’s worse, the company’s previous DSP provider was severely limiting their growth and even had cases of fraudulent traffic in the ad campaigns.

Epom had a lot to figure out when the company decided to work with us, so we started right off.

Part 1: Appointment at Dr. Epom

The first thing we had to do was to create a clear list of problems plaguing our client.

• Ineffective Bidding Strategy

Low conversions are a common problem in the betting industry, no matter the size of the business, but the reasons for it vary from patient to patient. We needed to come up with a different bidding strategy to resolve the issue.

• High Churn Rates

The bidding strategy wasn’t good enough to acquire enough new customers. As a result, the company had a negative dynamic where new clients didn’t appear, and the old ones simply left while the company was trying to figure out better ways of acquisition.

• Security Concerns

Part of the reason why dealing in the betting industry is so tough is fraud. People’s funds placed on bets become a sweet pie for hackers, which try to breach security in any way possible, including advertising.

The problems were significant but not impossible to solve, so we got to work.

Part 2: Curing the Disease

Epom’s team decided to split the process into two consecutive actions. One would only be effective after the other.

Step # 1. Healing with Strategic Retargeting

A complete change of retargeting strategy was required to get the results we wanted. That’s why we decided to target Indian users with Push and Popunder ad formats. We used three tools (bidding rules, retargeting pixels, and precise targeting settings) and divided the campaign into three layers. Here’s how it worked:

Step # 1.1 Retargeting Pixel Activation

A retargeting pixel tracked user activity on landing pages. Users who showed interest in betting but didn’t register were marked for retargeting. Once we had that info, we could segment the audiences into groups of high and low intent.

Step # 1.2 Launching Three Campaigns

Now we could create three campaigns covering different purposes and user groups:

• Campaign A. Broad Reach

The dynamic rules are set up to decrease the bids if the conversion rate is low and increase the bid if it’s high. However, the maximum multiplier is only 2x, so we don’t overspend.

The campaign was flexible enough to ensure stable CR growth by allocating budgets to the most responsive users.

• Campaign C. High-Bid Testing

This campaign operated at a 30% higher bid compared to the average bid of Campaign A. The focus was the users marked by the retargeting pixel.

This resulted in even higher CRs than campaign A due to the use of complex set-up targeting. Also, we’ve managed to get the customers who would otherwise forget about the product.

• Campaign C. High-Bid Testing

New users – high bids. We used aggressive rules to target new users with the highest bids the client could afford.

To not waste money in vain, we set up an exposure time multiplier. Basically, if the conversion didn’t occur, the bids would be dynamically lowered. As a result, we reduced eCPC, optimized the budgets, and improved new user acquisition.

Strengthening the Organism with Custom Fraud Protection

We had an optimized workflow that brought good results; now, we needed to protect it from the nasty hands of hackers. The fact that Epom supplies protected traffic was not enough for our clients, so we had to come up with more drastic measures.

The client established a partnership with a third-party checker. From there, it was quite easy: we integrated this checker’s software into our API. Every time our client launched an ad campaign, they activated the security service, which ensured the high quality of traffic.

Part 3: Healthy Results

The set of measures didn’t take long to show the results.

• Increase in CR: The three-layered campaign setup has leveled up the game significantly. By hitting the spot with retargeting and heavily emphasizing new users, we’ve received a conversion rate higher by 34%.
• Decrease in CCR: Instead of chasing two hares at the same time, our client could finally focus on retaining the existing audience. This change of strategy resulted in a 28% lower CCR.
• Decrease in Ad Spending: With our campaign setup, we’ve tried to manage the client’s resources as best as possible without overspending too much. As a result, the ad spending decreased by 16%.
• Decrease in eCPC: The 21% lower eCPC is the result of all the measures above. The campaigns now run smoothly and don’t leak budgets.

On top of that, we’ve ensured our client’s security. It’s difficult to trace in numbers, but it’s as important, nonetheless.

Part 4. Case Closure

We’ve helped the betting ad business to solve the issues and now the company only keeps getting better and attracting more customers. We actively support them along the way.

What do you make of this case?

• Sometimes, an extra mile is required to achieve long-term results;
• Growth is not only about the money but about the strategy;
• It’s possible to grow even if you’re new to a highly competitive market.