It’s no secret that while affiliate marketing done properly can be a very lucrative sector, but scratch beneath the surface and there is a murky world with very little trust between operators and their affiliates. 

At the heart of this is data. Whether it is shaving or arguments over traffic figures, data plays a key role in the relationship between operators and affiliates – and the deterioration of those relationships. 

Enter ReferOn, an affiliate management provider that provides data to both affiliates and affiliate managers. 

Vlad Bondarenko, Head of Product at ReferOn, noted that affiliates are facing several challenges with data and he placed most of the blame firmly on the door of ‘old fashioned’ providers. 

Speaking to SBC News at SBC Summit 2025, Bondarenko explained: “Affiliates are always struggling with data delays with different reports. If I would like to see the stats for my tracking link, for my source, for my dynamic variable and to get a postback of some of those events and of my performance, it’s almost not possible in some systems. 

“These challenges are quite understandable, but I still don’t understand why they are still there. They should be completely fixed by everyone. Why can’t all those easy requests be fixed at one goal? That’s what we are trying to do at ReferOn.”

These issues are only underlining the fact that there are issues at play when it comes to the dynamics between affiliates and operators. 

Bondarenko noted that both sides have their issues; affiliates are afraid of shaving, stats disappearing and operators are afraid of fraud and wrong traffic. But he wants to position ReferOn as a bridge between both stakeholders to help ease some of those fears and tensions. 

“We should be moving towards data analytics and more business intelligence, so that operators can come to an affiliate and tell them they have wrong traffic or fraudulent traffic. They can offer evidence and numbers too. 

“Affiliates still have lots of power in these situations because they know operators will do what they want as they are the only source of traffic. So affiliates know their price and it is only increasing. It’s a problem because traffic cannot be properly estimated.”

He added: “I know some deals for affiliates which are like €600 CPA, or even €1.5k CPA per player with LTV like €50. Why? In the long run, I believe we will see fully automated affiliate programs supported by AI agents, not as something that happens overnight, but as a long-term direction the industry will gradually move towards.”

Secure and easy-to-use data to the rescue

But rather than merely lamenting issues within the sector, Bondarenko was much more interested in finding solutions. His biggest solution is found in having both easy-to-use and secure data. 

If data is difficult to understand, it is nearly useless in Bondarenko’s view. ReferOn’s platform is designed to be easy to digest and the firm’s Head of Product has a seven second clip that can help clients identify how to use the platform. 

He jokingly said that we are lazy, as people do not want to have to perform lots of clicks just to access reliable data. 

“Why should I spend and waste my time to get this data?” he asked. “I just want to log in and see it. That’s why each part of the system is specifically designed and each workflow is created to get as much data as possible. 

“You can see different gadgets and widgets with different graphs and data points which can indicate, for example, FTD numbers. What is most important for us is to not only work on the data but also on how it is generated. We want to make the daily routine tasks which might take a whole day for an affiliate manager much easier. We want to help them run campaigns and start new campaigns, so we invest a lot of time into UX and UI to help optimise these tasks.”

Most importantly, in Bondarenko’s view, is ensuring that the data is secure for all stakeholders. 

He said: “The team is always saying that different aspects of our operation should be encrypted to make sure we and our clients are protected security-wise.” 

Paramount to this security strategy are payments between affiliates and operators:  “Payments are such an important topic right now and quite a lot of people are speaking about that. Everyone wants to optimise and to automate payment, but automation means that you need to verify, confirm and approve each stage of the payment process, because automation means that you need to understand who you are going to pay.” 

Establishing a presence and shaping the future

While Bondarenko still labels ReferOn as a startup, he does note that the company is beginning to make strides in the industry. 

He noted that as it provides reliable, secure and easy-to-use data, ReferOn is on its way to becoming a much bigger player in the iGaming sector. 

But Bondarenko’s aim is for ReferOn to be used by the industry as a go-to platform. 

“I want our clients to use ReferOn out of habit,” he said. “I like to use Google Photos. All my photos are automatically stored there and I have a habit of looking at it to see what I was doing 10 years ago, etc. It’s a habit and I do it a lot. 

“I want people to come to our platform out of habit like that. If they are using a different system, I want them to think ‘why is this not like ReferOn?’. Obviously we are at the beginning of that stage and it’s hard to change people’s habits but that’s where we are heading and what I want to differ from others.”

As new technologies are developed and more data is processed, ReferOn is eager to continue developing new products and features. Bondarenko cites both basic features and strategic features, each as important to the company’s structure as the other. 

Basic features include hard reporting and updates to the existing platform, but strategic features include tools such as AI affiliate managers, which the Head of Product says will be subject to ‘lots of investment.’ 

Another strategic tool is the pooling of affiliate stats management and this is something that ReferOn is working on developing. 

Bondarenko concluded: “Affiliate data is really fragmented because they log into several different systems but affiliate programs are working on the same platform. Why can’t affiliates have a similar system? It sounds really basic but it’s about strategy because nobody else is providing this – it could work really well.”