Schemes That Bring Profit

Today we are talking about the so-called scheme traffic and the approaches affiliates use to work with this source. In this sense, schemes are not equal to fraud, because deception of users is not the end goal and many users even manage to profit from using the “sure-fire” tips they find in scheme channels and groups. And it’s not exactly incentivized traffic either. Let’s take a closer look at the mechanics of scheme ad campaigns and discover some useful insights.

What is scheme traffic?

Scheme traffic is often confused with incentivized traffic, but unlike the latter it is accepted by some advertisers. If incentivized (or motivated as some call it) traffic is considered more fraud than anything else, schemes can be a legit traffic source for such verticals as betting, gambling, or finance, for example. What are the differences between the two?

Incentivized traffic consists of users who gain something in return for performing the target action. They are not interested in the offer of the advertiser. Their goal is the immediate reward for a click, registration, download, and so forth. Basically, it looks like: “I will pay $1 to any person who downloads this app and launches it”. Such users do not bring any profit to the advertiser, for this reason incentivized traffic is prohibited for most offers.

Scheme traffic consists of users who have spent some time-consuming content designed to warm them up and make them willing to take an action (the target action) for their own gain. The marketer does not “bribe” users into doing anything, but softly talks them into believing that the offer can bring insane riches. Another important distinction is that scheme campaigns often involve a “spokesperson” or simply put an actor who interacts with the audience and makes the users feel the “personal touch” to the “insane success” story they are being sold. It may look like this: “I’ve been making bets on the platform A, strictly in this pattern and only on a full moon — and now I’m driving a Lamborghini. This is a rock-solid way to hit the jackpot, follow me”.

Scheme campaigns usually have several stages: 

1. Attracting the users’ attention.
2. Bringing them into a secluded channel or group.
3. Gradual warm-up with success stories and sure-fire ways to become rich.
4. Sometimes there is an additional monetization step involving VIP groups with paid access to “super successful ways to super success”.

Example of a scheme campaign

1. An affiliate marketer creates a “personal story” chat in Telegram or WhatsApp. He shares his background, usually tells that he’s an IT specialist or a former employee of a well-known digital company. This establishes his “expert” position and gives him an aura of a person who has “valuable insider information”.
2. There may be TikTok and Instagram pages that tell the story of luxury and invites users to join the chat.

    

3. To grow the audience faster, he might run paid advertising campaigns to attract more users to the chat. At the same time, he continues sharing his “insights” on how to cheat the system, hit the lucky combo, and get rich.
4. To prove the usefulness of the scheme, he can share videos that feature winning or screenshots of successful withdrawals accompanied by testimonials (usually fabricated) of other happy follower who have already followed his advice.
5. When asked why share such valuable info, he might opt for one of the tactics: a philanthropist or an avenger. So, it will be either:
   «I’m sharing my knowledge because there’s enough money for everyone. And the casino will ban me if I win all those riches by myself» or «My former employer wronged me, so I’ll share his secrets and let everyone get money from this company». Or something similar.
6. In this scheme, users are asked to pay a percentage of their winnings to the author as a thank you for the tip. Additionally, there may be a VIP chat for those users who are willing to pay in advance for receiving some extra-useful information. Like exact days and hours when the “casino algorythm” is supposed to let them win a lot.

The plausibility of such schemes consists of two things: 

1. People’s desire to get rich whithout making mush effort.
2. Pure chance that allows some followers of the “guru” to win, thus corroborating the “success story”.

Important tips

• Make it sound personal. If you have big volumes of traffic, many scheme groups, or if scheme campaigns are not your primary focus — employ an actor (a beginner blogger is a good call) to be the face of the channel. Each channel must look like a personal story, otherwise it’s not credible and you will not get enough following.
• User retention is no less important as acquisition. Ensure that your audience is supported by managers or the actor. Because with schemes, there are A LOT of questions. If users feel abandoned, they suspect foul play and leave, in addition they can go around the Internet sharing the story of how you conned them, which will make attracting new users more difficult.
• Layer the scheme. For instance, there is a general entry-level chat with free access and basic information. Then, you introduce a Private chat with $50 entry fee, where users get a “dedicated manager”. After that, a VIP chat where they can get access to exclusive winning schemes for $100. But be careful, these approaches will succeed only when you have earned the trust and warmed the users up.
• Don’t let one chat or group grow indefinitely. Schemes are not outright fraud, but they are still not looked upon very kindly, so be prepared for bans and freezes. Have multiple channels and let them grow simultaneously without putting all the eggs in one basket.
• Be ready to face negative outbursts from users who did not win (because the scheme is made up, surprise-surprise!). Don’t ignore such people and don’t go on the offensive — you will lose anyway. Your goal is to retain the user no matter what. So, you need to calmly convince him that there must have been some lapse on his part and he should try again and be more attentive. If it’s not working, you can say that the scheme got busted because reasons, and you are willing to give free access to a VIP chat or something as compensation for the inconvenience.

Scheme traffic is a great fit for such verticals as gambling, betting, binary, and crypto. The acquisition channels differ Google, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, etc. Similarly, the scheme itself may be distributed via Telegram, WhatsApp, FB Messenger, Instagram Direct, themed websites and blogs, etc. Among the offers, you will find many traditional casinos, slots, betting websites, and trading platforms. Such games as Aviator and JetX аre two great examples of what works well with scheme traffic nowadays. Try your luck with scheme traffic and remember: with this source, it’s all about your communication skills.