How to Succeed in the Utilities Vertical: Tips, Tricks, and More

When most people think about the word “utilities” the first thing to spring to mind is usually an electricity company or internet provider. But, in the world of affiliate marketing, the utilities vertical refers to a completely different set of services and tools that marketers can promote through lucrative campaigns.

With the above in mind, the utilities vertical is relatively new, so not all affiliates are acquainted with the nuances that ultimately determine the success of their campaigns. The good news is that ActiveRevenue is one of the leading ad networks for utilities traffic, so our team has an in-depth understanding of this vertical.

This article will cover the definition of the utilities industry and provide steps that affiliates should follow to establish successful campaigns in this vertical.

What Is the Utilities Vertical?

In short, the utilities vertical is a field that includes all pieces of software designed to speed up, clean, protect, organize, or otherwise improve the performance of a digital device. The list of digital devices is extensive, but most utilities are designed for either computers, tablets, or smartphones.

Best Ways to Promote the Utilities Industry in Affiliate Marketing

All types of utility software require installation, which means that these affiliate programs often follow a CPI (cost-per-installation) payment structure. Therefore, the main goal of an affiliate is to educate audience members and get them to install the utility apps on their devices. 

To achieve this, the best promotion channels are:

Social Media Ads

Facebook and LinkedIn are great places to promote utilities, especially if the software can be used at a large scale for professional purposes.

Paid Ads

Ad networks like ActiveRevenue give affiliates the ability to connect with a wide range of users located across a multitude of GEOs, which makes them a great place to promote utility apps. The best formats include redirect traffic, push notifications, and pop under ads. 

Organic Content

Organic web content like review articles and comparison pieces can help you drive conversions at a large scale without costing a small fortune. 

Creatives and Targeting Tips

The most important element you should remember in terms of targeting and creatives is to create different campaigns with distinct settings for each country tier. 

As long as the countries speak the same language, you should be able to recycle the majority of your creatives while also mimicking your targeting settings. But, you should ensure that each country tier has its own separate set of both creatives and targeting settings that are only used for GEOs in the same grouping.

How to Choose the Best Utility Offer

As with other verticals, the success of your campaign will be partially defined by the quality of the program. All affiliate programs are unique, so you need to evaluate your options and choose one based on your requirements. 

Below, you’ll find some general steps you can follow to choose a utility offer.

• Product/Consumer Offer: Make sure to select an offer that’s promoting an attractive utility that’s not too expensive
• Conversion Flow Difficulty: Only work with programs that have a conversion flow you’ve mastered before 
• Location: Always find programs that focus on GEOs and languages you have experience with
• Device Types and Restrictions: Keep a close eye on any device or OS restrictions that may impact the performance of your ads
• Landing Page: Most advertisers will provide you with a landing page, so don’t be afraid to access it and verify that it’s good enough to entice users to convert

Elements Your Campaign Should Include

Below, we’ve put together a list of variables that usually have a positive impact on utility campaigns.

• Short, concise wording
• Colors and branding elements from the companies being promoted
• Simple, easy-to-understand terminology
• Images that depict people in successful scenarios
• Content that has been adjusted to the local culture

Strategies You Should Avoid at All Costs

Some of the elements you should avoid including in your campaign at all cost include:

• Scare tactics
• Logos and other branding elements from organizations you’re not promoting
• Long pitches and CTAs
• Repetitive creatives
• False claims of all kind

Developing an Utilities Campaign? Contact ActiveRevenue for the Best Traffic

Ready to launch your utilities campaign? The quality of the ad network you choose will directly impact the results you get. To learn more about partnering with ActiveRevenue, get in touch with our team today and we’ll be glad to help.