Interview Jack Jelinek, Gaffg Awards winner from Slotland Affiliates

Jack Jelinek is the casino affiliate manager of Slotland Affiliates. Jack won his first Gaffg award for Trusted Affiliate Manager.

1. How do you feel about winning your first Gaffg Award for Trusted Affiliate Manager?

I felt quite surprised at first to be honest. But right after the initial shock had passed, I'm thankful and truly honored to receive this special award, that I dare to see as a recognition for those 7+ years that I have been working as a dedicated affiliate manager at Slotland Affiliates.

It also comes along with a commitment not only to keep doing my job well, but to constantly improve in order to provide our affiliate partners, both old and new, with a true royal treatment. What a positive way to motivate yourself through such a great incentive!

2. For those affiliates that are already working with Slotland Affiliates, what do you think they like about the affiliate program and about the brands?

Apart from features like fast and reliable commission payouts, no negative carryover and no minimum obligations - which at least in my eyes should be a norm for every affiliate program out there - I'd say the primary appeal is knowing that we're in this for the long term. Not many programs can build on an impeccable reputation that dates back to late nineties when we first started paying out affiliate commission.

Second, I'd stress the unusually high player life-time value which comes as a positive side effect of being around for so long. We have a number of affiliates who last touched their affiliate sites many, many years ago or even completely ditched it already, and still receive big, fat monthly commission checks for players whom they referred more than 10 years ago. Which for us gives the term lifetime commission a literal meaning.

And my third pick would be a chance to promote totally unique product, because unlike many other games that are being featured on dozens or even hundreds of casino sites, our goal has always been to offer a player experience unlike any other.

3. Speaking of the brands, Slotland seems to have had the same logo since 1998 and the design of the website doesn’t seem that much different than the original one. I have heard some affiliates say they don’t think a site like Slotland would work for players but clearly it does with the site being online since 1998. What is your explanation for the success of the website?

True, a trip back in time via Way Back Machine doesn't exactly portray a site that has evolved massively over time, so it's perfectly okay for many having hard time understanding why Slotland has changed so little over the past close to 20 years.

We cater to both old and new players set decades apart, so we still have many players who originally discovered cyberspace through means like AOL, WebTV and other set-top-boxes connected to their TV's, and who at this stage might simply be less prone to big changes. While they often are the most loyal players, even refusing to play anywhere else, you don't want to make your site look like anywhere else, nor take away something that they have been accustomed to for this long.

Obviously you can never please everyone at the same time, so I imagine there may be some players put off by Slotland's appearance, true. On the other hand, we are not just looking back: Slotland itself was of the first mobile-friendly sites out there years ago and a new site design is already under works. Replacing the existing look entirely is not something we would rush into.

Also both old and new players still seem to be captivated by our totally unique games, generous comps with mild wagering requirements, and royal treatment they get when dealing with our top notch customer support reps, who are available around the clock and ready to bend over backwards to make our players happy. Those are things that will hopefully never change.

4. Have there been any plans to change the Slotland website or has this already been done before without any real success?

Apart from a number of subtle changes undergone at Slotland recently that may have easily gone unnoticed, which was part of the plan by the way, we are already following a carefully outlined path with the intention of improving both the user and player experience in the gradual steps rather than in one big go.

We've only recently released a brand new mobile site for Slotland's sister site, Win A Day Casino and are also currently working on adding bitcoin as a new payment method, to name just a few of recent things we made.

And there will be more changes coming this year. Apart from more new games coming we will continue to tweak namely the Slotland’s user interface now after focusing at Winaday for some time.

5. What are the special features and aspects of the brands that you feel are what converts and retains players when they visit the website?

I personally think it's primary our solid brand reputation that plays the biggest role in acquiring players. Then of course many other aspects come into play helping the casinos attract players, such as reliable processing and payouts, generous promos with mild conditions, friendly and helpful customer support, or even the first impression.

Let's not forget that the affiliates themselves can also benefit from offering a special incentive for new players, which e.g. in Slotland's case can span across as many as ten deposits. But with a tainted brand reputation you just won't get too far in the long run, since more and more players now do their homework researching casinos on recognized affiliate portals.

To retain players, we strive to put extra effort into letting the players feel welcome while I just can't praise high enough our Customer Service. In terms of passing on our message, email works as great as ever for us. We also have a great deal of success with bonuses that require players to come back and redeem them at a later date. Throwing in an occasional surprise promo aside from the regularly scheduled never hurts, and we also built a very strong and loyal following on our socials.

6. For affiliates that haven’t joined Slotland Affiliates, why would you recommend they join and what can they expect from working with the affiliate program?

Being around and reliably paying commissions for almost two decades might do the trick for some, it really is something affiliates are looking for nowadays. If this won't do, then getting paid on the first business day each month apart from few other perks mentioned earlier just might.

Also let's not forget the special deal available for all affiliate partners coming through GAFFG entitling them to 44% revshare deal for min 6 months. Can it get any better?