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Deep linking is a winning play for sports betting app hurdles
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As the sports betting market in the U.S. reaches new heights—following state-by-state legalization—competition among betting apps has never been fiercer. Established players like DraftKings and FanDuel have secured a solid lead, but new entrants are making bold plays to capture their own share of the action. In this high-stakes game, crafting a sustainable, cost-effective strategy is the winning bet for driving user acquisition and growth.
For newer apps entering the arena with limited budgets, the challenge is twofold: every acquisition dollar must pull its weight, and the user experience must be a slam dunk to capture attention and drive installs. This can be challenging with complex user journeys across multiple devices. Deep linking helps meet these needs by directing users to exactly the content or promotion that attracted them, ensuring each click leads to a relevant in-app experience that boosts conversion rates and reduces wasted spend on drop-offs.
The opening play for fresh faces in sports betting
New sports betting apps, often operating on tighter budgets and not yet ready to invest in paid media, rely on community-driven strategies to capture initial interest and drive early growth. By tapping into existing sports communities and networks, these tactics help stretch limited budgets while connecting with sports enthusiasts in familiar spaces.
These acquisition methods commonly include:
Community-focused social media: Social media platforms, where sports fans gather for live updates and insights, offer new sports betting apps a prime opportunity to build visibility and connect with engaged audiences. X (formerly Twitter), in particular, has been referred to as "the sports bar of the internet" due to its communal nature where fans gather to exchange opinions, celebrate plays, and share updates as they happen. Betting apps use social media to engage with users directly, offer promotions, and drive traffic to their platforms.
Influencer partnerships: Partnering with sports influencers has become a powerful strategy to build credibility and connect with a highly engaged audience. Influencers range from well-known athletes and sports analysts to content creators specializing in betting insights and strategies, each bringing unique expertise and dedicated followers. These partnerships often feature sponsorship deals or promotional codes, providing followers with exclusive bonuses when they sign up.
Tapping into influencers' networks boosts brand awareness with high-intent users. Incentives, alongside the influencer’s established reputation, foster a sense of community and trust.
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Affiliate networks: Affiliate marketing has become a cornerstone of user acquisition for sports betting apps, providing a targeted and cost-effective way to reach potential bettors.
An affiliate is an individual or entity that promotes a business’s products or services on its own platforms. Affiliates earn a commission for each successful referral, such as a sale or sign-up, generated through their unique links or promo codes.
Affiliates, which include bloggers, sports influencers, and specialized betting websites, drive traffic to sports betting platforms by creating content tailored specifically to sports enthusiasts and betting audiences. This content often includes in-depth reviews, betting guides, predictions, and game analyses, designed to engage readers who are already inclined toward sports betting.
Through these partnerships, betting affiliates direct high-intent traffic to apps, earning commissions for user sign-ups or bets placed. By leveraging the trust and expertise that affiliates hold within sports betting communities, these apps can effectively reach users who are primed to convert, making affiliate networks a powerful, performance-driven component of sports betting marketing strategies.
The seamless solution for cost savings and scalable growth
For sports betting companies aiming to turn scalable growth from a gamble into a winning reality, a robust deep linking solution is a game-changer. Below, we’ll talk specifically about Adjust’s own TrueLink, which has advanced capabilities compared to standard deep linking.
Deep links bring users to specific, relevant content within an app, creating a seamless journey from the first click to in-app engagement.
Deep linking offers sports betting companies a streamlined way to guide users directly to relevant content within their apps, creating a more cohesive and personalized experience. Instead of sending users to a generic landing page, deep links deliver them directly to a specific page, such as a specific sporting event, a promotion, or live scores. This approach not only improves the onboarding experience but also carries critical data about each user’s journey, allowing apps to attribute the channels or campaigns that drive action. Better yet, these enhanced and personalized experiences will drive much higher conversion in comparison to a generic user journey.
For example, a user clicks a link shared by a sports influencer on social media. The deep link takes them to a sign-up page with the influencer’s promo code pre-applied. This ensures a smooth path from ad click to bet placement, with accurate attribution to the influencer.
How deep linking resolves measurement challenges
Here’s how deep linking addresses the previously discussed key acquisition challenges while improving budget efficiency and retention:
Cross-device fragmentation can be addressed effectively with web-to-app scripts, which create a smooth transition from web browsing to app use while preserving information about the user’s journey. For instance, if a user is exploring odds for a particular game on the mobile web and decides to install the app, the web-to-app script can ensure they’re directed back to that specific game’s odds within the app. This continuity provides a relevant, uninterrupted experience that keeps users engaged and connected to the content they were initially interested in.
For issues related to loss of attribution in campaigns and gaps in performance data, a deep linking solution with multi-platform compatibility plays a vital role. These deep links work seamlessly across iOS and Android, as well as all of the channels you’d need to run a campaign: Social media, search, SMS, email, connected TV (CTV), in-app ads, push notifications, etc. Multi-platform functionality allows data from the entire user journey to be captured accurately, even when users switch between devices. Understanding each touchpoint across the journey helps to close gaps in data and make more informed budget allocations.
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High drop-off rates are another common challenge that smart banners can help mitigate. These unobtrusive banners appear on mobile websites, prompting users to open or download the app. When paired with deep links, smart banners ensure that users land directly on the content they were viewing on the web, maintaining the context of their journey and significantly reducing the likelihood of drop-offs. This seamless transition enhances the user experience and supports higher engagement rates. Better yet? Creating a high volume of deep links can be automated with TrueLink.
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By capturing detailed attribution data, deep links reveal which channels, influencers, or campaigns drive the most engaged users, allowing for a more efficient, targeted acquisition strategy. With these actionable insights, sports betting companies can turn a streamlined user experience into scalable growth, making every interaction count toward long-term success.
As the industry continues to grow, sports betting apps that focus on efficient, data-driven strategies will not only make each acquisition dollar go further but also foster lasting relationships with users. Deep linking is not merely a tool for directing users—it’s a strategic asset that supports cost-effective growth. Its use creates frictionless experiences with reliable insights that help position apps for data-driven success as they prepare for new market expansions, adoption of emerging betting formats, and technological advancements. With comprehensive, actionable analytics, sports betting apps can stay at the forefront of innovation while maintaining a seamless and adaptive user experience.
Ready to get started with an MMP that’s well-versed in the sports betting vertical? Or interested in learning how to automate bulk deep link creation? Request a demo to discover how Adjust can facilitate your growth with TrueLink and more.
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