What If Your Retention Problem Starts Before the First Deposit?

During the AffPapa Conference Madrid, our host Surya Palli spoke with Shahar Attias, CEO of Hybrid Interaction, about affiliate traffic, CRM, retention and why operators and affiliates still struggle to work together.

The conversation also touched on one number that caught our attention: around 50% of registration-to-first-deposit conversions can happen within the first five to eight minutes.

That makes those first few minutes much more important than they may seem.

Here’s what stood out. Affiliates and operators are still blaming each other

Surya started with player retention.

Operators can lose a large share of new players during the first month. So when that happens, who is responsible?

Shahar believes this is where the operator-affiliate relationship often goes wrong.

“It’s kind of a toxic relationship in which both sides try to put the full blame on the other one.”

If players do not convert or leave quickly, operators may say the affiliate sent poor traffic.

Affiliates look at the same numbers and may decide the operator has weak CRM or a poor player journey.

Both sides have a point. But blaming each other does not fix the problem.

Shahar's view was that both sides need to take more responsibility for what they control.

The first few minutes after registration really matter

One of the most interesting parts of the conversation came when Shahar shared a number from his experience.

“About 50% of the conversion from registration to first deposit happens within the first few minutes.”

He put that window at roughly five to eight minutes.

That means if a player registers but does not deposit during those first minutes, something may already be going wrong.

Maybe they cannot find the right payment method.

Maybe the offer does not make sense.

Maybe they simply need a little help.

The problem is that many operators wait too long before reacting.

Real-time CRM can catch players while they are still interested

Shahar used a simple shop example.

Imagine someone walks into a store, picks up a few products and then cannot find the cashier. After waiting, they put everything down and leave.

That is similar to a player who registers, looks around the casino and then disappears before depositing.

The best time to speak to that player is while they are still there.

A real-time CRM system can notice that behaviour and react while the player is still logged in. That could mean a message, some help or a more relevant offer.

If the operator waits hours to contact them, that moment may already be gone.

For Shahar, speed matters because player attention is limited.

Affiliates cannot control what happens after the click

This creates a difficult situation for affiliates.

Their job may be to bring the right player to the operator.

But once that player arrives, the affiliate has very little control over what happens next.

If the operator gives every new player the same generic experience, strong affiliate traffic can still perform badly.

That is why Shahar believes there needs to be more communication between both sides.

An affiliate may know exactly what kind of audience they are sending.

If those players came through a specific keyword, community or content topic, the operator should be able to use that information.

Sending a highly specific player into a generic “we are a casino, come deposit” journey wastes part of the advantage the affiliate created.

Retention data should be part of the affiliate conversation

Operators have their own performance data.

Affiliates also have information about where players came from and what attracted them in the first place.

But those two sets of information do not always meet.

Shahar believes affiliates should be more active in asking operators what happens after their traffic arrives.

If one operator converts much worse than others, the conversation should not immediately become an argument about traffic quality.

Both sides can look at the problem together.

Is the technology wrong?

Is the offer wrong?

Is the CRM too slow?

Or is the affiliate simply sending players who are not a good match for the product?

That conversation can be much more useful than looking only at FTD numbers.

CPA makes sense for operators, but it changes the relationship

Surya also raised the shift towards lifetime value.

CPA costs are increasing, while revenue-share deals can become harder for affiliates.

Shahar could see why operators like CPA.

Once the operator has paid for the acquisition, the long-term value of that player belongs to them. If the player stays for months, the operator does not continue paying the affiliate a percentage of the revenue.

But that makes retention even more important.

If you pay a high CPA and lose most of those players quickly, the economics become difficult.

Acquisition and retention cannot really be treated as separate businesses anymore.

The value of the acquisition depends heavily on what happens next.

Streamers have something traditional affiliates do not

The conversation then moved to one of the fastest-growing acquisition channels: streamers.

Surya asked whether streamers are beginning to replace traditional SEO affiliates, especially with the growth of crypto casinos.

Shahar did not think they had completely taken over.

But he does believe streaming has become far more important over the last few years.

The biggest difference is what happens after conversion.

With a normal SEO affiliate, the player may click the link, join the casino and never interact with that affiliate again.

A streamer can keep the relationship.

The player joined because they follow that person, and they will probably continue watching them after they sign up.

Streamers can become part of retention, not only acquisition

That continued relationship creates an interesting opportunity.

A streamer can bring a player to an operator, but they can also continue talking to that same player later.

If the operator launches a campaign, tournament or special offer, the streamer can talk about it too.

That makes the streamer part of a wider CRM and retention journey.

As Shahar explained, players are not simply following the casino.

They are following the streamer.

That may be one of the biggest differences between streamer traffic and traditional SEO or PPC traffic.

The acquisition source does not disappear after the conversion.

Notable Insights

1. Operators and affiliates still spend too much time blaming each other when players do not convert or stay.
2. Around half of registration-to-deposit conversions may happen within the first five to eight minutes.
3. Real-time CRM gives operators a better chance of helping players while they are still active.
4. Affiliates cannot control the player experience after they send traffic, so operators need to take responsibility for that part of the funnel.
5. Better communication between operators and affiliates can help explain why some traffic performs better than others.
6. High CPA deals only work if the operator can retain enough of the players they acquire.
7. Streamers are becoming a much stronger acquisition channel.
8. Unlike many traditional affiliates, streamers can stay connected with players after they convert.
9. That continued relationship could make streamers useful for retention as well as acquisition.

What stayed with us after this conversation was how small the window can be.

An operator might spend weeks planning campaigns and thousands acquiring traffic, but the decision to deposit could come down to what happens during a few minutes after registration.

The affiliate can open the door.

But after that, the operator still has to give the player a reason to stay.

Do you think operators focus enough on what happens in the first few minutes after a player registers, or is too much attention still going into acquisition?

As part of the 4th edition of The Real Roadshow 2026, this conversation was recorded at AffPapa Conference Madrid and is brought to you by Evoverse, providing custom crypto casino source code solutions, and Wicked Games, creating slot games that slap.