Dating is one of the most competitive verticals within the affiliate marketing industry. According to reports from Statista, the global dating market is valued at $8.15 billion, with the United States being the most popular and competitive country in this vertical.
Given the high level of competition, focusing on a less competitive geo can be advantageous. Although these geos may have lower traffic volumes, they are often easier to penetrate. In our experience, Vietnam has demonstrated a strong return on investment (ROI) for dating offers. Let's explore the reasons behind this and examine the most effective strategies for this particular market.
What makes Vietnam a hot spot for dating offers
Statista reports that the dating market in Vietnam is worth $6.47 million, indicating that 2024 is an opportune time to invest in this vertical within the country.
According to another Statista report, the majority of dating traffic in Vietnam originates from casual and mainstream dating segments. Casual dating refers to relationships without serious commitments or long-term expectations.
Adult dating is not very popular in Vietnam, as revealed by data from Media Decision Lab. Most Vietnamese individuals are interested in finding friendships, long-term connections, or easygoing relationships without strings attached. Only 15% of the population seeks purely sexual encounters.
The main target audience for dating apps in Vietnam is men aged between 20 and 40. The female user base is almost similar to the male one, as shown by Statista.
Vietnam is classified as a Tier-3 country in terms of economic development. The average income in Vietnam is approximately 6,000,000 Vietnamese dong, equivalent to $237. Despite this, Vietnam boasts excellent internet accessibility, with nearly universal access among its population.
Due to their income levels and relative inexperience with the internet, most Vietnamese users are not yet accustomed to ignoring online advertisements. Based on our experience, mass advertising formats such as push notifications, pop-ups, and attention-grabbing visuals have proven effective in this market. However, pop-ups can be challenging for beginners, and promoting dating offers through teasers may be difficult. Push notifications, both standard and InPage formats, remain the most reliable sources for driving traffic in Vietnam.
Why Push Notifications and InPage Push are popular in Vietnam
According to Statista, in the coming years, advertisers will spend an average of $7 million per year on push notifications.
Push notifications provide excellent conversion rates worldwide, but Vietnam is particularly receptive to this advertising format. In addition to the population's relative inexperience with the internet, another factor contributes to the success of push notifications in this market.
Not everyone in Vietnam owns a personal computer, with most residents accessing the internet via smartphones. Statista reports that the smartphone market in Vietnam is dominated by Android, which holds a 70% market share, while iOS smartphones account for only 28%. This means that up to 70% of users can be easily reached through classic push notifications.
InPage Push, an improved version of regular push notifications, covers the remaining portion of the audience. These notifications appear directly on the webpage, do not require a subscription, are less intrusive, and are not displayed in the notification shade. Visually, they are indistinguishable from classic push notifications. InPage Push enables advertisers to reach iOS and MacOS users. However, it is important to note that wealthy Vietnamese individuals may be more difficult to engage.
Dating is a mass-market vertical without a clearly defined target audience, although data suggests that these applications are most frequently used by men between the ages of 20 and 40. Push notifications are an ideal format for such verticals, as they do not require precise targeting and are shown to hundreds of thousands of diverse users.
Another advantage of push notifications is that they're cheap, which is important when testing campaigns in a new geo. Launching a campaign in a new geo means constantly testing things out because you need to learn the market well and are trying to figure out what will work. MyBid's cost-per-click (CPC) rate in Tier 3 countries starts at just $0.0003. The low cost of traffic lets you test different approaches without spending too much.
So, here's what we know about Vietnam:
- Mainstream dating and casual relationships are the most popular;
- Push notifications convert well;
- Ad creatives should be tailored primarily for young men and middle-aged men.
It's important to note that push notifications will only convert well if the ad network works with high-quality websites, filters out low-quality traffic, and protects against fraud. If not, it can hurt your earnings per click (EPC) and profits. Affiliates need to be ready for this and think about how to deal with it ahead of time. MyBid has strong protection against bad traffic by making blacklists and using an advanced anti-fraud system. This means affiliates don't have to pay for fake clicks or worry about low-quality traffic.
Now let's discuss approaches.
The best approaches and ad creatives for promoting dating offers in Vietnam
The most important thing to remember is that advertising in English only works in Vietnam. You must use the Vietnamese language only.
What should the ad images look like?
Since mainstream dating is the most popular in Vietnam, ad creatives usually cater to this audience. Images typically feature a young Vietnamese woman with a natural appearance, without being overly erotic.
Erotic vs. Mainstream
If the creative includes hints of eroticism, it's usually either through teasing outfits on girls or suggestive text like "I want to meet you" or "I'm so lonely, let's play?" However, it's rarely a good idea to go too adult-oriented in Vietnam.
There's a bit more variety in the text: you can write both teasing and very mainstream messages like "Let's get to know each other?" or "I'm looking for a guy to meet." In Vietnam, both mainstream and adult-oriented texts will receive similar engagement.
The incoming notifications approach generates more ROI
In Vietnam, the classic approach of "You have received a message! Want to see?" works very well for InPage Push. Alternatively, you can simply pretend to have missed a message from a beautiful girl, and the result will be the same.
Features of InPage Push
Unlike classic push notifications, InPage Push works well with erotica. Open invitations for sex or to meet soon are acceptable here.
However, erotica still isn't the main focus. Instead, it's used to spark interest in an otherwise harmless and soft ad creative. Finding extremely explicit ads, even in InPage Push, is still rare. But it does exist and can sometimes help drive traffic.
Conclusion
Vietnam is a great place to get cheap traffic for dating offers if you can get used to how things work there. Dating is popular and well-liked, and users respond well to ads.
For people used to working in top-tier countries, advertising in Vietnam might seem weird at first. There, it can actually pay off more to invest in adult-oriented ads like they were mainstream. But if you can adjust to that, you can get great results. Personal managers from MyBid have extensive experience with campaigns in Tier-3 countries like Vietnam and the rest.
