13 years of SalesDoubler's whitehat strategy

SalesDoubler is one of the most well-known CPA networks in Ukraine and beyond. For over 13 years, the company has been developing affiliate marketing in FinTech, E-commerce, and Crypto, working only in “white” verticals. The Affhub editorial team spoke with the company’s top management and CEO, Alexander Boiko, to find out how SalesDoubler is building its reputation, rejecting “questionable” areas, and how it sees the future of the CPA marketing industry.

Whitehat – a position, not a coincidence

At a time when some players are choosing quick and risky schemes, SalesDoubler is betting on transparency and trust. It’s not just about ethics. It’s about a long-term strategy for development and survival in the global market.

Why is this important to you?

Oleksandr Boiko: “For us, this is a matter of principle. We want to work and provide our partners exclusively with offers and advertisers that operate legally and comply with Ukrainian law.”

To remain within the law, the company must carefully check its partners. This is not just about documents. It is a comprehensive audit.

How do you check your partners to stay within the law?

Oleksandr Boiko: “Before starting cooperation, we request the partner’s registration documents, check them against the registers, see if there are any reviews, if there are any court cases, who the beneficiary is. It is essential for us that the beneficiary does not belong to the aggressor country. After verification, we start cooperation. We also gather information from the market about the partner’s reputation.”

Many companies, in pursuit of profit, enter into “gray” verticals. They justify this by saying that there is greater profit or faster results there, but SalesDoubler has consciously chosen a different path and refuses risky offers. Sometimes saying “no” is more important than saying “yes,” and for this, it is important to check partners and be able to refuse.

Have you ever had to turn down profitable but questionable opportunities?

Oleksandr Boiko: “Of course. We have been approached many times by companies with dubious reputations or those working in gray areas. We refuse such companies and do not work with them.”

FinTech is a rather difficult niche for affiliate marketing, but from the very beginning, the company focused on this area. Today, SalesDoubler occupies a top position in this niche on the Ukrainian market and can safely be called the leader in the FinTech vertical of affiliate marketing. We found out the reason for this unexpected choice.

FinTech is one of your main verticals. What explains this choice?

Oleksandr Boiko: “This is a key area for us. We understand it well and know its specifics, so we focused on it. It is clear to us, and we can demonstrate great results and provide quality services to both advertisers and partners.”

Financial services cannot be viewed in the same way in all countries. Each region has its own restrictions, its own level of digitization, and its own attitude toward loans.

How does demand for financial products vary in the different countries where you operate?

Oleksandr Boiko: “Well, I would say that it is quite difficult to compare different countries. Each country has its own mentality. For example, there are Muslim countries where Muslim law is in force and lending is prohibited altogether. There are countries where the attitude to finance is still at the stage it was in Ukraine 10 years ago, so before we start working with a particular GEO, we try to analyze digitalization, internet penetration, fintech penetration, and the presence of companies that provide loans online, because it is important for us to quickly obtain statuses on issued loans. And after that, we start working.”

Crypto is a relatively young field compared to such “old-timers” as e-commerce and fintech, but SalesDoubler has made a powerful entry into this niche and found partners while adhering to white hat principles.

How do you assess the future of cryptocurrencies in affiliate marketing?

Alexander Boiko: “Right now, it’s a hot topic, and the vertical is just getting started. Rules are being established, and webmasters are learning how to work with such offers. And it will definitely develop.”

Different GEOs and the specifics of working in different markets

Of course, entering international markets is always difficult because you need to know certain subtleties. But SalesDoubler is very boldly expanding its geography and constantly entering new GEOs. The company cooperates with more than 20 countries. Each has its own characteristics. Different niches are developed in different ways. There are many nuances with legislation and target audiences. SalesDoubler shares practical insights about local markets with webmasters, from the specifics of holidays to audience behavior.

Do you see a difference in how FinTech/Crypto/E-commerce are perceived in Europe, Asia, and other regions?

Oleksandr Boiko: “Of course, each country is different in terms of both FinTech and E-commerce. Each country has its own landscape. Some countries have strong local players, while others have yet to develop a certain vertical. That’s why we take a very careful approach to analyzing various verticals in a country and focus only on those where they already have certain results, where certain companies operate online, so that our partners have something to work with and a choice of advertisers.”

How did your international expansion begin?

Oleksandr Boiko: “We started working with the international market even before the war, but not so actively. The martial law and the war that began in Ukraine forced us to diversify and look at other countries. We started by looking at countries that are similar in mentality and understanding. Our first significant attempts were in Kazakhstan. In Kazakhstan, we reached the top three in lead generation within three years. We are slowly trying other countries in Central Asia. We also work with the Philippines, Vietnam, and other countries, including Mexico. We are trying to find traffic channels that allow our partners to work profitably.”

Not all countries are equally open to rapid partnership. We understand that there are markets that require more work because they have nuances and complexities. Entering new markets is always difficult because you have to take everything into account: cultural, religious, time differences. Everything that is not the same as in Ukraine. It is important for the team to understand these subtleties and know how to work with both webmasters and advertisers from different countries, because a CPA network must serve as an effective mediator and understand both sides.

Which markets were the most challenging when entering?

Oleksandr Boiko: “As I said earlier, each market has its own specifics. For us, the difficult markets are “Old” Europe. Why? Because the market there is already established, people there are in no hurry, and we, who are constantly focused on quick results and want to do business here and now, found it quite difficult to communicate with partners and advertisers who are in no hurry, do not want to do any integration, and this is difficult. Uzbekistan is also quite interesting from a mental perspective. People agree to everything, they want everything, “let’s do business,” but then “let’s think about it” and the negotiations drag on for a long time.

How does working with advertisers and webmasters in different countries differ?

Oleksandr Boiko: “The most difficult thing is the different time zones, so our managers are literally forced to work day and night. It is quite difficult to work with representatives from China and India; they rarely get in touch, and when they do, they respond when they feel like it. We are used to quick responses and fast action, which complicates communication a little. But we find a way to work with everyone, which allows us to get results.”

Team and corporate culture

The CPA network is a rather complex mechanism that forms productive relationships between webmasters and advertisers, and it is important to understand both sides of affiliate marketing. In affiliate marketing, not only offers are important, but also relationships with advertisers and webmasters.

What do you see as the main secret to long-term relationships with partners?

Alexander Boiko: “Cooperation should be win-win, meaning that both the partner and we should be satisfied with it. Plus, there should be high-quality communication. It all depends on how you communicate with your partner. The more high-quality and professional information and explanations you provide, the more trusting and long-term relationships you will build with your partners.”

SalesDoubler has established itself as a reliable and legitimate CPA network. It has a transparent policy and builds relationships based on honesty. This strategy is reflected in its marketing communications on social media and Telegram channels, as well as in its cooperation with other publications and, of course, partners.

How do you build SalesDoubler’s reputation as one of the best companies in the niche?

Alexander Boiko: “Our reputation is important to us, so we never cooperate with questionable companies. We also check webmasters to ensure they do not flood us with low-quality traffic. We recommend to webmasters only those offers and advertisers that we have checked ourselves and know the results of. Plus, our managers, both affiliate managers and account managers, provide comprehensive information and statistics and offer assistance, which allows webmasters and advertisers to see our transparency and our interest and thus trust us.”

In affiliate marketing, the team is especially important. Affiliate managers who support webmasters, account managers who work with advertisers, who can find an approach and offer the best solution for any business. They negotiate higher rates and bonuses so that webmasters are willing to work with the offer. 

What principles of corporate culture do you consider key for an international company?

Alexander Boiko: “Probably, first and foremost, it is accessibility, transparency, reputation, and willingness to provide quality services. This is key for us.”

How has the SalesDoubler team changed over the years?

Oleksandr Boiko: “The team has really changed over the years, with new specialists coming in, but we still have employees who have been with us since the company was founded. I would say that many former SalesDoubler employees now work in other CPA networks. It’s a great school; we teach, we provide a knowledge base. And our specialists now work not only in Ukraine, but throughout Europe and even in the US.”

To move forward, companies must not only focus on their own goals, but also constantly monitor market and marketing trends. This means understanding which tools are already losing their effectiveness and which are only gaining popularity, how consumer behavior is changing, and which technologies are creating new opportunities for business. Responding to trends in a timely manner allows you to set the pace in your niche rather than catch up with competitors, create products and campaigns that meet current customer demands, and build a long-term competitive advantage.

What are the main trends you see in affiliate marketing for the next 3-5 years?

Oleksandr Boiko: “Of course, first and foremost, we now see that AI will be used in creative work, in communication with customers, in launching advertising campaigns, in communicating with customers, in understanding what customers need and providing them with relevant offers, in automating processes, which will reduce custom traffic and increase ROI in this traffic. It will also be PinUp directions, i.e., mobile applications and mobile traffic. I believe this is the future. We are now seeing that more and more traffic is coming to us from mobile applications. It will also be the development of our own products by webmasters, i.e., the aggregation of clients and further work with our own base, with our own product.

What is the company’s development vector for the coming years?

Oleksandr Boiko: “Our goal now is to provide the highest quality and automated process and tools for webmasters and advertisers, to develop our platform, which will allow advertisers to clearly understand where the customer comes from, the quality of this customer, the profit from this customer, and enable webmasters to optimize their advertising campaigns using the tools on our platform.”

SalesDoubler’s 13 years of experience

13 years is a real wealth of experience that cannot be measured solely by numbers or results achieved. During this time, the company has experienced both ups and downs, as it has faced global challenges: the world economic crisis, an epidemic, revolutionary events, and full-scale war. Each of these force majeure events was a test of strength, but at the same time a new stage of tempering. SalesDoubler fell and rose, skillfully found the strength to revive and continued to move forward. It is thanks to this resilience that today SalesDoubler has not only survived but has also established itself as one of Ukraine’s leading CPA networks, setting the tone in the industry and inspiring partners. We asked a person who has been working at SalesDoubler since the company’s inception about its beginnings. Yaroslav Semkiv answered our question.

SalesDoubler has been on the market since 2012. How did this journey begin? What has changed the most over the years?

Yaroslav Semkiv: “It all started in 2012 with two friends who invested their own funds and created a “self-written” CPA platform because they saw great prospects for it in Ukraine based on examples from other countries. Then they began to attract the first webmasters and advertisers, develop the functionality of the system, and expand the team of friends and like-minded people.

The first business verticals were FinTech E-com. Over the next few years, they tried other segments of online business, but it was the first two that achieved significant success. Today, they remain the main verticals, with developed tools and hundreds of advertisers and webmasters working together. During the first few years of the CPA network’s growth, there were also excellent results in working with digital agencies and their clients — global FMCG brands.

By 2013, they had grown rapidly in terms of earnings and moved from the Chasopis coworking space to an office in Podil, opened an office in Khmelnytskyi, and assembled a strong team.

Then, due to the events of 2014, major market changes began to take place in Ukraine: E-com, like the economy as a whole, declined significantly, and PDL (microcredit), as a product, began to be in high demand among credit consumers. The segment began to grow at a rapid pace, and in 2016, we bet all our resources and focus on this particular business vertical, and it was the right decision, ensuring 10-fold growth over the next few years. 

The market continued to grow, and so did we, as we operated the largest amount of targeted traffic for advertisers compared to our competitors (our share of all CPA networks reached 60%+). And if in 2013 we connected just a few MFOs (Moneyveo, Credit365) and the results were measured in a few loans issued per month (consumers continued to trust banks), then in just a few years the situation changed dramatically — tens and hundreds of thousands of citizens took out quick loans online for their own needs. 

Today, it is a mature competitive market (which has gone through several stages of state regulation) with dozens of advertisers and millions of microloan consumers every month, where the SalesDoubler CPA platform, thanks to its traffic partners and tools, is the undisputed leader in attracting the target audience online.

What are the main lessons you have learned in more than thirteen years of the company’s history?

Oleksandr Boiko: “You always need to keep your finger on the pulse, follow trends, monitor changes in market conditions, and be adaptable, able to change and adjust to market realities. It’s also about community and partners, and you need to protect them. Our partners and our clients are our key assets. We stopped being just partners a long time ago; we are friends, we are a team focused on achieving a common goal.”

Have there been times when you had to radically change your approach to business? 

Oleksandr Boiko: “Well, living in Ukraine and doing business in Ukraine, many people have probably faced the need to radically change their approach to business. We radically changed our approach when the pandemic began, we radically changed our approach when full-scale war began. We adapted our working conditions, we adapted our cooperation with partners and advertisers so that the business could survive and continue to operate. We made compromises and agreed on joint launches after almost completely halting our activities. And slowly, we began to revive one area or another.”

What we learned from the interview with the CEO of SalesDoubler

The story of SalesDoubler is an example of how a Ukrainian company with a whitehat philosophy can scale to dozens of countries and remain a benchmark for transparency. From FinTech to Crypto, from Kazakhstan to Latin America, SalesDoubler proves that a long-term strategy always wins and that big goals are achievable. For partners, this means that working with SalesDoubler means working with a network that guarantees transparency, quality, and stability.