From April 2023, Rakuten Travel Experiences temporarily suspended its affiliate program on Travelpayouts partnership platform until further notice. We will let you know you when the program is active again. Users who click on Rakuten’s links, widgets, or banners on your website will be taken to the respective Rakuten’s webpages. However, clicks, bookings, rewards, and other statistics will not be tracked.
To ensure an uninterrupted income stream, we recommend replacing all Rakuten’s tools with those of an alternative programs.
What is Rakuten Travel Experiences
Rakuten offers a wide range of experiences for every taste in over 200 cities in Asia. Being a mysterious part of the world, Asia attracts tourists from different countries. But, to have a better experience, it is crucial to know how and where to dive into the culture. For this very reason, Rakuten is ready to provide its clients with over 3,500 activities, organized so guests can truly experience Asia’s culture and natural beauty with the help of local guides.
To ensure the best quality of services, the company thoroughly checks every host in person or via Skype, so every offer on the Rakuten website is 100% safe, and numerous community reviews prove it.
The offer includes regular tours, as well as unique and once-in-a-lifetime activities such as meeting world-renowned experts in different fields.
On top of that, Rakuten provides its customers with 24/7 support, and it is possible to contact the company via live chat, email or phone. So, whatever activity a client chooses, they can always ask questions in advance to be prepared and enjoy the experience to the fullest.
To start exploring Asia, your client will follow a few simple steps:
- Select a desired destination and choose between numerous available activities
- Book the experience
- Discuss all the details with their host, whose contact information will be available upon booking
So, even if this activity is something new for your client, they will have a chance to ask everything they need to know beforehand to be fully prepared.
Rakuten Affiliate Program
You’ll get a 4% commission based on the type of experience your clients have chosen.
Rakuten affiliate program benefits
- Affiliates receive a 4% commission on all bookings
- Affiliate links get automatic priority in attribution over other referrals, taking attribution over any other remarketing channel that leads to a conversion; within the 30 day period of the cookie’s life.
- Affiliate monthly payout is processed based on completed bookings (activities that have been completed by the user). Bookings that are made in advance for following months will be processed on the month of the activity date itself.
*Please keep that in mind that you can take part either in affiliate or referral program, but not both at the same time.
Tips and best practices
Destinations
Below, you will find some of the most popular and interesting attractions and experiences in Asia, as well as recommendations as to how to promote the activities. Here are all the countries that Rakuten is offered in and the top converting products in some of them:
- Japan Ticket List/Local Tours & Experiences/Michelin Restaurant Reservations
- Tickets & Activities:
- Robot Restaurant Tokyo
- Go-Karts in Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto
- Mt. Fuji Climbing Tour
- Private Tsukiji (Toyosu) Market Tour
- Last Minute Tickets To Ghibil Museum Tokyo
- Sumo Tournaments and Trainings
- Universal Studios Japan Osaka Tickets
- Tokyo Disneyland Tickets
- Tokyo DisneySea Tickets
- Sanrio Puroland Hello Kitty Theme Park
- Kawaii Monster Cafe
- Amenities:
- Michelin Restaurant Reservations: The complete list
- Tickets & Activities:
- Singapore Ticket List
- Indonesia Ticket List/Local Tours & Experiences
- Korea Ticket List
- Thailand Ticket list/Local Tours & Experiences
- Malaysia Ticket List
- Hong Kong Ticket List/Local Tours & Experiences
- Taiwan Local Tours & Experiences
- France Ticket List
In order to find out the full list of activities for a desired destination, kindly proceed to the Rakuten website where you can choose from over 3,500 experiences.
Tips
Below, you’ll find some useful tips for the higher income in the Rakuten affiliate program. These recommendations were collected from Rakuten top performing affiliates, and they might be of extreme help when writing a new article or adding links to the existing content to increase conversions.
There are three key stages as to how to promote Rakuten Travel Experiences:
- The reader opens your article
- The reader stumbles upon your links
- The reader wants to buy the service through your links
There is a number of factors influencing the success of the advertising content.
Placement & visibility
In order to increase the click-through rate and make links more visible to readers, it is recommended to make at least three placements in one article. Place the first segment in the introduction, the second one in the middle of the article and the third link at the end of the content.
Readability & visual guidelines
It is crucial to give the article the correct title and choose the best format for your content to make it easily readable and catch your reader’s attention from the start. To do so, you should name a title according to potential Google queries your readers might type to find out more about a particular activity. Here are some ideas for your article’s title:
- Include a numbered list to show that your article contains substantial information, and that the text is well-structured and easy to read. For example, Tokyo Bucket List: 22 Things To Do or 8 ways to save money at Universal Studios Singapore.
- Start your title with “How to” to make it look like a standard Google query, for instance, How to explore Japan by rail.
- Include words Guide or Review when naming a title: The ultimate guide to visit USS.
- Tell your reader where to find something they are looking for, like Where to buy Robot Restaurant tickets or Best place to buy Robot Restaurant tickets.
Also, don’t forget about formatting your text. Use concise sections and headers, include numbered or bulleted lists, make short and easy-to-read paragraphs of less than 10 lines, and benefit from distinct color scheme.
As for visual components, it’s recommended to include only high resolution photographs in such a way that they occupy half of the white space of the page.
Positioning & displaying benefits
It is important to explicitly present the program’s benefits so that your readers understand what an amazing opportunity they can have with Rakuten.
- Buy tickets in advance to avoid standing in line later
- Cancel an activity through a flexible cancellation policy
- Instantly get e-tickets and make a last minute bookings
- Enjoy service with high-credibility, since Rakuten officially cooperates with all the agencies presented on its website
- Experience reasonable prices and discounts (To showcase this advantage, it is recommended making a price comparison table showing the difference between Rakuten costs and the official pricing.)
Also, consider adding useful information, like event timings or maps, to help readers make an informed decision.
Personal testimonial factor
It is important to build reader credibility, by sharing your personal experience with Rakuten or how much you trust this program.
Other channels for distribution (email, SMM)
Think of other channels such as email newsletters, social media or any other resources to cover a bigger audience.
How to run an exclusive campaign with Rakuten Travel Experiences
The company expresses interest in creative promotion ideas to increase sales and conversions. Here are potential campaigns you can run together with Rakuten:
- Coupon codes for readers
- Giveaways
- Social campaigns
- Brand partnerships
- Any other innovative methods
We highly recommend trying the Rakuten affiliate program for all our affiliates who are working with the Asia market.
