A well-known mobile lifestyle brand was looking for a new agency partner to manage and scale its affiliate program, while simultaneously undergoing a corporate rebrand. Having launched and maintained their affiliate program since 2016, this marketer signed with Perform [CB] Agency to assume management of their program in the spring of 2019, with positive results across key metrics including a 444% increase in revenue.
The objective:
After jumping into the affiliate space in 2016 and signing with an agency, a well-known lifestyle brand felt their program would benefit from new management. In addition to seeking new management, this marketer was also undergoing a corporate rebrand, which would require new brand standards to be promoted and enforced within the affiliate space. The marketer was looking for a new agency partner to manage and scale their affiliate program, in addition to enforcing and protecting their new brand standards.
The execution:
After signing with Perform [cb] Agency to manage its affiliate program, the Agency team completed an audit of the marketer’s program to evaluate productive publishers and overall program performance. Following the audit, the Agency recommended the marketer migrate their program to a new tracking platform for increased efficiency and transparency.
Once the new tracking platform was in place and operational, the Agency performed an audit of the program’s existing publishers. Initially, the number of productive publishers only made up about 17% of the program’s entire affiliate base. In order to increase the number of productive publishers, the Agency team first optimized affiliate payouts based on a number of factors, including their placement within the buyer’s funnel. This optimization strengthened the Agency’s full-funnel approach to better align publisher value with their associated commissions, ultimately leading to a higher rate of affiliate productivity. Next, the team implemented commission increases for existing productive publishers, including both upper and lower-funnel partners, to drive heightened brand exposure throughout the funnel.
Once optimizations for existing partners were complete, the Agency began recruiting for a number of different publishers. These recruitment efforts included outreach to a variety of niche affiliate partners to drive awareness around monthly new product launches catered toward younger and male-focused demographics. In addition to niche publishers, the Agency team onboarded a number of high-quality deal affiliate partners in order to increase this marketer’s presence in premium placements. Finally, the Agency team implemented publisher-wide communication through the use of weekly or bi-weekly newsletters, pending the marketer’s product launches.
The results:
In the months following Perform [cb] Agency’s ongoing program optimizations, this marketer saw outstanding results.
Year over year, this marketer saw a 444% increase in revenue, in addition to a 46% increase in clicks and site traffic. The marketer’s conversion rate increased by 34%, which is indicative of higher quality traffic, driven by a diverse publisher base, capable of reaching high-intent consumers. Additionally, the marketer’s average order value (AOV) increased by 17%, with return on ad spend (ROAS) increasing by 28%.
The Agency’s affiliate outreach and onboarding efforts produced stellar results, including 92 commission increases for existing productive publishers and the addition of more than 180 affiliates focused on the marketer’s new product launches. This marketer also saw a dramatic increase in revenue driven by content publishers, with 32% more revenue generated by content partnerships.
Are you a marketer looking to increase ROI, user acquisition, or brand awareness? The affiliate channel is a great place to do all of the above and more! Reach out to Perform [cb] Agency for a free program audit, or learn more about our services now.
