7 Figure YOY Growth Via Top Funnel Affiliates
The client came to us because they didn’t have luck with affiliate program managers in the past. The traffic sources were hard to determine, they found some end of sale interceptions via branded coupon phrases in Google, and lots of reviews being a source of traffic (which is value adding, but not top-funnel). We assured them the affiliate channel can be top funnel, provide value, and be mutually beneficial for both the partners and the brand. They gave us a chance, and below you’ll find the results with tons of actionable tips, and how we achieved them.
7 Figure YOY Growth Via Top Funnel Affiliates
TL:DR
7 Figure YOY Growth Via Top Funnel Affiliates
We removed any affiliate that showed up for the “brand + coupons” in Google via SEO and PPC, then redid the TOS to require any partner with a review to have at least 60% – 70% non-review traffic, and enforced the rules for everyone including mass media outlets. This meant removing a sizable portion of the top 10 and 20 partners which was scary, but needed.
7 Figure YOY Growth Via Top Funnel Affiliates
Because the client does not allow end-of-sale touchpoints we were able to take competitor’s top partners away by showing them how much more they can make with our top-funnel strategy. At the same time, the no end-of-sale touchpoints makes recruiting new partners easier because we can make a case we protect their commissions. Next we used market demand with a top-funnel focused plan including SEO, conversion optimization, social media, and YouTube to gather data points and execute complementary strategies with similar partners. By doing this we were able to scale them by 7 figures YOY.
7 Figure YOY Growth Via Top Funnel Affiliates
Best of all, the client is now on track to do even more this year as you’ll see in the second screenshot.
7 Figure YOY Growth Via Top Funnel Affiliates
One of the biggest wins was working on conversion optimization. We reviewed our content sites, and one particular thing that moved the needle fast was modifying their calls to action and…
..