Best Western GB Leverages Expertise from AP and Awin to Boost ROAS 1804%
Discover how Acceleration Partners (AP) and Awin collaborated to help Best Western GB, a company with over 250 independently owned and managed hotels in Great Britain, drive cost-effective growth and reach new audiences through their affiliate program. Despite budget cuts, the team streamlined processes and leveraged the performance-based affiliate channel to generate incremental revenue.
By activating and optimizing high-traffic, travel-relevant partners and introducing new partners to aid growth and target a younger demographic, the team exceeded all 2022 objectives, including generating over £1.3 million in revenue, achieving an average CPA of less than 8%, and increasing brand awareness through partners.
The collaborative approach between AP and Awin helped drive exceptional outcomes for Best Western GB:
£1.7Min revenue via the affiliate channel (31% over goal)
4.63%CPA (42% less than target)
1804%ROAS (80% over goal)
80new partners (20% more than prior year)
466%increase in traffic
57%increase in new customer sales
261%increase in revenue from 18-24-year-old customers
Best Western GB faced budget cuts across digital and traditional marketing, including affiliates, following a post-pandemic rebrand. To generate incremental revenue and target new audiences, Best Western GB looked to Acceleration Partners (AP) for help increasing revenue via the affiliate channel compared to pre-pandemic performance, with a reduced affiliate budget and no tenancy budget.
AP and Awin, the global affiliate marketing platform and trusted AP partner, collaborated to help Best Western GB achieve the following goals:
Generate over £1.3 million in revenue via the affiliate channel
Achieve an average CPA of less than 8%
Attain an average ROAS increase of 1000%
GAP Analysis
AP knew partner recruitment and activation would be essential to achieve the clients' goals. To support this goal, Awin provided a GAP Analysis identifying 24 partner opportunities based within the Awin platform. The report showcased opportunities in partner recruitment, activation, and optimization. AP focused on the top 10 partners from this list that would likely generate the performance required to hit the program goals.
Partner Activation and Optimization
AP leveraged the rebrand to discuss CPAi only opportunities with existing partners who could reach Best Western GB's target audiences. To make these opportunities more compelling, AP increased the commission to a flat rate of 6% for all sales in exchange for increased exposure on-site. This offer was shown to be more profitable for partners than the previous tenancy agreements.
Partner Recruitment
To diversify Best Western GB's affiliate program and target new audiences, AP recruited travel-specific content partners who could create evergreen content. The AP team used the Awin GAP analysis and Awin Partner Directory to carefully review each partner and ensure they could meet the client's goals. Once onboarded, the AP team regularly optimized performance with each partner.
Increased Brand Awareness
As an established affiliate program, Best Western GB had an existing calendar of top-performing dates and events. AP proactively planned exposure through new and existing partners based on these opportunities to maximize growth and align with Best Western GB’s wider marketing calendar.
Product Feed Creation
Best Western GB lacked a Product Feed at the onset of this project, hindering content partners from promoting the brand. AP recognized the need for a Product Feed to recruit and activate content partners and worked with Awin to launch one using Awin's Product Feed Upload Tool. Awin and AP worked closely to ensure the feed was functioning correctly before and after launch.
Communication Center Launch
The Awin Communication Centre streamlines publisher communication, enabling direct, tailored, or mass email partner communications. During the partner activation campaign, AP used this to send mass communications to partners without direct relationships, raising awareness of Best Western GB's offerings with frequent, informative emails.
