Fitness Brand Strengthens Partner Relationships, Boosting AOV 8% in Two Months
During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when at-home fitness sales surged, many brands were not prepared to accommodate the unparalleled demand. Acceleration Partners' client, a leader in home fitness for more than 30 years, was faced with several out-of-stock products or delayed shipping times. This was problematic for the fitness brand's affiliate partners, who did not receive a commission on the purchase of any item unavailable to ship within 10 weeks. After several affiliate partners left the program to promote competitors or switched to third-party retailers, it became critical for the fitness brand and the Acceleration Partners client services team to find a solution to stop the exodus of valuable partners.
8% AOV increase for
incentivized partners
$273k+ revenue driven from
published articles in H1 2021
Top 5Buy Now, Pay Later is One of the Top 5 Revenue Drivers for Partners
569% incremental ROAS from
one coupon partner CPA increase
In 2020, several of the fitness brand's affiliate partners left the program when stock outages and shipping delays limited their commissionable sales potential. Due to pandemic-related economic constraints, the fitness brand was unable to offer partners coupons, deals, exclusives, flat fees (which meant no testing of placements), cost per acquisition (CPA) increases or TM+ campaigns. The Acceleration Partners client services team, recognizing the value of strong relationships, considered ways to creatively incentivize and optimize the brand's affiliate partners. They offered the fitness brand transparent program feedback, addressed underlying concerns with the program, and delivered forwardthinking, out-of-the-box solutions.
Strengthening Partner Relationships
First Approach: Analyze commission rate disparity and forecast savings spend
When the team found that the effective cost per action (CPA) rate (the actual rate partners received, taking into account all of the non-commissionable products) was several percentage points lower than the planned CPA rate, they recommended that the fitness brand spend the cost savings on placements and increase partner CPA rates.
Second Approach: Bundle low-ticket items in a campaign to boost average order value (AOV)
The team found that AOV dipped on orders including lower-priced at-home staples (like kettlebells and dumbbells) that had gone viral on social media. They recommended a campaign to attach commissions to purchases of some lower-priced products and increase CPA rates for bundled low-ticket items to incentivize affiliate partner promotion.
