The starting position
Northern Lights sells over 20,000 items for hiking, trekking and camping, including strong own brands. The partner program had been running for years at another network – but hardly anyone cared about it.
The result: Around 80 percent of partner sales came from five voucher sites. Content publishers who test equipment and describe tours were hardly active because all partners received the same blanket commission – whether they brought new customers or provided existing customers with a code shortly before the purchase.
The solution
Together with the personal partner manager, Nordlicht has reorganized the program in three steps:
- Partner groups instead of unit commission. New customers bring 9%, existing customers 6%. For the high-margin own brands, there is 12%, so that tests and comparisons are worthwhile for publishers.
- Targeted recruitment. Via the Match Score, Nordlicht has invited 140 hiking blogs, outdoor magazines and YouTube channels whose content fits the range.
- Product feed for comparisons. The daily feed with prices and availability makes it easy for comparison sites and leaderboards to always show the current products.
The cookieless S2S tracking ensures that purchases on mobile devices and in Safari are reliably allocated.
Previously, 80 percent of our partner sales were based on five voucher sites. Today, hiking blogs and YouTube channels are earning with us – bringing exactly the customers we want.
The results
After twelve months, revenue in the partner channel was 212% higher than in the previous year. The number of partners who broker at least one sale each month increased from 38 to 190.
Even more important for the Northern Lights: The revenue share of content publishers grew from 18 to 46%, and 61% of orders from the partner channel now come from new customers.
- Different commissions for new customers, existing customers and own brands steer partners towards the goals that really help the shop.
- Content publishers do not come by themselves – they want to be targeted.
- A good product feed is often more important for comparison sites than a higher commission.
All figures refer to the specified period and to the partner channel of Northern Lights.
