Case Studies

ECHT

Revving up Revenue

ECHT’s Move to Rakuten Advertising Yields 19% Uplift in Just 6 Months through Diverse Partnerships

19%

Uplift in Revenue

13%

Increase in AOV

1,821

Clicks

100%

New Customers

About ECHT

ECHT is an innovative trendsetting activewear company specialising in affordable performance and leisure-based apparel. Each garment can be worn throughout the day – from the gym to brunch to the shops, without compromising on comfort, durability or style.

The Story

In late 2020, ECHT was on a mission to boost its revenue through affiliate marketing. It teamed up with Rakuten Advertising and developed two game-changing campaigns that accelerated growth. First, it launched card-linked offers (CLO), which was the perfect way to reach customers at every step of their shopping journeys. Then, it incorporated content marketing into the mix, creating a seamless shopping experience that left customers wanting more. Thanks to this winning combination, ECHT was able to expand its reach, attract new customers, and power revenue growth.

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The Goal

For ECHT, boosting incrementality was an essential part of marketing success. The brand’s primary objective was to increase revenue as compared to its previous affiliate network. However, as the strategy evolved ECHT also challenged the team at Rakuten Advertising to acquire new customers and increase the average order value (AOV) whilst boosting brand awareness in multiple markets such as Australia, UK and the US.

Key Strategies

To reach ECHT’s objectives, the team at Rakuten Advertising recommended the brand diversify its publisher portfolio. This would enable them to capture customers at all stages of their shopping journey. ECHT forged new, strategic partnerships with key partners on the network and executed the following campaigns:

CLO Campaign

ECHT partnered with a loyalty & rewards publisher with advanced CLO capabilities. The publisher gives its customers access to exclusive deals through their eligible credit cards. This element of the new program focused on increasing AOV and acquiring new customers. To encourage customers to spend more for each transaction, ECHT ran two offers – spend $100 to receive 600 reward points and spend $120 to receive 720 reward points. To ensure all purchases were from new customers. These deals were only offered to those who have not purchased on ECHT in the last 12 months to ensure they were visible only to new customers.

Content Campaign

ECHT launched its content campaign with Linkby. Linkby connects advertisers with premium content publishers through a performance-based cost-per-click (CPC) model. They were perfect because they could feature ECHT on local and international content sites such as Urban List and Daily Mail. To increase awareness of the brand and its new collection, ECHT worked with Rakuten Advertising to create a = content that showcased the new range in detail, and offered exclusive discount codes. This combination attracted content sites on the Linkby network, helping ECHT further promote its products.

Results

Five months after relaunching its affiliate program on the Rakuten Advertising Affiliate Network, ECHT saw a 19% uplift in revenue and 13% increase in AOV year-over-year (YoY).

Over a 5-week period, all transactions from the CLO campaign were from new customers. The campaign also successfully boosted ECHT’s basket size, where the campaign AOV was 58% higher than program AOV.

The Linkby content campaign successfully assisted ECHT in brand discovery locally and internationally through Urban List and Daily Mail. With their readership combined reaching one in three Americans, the content sites drove a total of 1,821 clicks. All orders made were from new customers who purchased the products promoted in the article.Learnings:

Learnings

The success of ECHT’s affiliate program with Rakuten Advertising shows the effectiveness of a strategic and diverse publisher portfolio.
ECHT was not only able to reach its primary objective of revenue growth, but also efficiently harnessed the power of content, obtained new customers and increased its AOV.

Rakuten Advertising has been a very proactive and supportive partner. The team always listen to our needs and goals and has been very flexible, constantly working with us to achieve our strategic objectives as they change throughout the year.

Naomi Lay
General Manager, ECHT