ECHT

ECHT moves Affiliate Marketing program to Rakuten Advertising and thrives 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

ECHT launched its affiliate program with Rakuten Advertising in late 2020. The brand, like any other, wanted to increase its revenue through affiliate marketing. Rakuten Advertising helped ECHT strategise and execute two campaigns, card-linked offers (CLO) and content, perfectly encompassing the entire shopping journey from discovery to purchase. Both campaigns worked hand-in-hand, enabling ECHT to extend its reach to new customers and, at the same time, drive revenue growth.

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The Goal

As an up-and-coming activewear retailer, ECHT placed a strong emphasis on driving incremental sales. 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 enabled the retailer to capture customers at all stages of their shopping journey. ECHT was able to forge 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. The goals of this partnership were to increase AOV and acquire 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. These deals were only offered to those who have not purchased on ECHT with their eligible credit card in the last 12 months to ensure all purchases were from new customers.

Content Campaign

ECHT launched its content campaign with Linkby. Linkby connects advertisers with premium content publishers around the world through a performance-based cost-per-click (CPC) model. The publisher was chosen for its ability to 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 piece that showcases the new range in detail, coupled with exclusive discount codes. This combination attracted content sites on the Linkby network to help 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). Each campaign also contributed to the following results:

Over 5 weeks, 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 campaign assisted ECHT in brand discovery globally through Urban List and Daily Mail. Their combined leadership reached 1 in 3 Americans and drove 1,821 clicks.

Learnings

The success of ECHT’s affiliate program with Rakuten Advertising shows the effectiveness of a strategic and diverse publisher portfolio.

ECHT was able to reach its primary objective of revenue growth and 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