Acceleration Partners

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the head of marketing partnerships at a healthcare company. We use psychology to help people live healthier lives.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Acceleration Partners?

We had some capacity constraints on the affiliate marketing side and needed to build a bigger team quickly.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Acceleration Partners provides an ample resource team to manage our affiliate marketing program. They handle fraud auditing, payment transactions, and analysis through Impact Radius. Their team also manages publishers and coordinates partnership relationships. At times, they provide strategic guidance.

What is the team composition?

We work with 5–7 members of their team, including a senior director, senior manager, and some account managers.

How did you come to work with Acceleration Partners?

We were already working with them when I joined the team, but I’ve been very pleased with Acceleration Partners.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement with Acceleration Partners began in October 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Acceleration Partners have driven a lot of signups for us. They’ve quadrupled the number of customers for partnership programs since I started.

How did Acceleration Partners perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management tools are really effective. They use documentation and sheets to keep me updated constantly. We also have biweekly calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Acceleration Partners really feels like an extension of our own team. They don’t feel like an agency, they feel like colleagues who really care about our performance. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

In the beginning, there was a lack of strategic guidance, but it’s really evolved over time. We now have a close working relationship. All of the execution was done flawlessly.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Clarify your specific goals, needs, and priorities. Build a close relationship and help them prioritize what is most important to you.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are the first 100% plant-based meal subscription service in the market. We offer breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks on a weekly basis, and we’re located a little bit outside of Boston. The company is six years old, and I’ve been working here for three years now. I’m currently the marketing retention manager, and it’s just a lot of fun creating and enhancing the best customer experience possible.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Acceleration Partners?

We started with them at the end of 2017, when we were just trying to get our name out there, going through different marketing channels — a phase where a lot of startups go through. We were experimenting with a lot of different ways such as in home and out of home advertising. At one point, we did influencer marketing but we stopped.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Acceleration works as our full-service agency. One of the ways we started testing with them is through the affiliate program. We became affiliate partners and since then, we’ve seen tremendous growth that enabled us to shift our strategy to keep up with the process.

Our subscription services saw a bump across the board last year, due to the nature of AP's service — so we had a really good year last year. Currently, we’re still seeing an expansion of what our partnerships can be thanks to AP. they’re facilitating outreach contacts, schedule calls, do monthly reporting, and deal with strategies and projections. 

When I say full service, I mean they take care of the entire channel and all they really need from us is a yes. This is great because we trust them to make the right decisions, and the channel has been performing phenomenally well through the years.

What is the team composition?

We have a team of about five people, but our main point of contact is Dana (Senior Account Manager). She’s great, she facilitates and puts together all the reportings, and helps and guides us with our strategies. We also work closely with Justin (Associate Account Manager), who is awesome, and he leads us through a lot of the calls and does a little bit more of the day-to-day.

Additionally, we have Leanna (Affiliate Marketing Associate), who also does some day-to-day work, so we actually have a really robust team, all things considered.

How did you come to work with Acceleration Partners?

I wasn’t there at the beginning, I came in a little bit later. However, I do remember we weren’t originally looking to do affiliate programs. I believe Acceleration reached out to us and my manager. They had a really great pitch and understanding of what an affiliate is — they’re breaking the mold and expanding it. After that, we had a trial period and their performance just blew us out of the water.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in December 2017, and it’s been ongoing since then.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Basically, the metrics really are subscriptions. From February 2019–2020, we experienced a 400 plus year-over-year(YOY) growth, and from February 2020–2021, we had a 100% channel performance growth alone.

How did Acceleration Partners perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very on top of all the deadlines and things we need to get over, in order to handle billing and processing, which is great. I know that I don’t have to worry about the management side, because I know they’ll send an email before it’s due, to give me some time to be able to communicate.

They’re really amazing from a project management standpoint. They facilitate the relationship between us and the partners, which really takes the load off of us, and they make sure everything runs smoothly. If we ever run into any hiccups, they’ll take the lead on that and work everything out, which is super amazing.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I know this is not a good answer, but they do everything so well. Acceleration Partners has been so friendly and amazing to work with based on their work ethics, style, and personalities alone. We actually look forward to having calls with them because they’re just so open to talking through anything and everything. They’re so organized and they make the process really easy for us.

You can’t pay for that, that’s just the AP culture. And in terms of something that other affiliate agencies don’t do, is they’re always willing to reach out and see if there’s a way to work with them. On some level, even if it ends up not working out, they’re still willing to have that conversation. The sky’s the limit for them, which is why the channel has been performing so well.

Having additional directors on our account, overseeing everything with us from time to time, is part of the reason we know we’re in good hands. It’s just been great talking to them, we have at least five email exchanges a day. There’s also stuff to talk about and look into, which is great. They really do a good job of making whoever the contact is on the brand side, a big part of the team.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The only thing I ever have an issue with is the logistical billings. The processing is a little bit complicated, but AP helps us navigate it as best as possible. That’s the only thing in the partnership that can be challenging sometimes.

However, when you compare their amazing data and organized project management to their creative side, it doesn't stand out as much. But they're full service, which is something you should take advantage of if your brand needs it.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would say to let them take the lead. They’re very creative and exploratory with the channel, and they’re going to try and push you to try it too. Having an open mind is also one of the best approaches, because you’re going to be in such good hands.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

At the time of our engagement, I was head of affiliate marketing and performance partnerships at a transportation company. I ran a global organization with a presence in Europe, Asia, and the Americas.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Acceleration Partners?

We needed someone to support our affiliate program. Generally speaking, affiliate programs are resource- and people-constrained; you need to build a lot of relationships, develop partnerships, and help them drive scale. 

I needed an experienced partner that already had existing relationships that my team could also act on. Our ideal partner would amplify the value proposition of our company as partner for these affiliates we were trying to bring into the program. Acceleration Partners had existing connections to all of these affiliates, as well as the knowledge and know-how to operate a program like this. They were also willing to grow with us as we went from running the program only in the US to many countries.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Acceleration Partners managed our affiliate marketing program. I had people in Europe, Asia, South America, the US, and Canada working with Acceleration Partners to manage and scale our affiliate program. It’s effectively a pay-for-performance marketing program where partners joined us and sent traffic to our website by writing articles or placing links, creative, or ads. They were paid a commission whenever a potential customer took certain action on the advertiser’s website or app, or even purchased a product. 

They looked for affiliate partners and brought them into our program. They onboarded the partners and helped them optimize their ads, drive more traffic, and grow their business in a way that also helped our business grow.

Acceleration Partners helped us figure out which partners were most important. They monitored the state of the program and identified opportunities. As our team grew, they also hired more people to provide us support in implementing strategies, developing new partnerships, and driving scale.

What is the team composition?

I had 18 people on my account. At the time, I believe we were their largest client, and they did an absolutely excellent job.

How did you come to work with Acceleration Partners?

They were already working with our company before I even joined. However, I knew Robert (Founder) for a number of years, and I’d worked with them before — I knew and trusted them.  

What is the status of this engagement?

Acceleration Partners started working with my former company before I joined, around March 2015. I no longer work at the company, but I believe the partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

We went from running the program in one country to operating in 78 countries. The affiliate program was the single most efficient marketing channel in our company. 

How did Acceleration Partners perform from a project management standpoint?

Acceleration Partners was very well integrated into our team, and we had regular in-person meetings. They provided individual support for each of our teammates in different regions, including Asia Pacific, Singapore, Amsterdam, and London. They were very tightly integrated into our business process and they had access to tools that we used, like Impact Radius.

What I liked about them was that they worked to accommodate our business's needs, instead of the other way around. They were very flexible and spent a great deal of energy in training and onboarding people as we expanded. They made sure that they were tightly integrated in terms of how we got business.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Acceleration Partners was the best at executing affiliate marketing. At this point, they already have the relationships with the partners and know all of the necessary tools you will need when you start. They already understand or will understand your business faster than anyone else. They can drive results much more quickly if you work with them.

Currently, Acceleration Partners is so big that they suck all the oxygen out of the room from other providers. They are the standard, and everybody else is effectively gauged by them. I watched their evolution and they earned it because they executed very strongly. I've been doing this for a very long time and know that Acceleration Partners is the only agency that I trust and recommend.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There were growing pains, especially since we were going from one country to operating in 78. They were hiring people as we were hiring people, and there's always that learning process. 

At the start, we experienced difficulties in figuring out how to grow, train, and onboard new people, and how to get them to even understand our business. Our affiliate program was fiendishly complex and it involved so many countries, different legal requirements, and various types of products. 

It was a lot of work. I would’ve liked if they’d been a bit more prepared for that level of engagement earlier on. However, to their credit, once they realized that they owned it, they were fast. Any time something happened, they were on top of it. I didn't have to ask them to fix something; they came to me, explained what happened, and let me know how they were fixing it. They looked for and acted on the solution.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

To be successful, affiliate marketing requires investment and staying power. That investment is not necessarily monetary, but rather time, energy, and a willingness to see it through. It's not a channel that becomes your single largest one in five days; it's a channel that becomes your most valuable one over time. 

It’s very wise to work with them as soon as you identify that it could be valuable for you. You should work with a partner that can realize the value of affiliate marketing. You want to get the “A” player for something that you know will be foundational in the long run. Get the agency that maximizes your chance of success at the start and invest time and energy into it. 

Affiliate marketing doesn't work for an advertiser unless you’re willing to stick with it, get the right partner, and put the energy into the effort. Before you know it, the program will suddenly become foundational and drive real and solid business growth in a very cost-effective way. That only happens when you invest, follow through, and have the right partner to do this with you.