PartnerCentric, Inc.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the principal market manager for VSP Vision Care, responsible for driving awareness and sales of our individual vision plan offerings. We sell individual vision insurance plans direct to consumers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with PartnerCentric, Inc.?

We didn’t have an affiliate marketing program in our line of business, so while looking for new marketing tactics, we decided to start an affiliate marketing program. Thus, we partnered with PartnerCentric to help us drive more awareness and sales of our product offering.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

PartnerCentric helps us manage our affiliate marketing program. We work collaboratively with them and with different publishers who have joined our program. Our program is a lead-based program, so we work with those publishers on a pay-per-performance model, which means we pay for driving qualified leads to our website.

From a strategy perspective, PartnerCentric has focused on finding the best publishers and creating diversity in our program so that we’re not dependent on one or two publishers.

PartnerCentric already knows our key target audiences and value propositions. Thus, they continuously recruit new and different types of publishers to continue growing our program. Then, we vet those publishers together to determine which ones will join our program.

Part of PartnerCentric’s strategy is to know when to push back with publishers. In this regard, they act as the liaison between the publishers and us, so they have conversations with them to gather information. If something isn’t meeting our needs, they communicate with us, and we make adjustments to ensure our money is being spent efficiently.

We’re in charge of developing all the creative assets for our campaigns internally; PartnerCentric’s efforts are focused on our strategy of both managing existing publisher placements as well as recruiting new business. Therefore, they also work with these publishers to understand their needs and communicate them to us. Then, we work with our internal team to translate those needs into ad copy and creative assets that will work best for our business.

What is the team composition?

We have an account manager and someone in a support role assigned to our account, with whom we work on a daily basis. Additionally, I meet once per month with their Senior Director of Client Success. Every once in a while, I also meet with other members of their executive team.

How did you come to work with PartnerCentric, Inc.?

I met them at an affiliate conference. They seemed very personable and were a smaller agency. During the conference, I was able to speak to some of their actual clients to see how they liked them and heard really good things about them. From the start, I felt that PartnerCentric provided me with very good one-on-one attention, and they showed commitment to growing our program, so I hired them.

How much have you invested with them?

While we don’t share those details as a matter of policy, we can share that we’ve significantly increased our spend over the course of our partnership.

What is the status of this engagement?

We originally met in September 2013, but we started our affiliate program in 2014. Our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

From 2015–2022, PartnerCentric has helped us increase our sales by over 200% and our leads by 26%.

How did PartnerCentric, Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

PartnerCentric’s project management has been very good. Although we’ve had some challenges, nothing has been too worrisome about them. I would still give them good marks in that regard.

We meet with them on a biweekly basis to go through all of our program needs and the different publishers we’re working with, which helps us understand how to continue growing our business. Additionally, we communicate via email.

PartnerCentric also provides us with a weekly report that shows how we’re doing from a budget standpoint. This report also shows how many new publishers have entered our program, how many applications they’ve approved and denied, and the performance of each publisher regarding leads and sales.

What did you find most impressive about them?

PartnerCentric is very responsive and easy to do business with, and they always care about their clients, which is a big plus. Moreover, one of our company’s goals is to work with diverse vendors, and PartnerCentric is a women-owned agency, which is unique in our space.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It would be great if PartnerCentric had a better way of forecasting budgets.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be very transparent with your business, understand your goals, and know where you’re headed so that you can be very clear about what you’re looking for, both from a budget and a lead/sales perspective. This will help PartnerCentric know what they’re driving toward to build a successful program.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I formerly worked as an Affiliate Market Executive for Manchester-based U.K. fast fashion brand.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire PartnerCentric, Inc., and what were your goals?

Expansion into US market and increased revenue/brand awareness via Affiliate Marketing channels:

• contacts with US publishers
• negotiating short and long term packages with existing and new partners
• weekly analysis/reviews of data and trends

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

I understand that Missguided were approached by vendor before I started in the role. Deciding factors were Partner Centric’s domestic position in the US and their network of publishers/experience in the area.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and marking tools used.

Various projects depending on Missguided’s product/offer focus:

• arranging phone calls with new publishers
• proposing creative partnerships/collaborations
• negotiation of exposure on publisher websites/offline spaces
• influencer programme management

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Erinn was our account manager. She handled majority of the conversations with publishers, was in contact daily with us via email and available for weekly calls. Erinn introduced us to new publishers and strengthened relationships/deals with existing ones with her experience of working with them for other clients. Erinn was also always happy to liaise with our mirror account manager from the other affiliate agency we used to track sales and clicks.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

We measured success by the cost per acquisition and traffic to the specific pages of the website. Their various creative affiliate projects resulted in an overall big uplift in click throughs. This has increased brand awareness.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very. Flexible and adapted to what suited us. Couldn’t do more.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

• Brilliant service
• Amazing communication
• Reliable
• Organized
• Lots of contacts in industry
• Flexibility
• Adaptability to changing terms now of a fast pace retail brand

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

No.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of marketing at Bellhop, a technology company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with PartnerCentric, Inc.?

We needed their growth marketing expertise to improve our customer acquisition rate.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’ve presented our business model and project goals to PartnerCentric, Inc., and they’ve set up affiliate marketing strategies based on that information. They’ve reached out to potential partners and discussed the business opportunities each partner can bring to our business if we decide to engage them. Once we finalize our options, PartnerCentric, Inc. then prepares a pitch to present to our prospective partner.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with 3–4 resources from their team, including an account manager and an analyst.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $400,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement started in February 2020. We’re looking to wrap up the project by March 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

PartnerCentric, Inc. has brought in a little over $2 million in revenue for us with their growth marketing expertise. 

How did PartnerCentric, Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate via weekly meetings and keep track of deliverables through spreadsheets. PartnerCentric, Inc. has reliable project management skills that pivot our marketing efforts.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re most impressed with PartnerCentric, Inc.’s thorough understanding of our business model and their capacity to maximize their experience and connections to meet our needs.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They can consider amplifying their pitching skills.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

PartnerCentric, Inc. is a great provider to get any affiliate program up and running. You can trust their honest and professional team to accomplish your targets.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the performance marketing manager at a travel company. I oversee all of our paid advertising efforts, including Google Ads, social media, display ads, and affiliate marketing campaigns. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with PartnerCentric, Inc.?

We hired PartnerCentric for our affiliate marketing efforts. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

PartnerCentric used a third-party affiliate network to help us, while their services included the recruitment of publishers, social groups, content, and blogs focused around the cruise market vertical. Once those groups were recruited into our affiliate program, PartnerCentric provided them with display banners, links, and everything else they could use to link back to our site.

Then, the team continuously kept up with those recruits, ensuring that they were actively driving traffic to our site and getting their users to convert or take action on our website. They also managed the performance of our publishers, paying them higher payouts or commissions if they were performing well.

What is the team composition?

We had one main point of contact and two other team members. One of them was a director that came in for bigger strategy meetings. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $25,000–$50,000 for their services. 

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement technically lasted from August 2020–November 2021. 

To clarify, we started working with them in August 2020, but we had to put the engagement on pause for 4–5 months because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Then, we picked it back up in April 2021. The contract then ended in November 2021, but we’re planning to restart our contract in the first quarter of 2022. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

From a KPI standpoint, we focused on three things, namely the visits to our site, the clicks or views within the website, and the revenue derived from these. PartnerCentric drove a 112% lift in terms of visits; this was the average monthly average we recorded against the time when we didn’t use them. More importantly, our site clicks or actions were up by 390% — this was a higher-priority metric than visits. In terms of revenue, the team drove a 357% increase. 

Overall, the trajectory of the results was strong. In fact, from April–November 2021, our revenue dipped only once month-over-month, and even that was caused only by industry-related issues due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

How did PartnerCentric, Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

PartnerCentric did a great job in terms of project management. We were up against the COVID-19 pandemic, and the travel and cruise industries were slow to recover. However, the team did a great job in the face of adversity. They continued to add and activate publishers, and our month-over-month performance also continued to improve. 

Moreover, they handled essentially everything — I barely had to do anything from a relationship or activation standpoint. This was crucial for us because we had limited bandwidth. In other words, they allowed us to be incredibly hands-off. This was important for us because affiliate marketing required a hands-on approach, which they fulfilled. They never bugged me about it, and yet we still had great success as we moved along. 

To communicate, we had weekly recap meetings every Friday. The meetings were highly efficient, and we had few email exchanges. They provided us with everything we needed during our meetings, and this helped us keep our bandwidth open. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their recruitment capabilities were impressive. They had an extensive amount of potential publishers out there that were all credible. PartnerCentric provided us with many options, and they always explained in detail what the partner or publisher could deliver.  

Overall, their extensive scale and understanding of the publisher space separated them from other providers. They made it easy for us to recruit and build our affiliate marketing network quickly and efficiently.

Are there any areas they could improve?

From an organizational standpoint, they could still be a bit cleaner in terms of weekly reporting and updates. We did a lot of things efficiently during our weekly calls, but in some instances, they could have provided cleaner documents, and they could have been more succinct in their reports.

To be fair, they were able to explain many things, but it would have been better if they didn’t even need to explain the reports and organizational documents they delivered. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be upfront and transparent with PartnerCentric; be succinct in what you need from them. This will help you get your relationship off the ground quite quickly. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior digital marketing manager at a water filter company, overseeing all our digital marketing channels. We provide clean, healthy water through our water filtration systems and focused on improving health and wellness. Our systems range from whole-house filtration to under-sink, shower, and countertop drinking. We cover the range of a home’s water filtration needs.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with PartnerCentric, Inc.?

We were looking for assistance in managing our affiliate marketing program because we didn’t have the internal bandwidth to manage it. Metrics-wise, our goals were to increase our affiliate marketing sales, web traffic, and number of affiliate publishers.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Primarily, PartnerCentric has been managing our affiliate marketing program, working on them with everything from high-level strategy to day-to-day operations. They contact our affiliate partners, manage commission offers, answer questions, onboard new affiliates, and resolve issues on our platform.

We do regular holiday campaigns, but really our bigger ones have expanded our number of publishers in our content area. Rather than just coupon sites, we wanted to connect with people via websites focusing on water filtration and quality.

They don’t do a whole lot of creative design. If anything, we create materials and deliver them to PartnerCentric. Their final responsibility is to collect statistics on our affiliate marketing performance and report them.

What is the team composition?

We regularly work with our account manager and an assistant, meeting on a weekly basis. They have a larger account management and a support team, that we talk with from time to time. There are also quarterly and yearly reviews.

How did you come to work with PartnerCentric, Inc.?

Our company has been working with them for many years before my time. We were looking for a leader in the affiliate marketing space, and I’d actually heard of them before with them from a previous company. They’re well known in the industry.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend about $10,000–$49,999 per month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since May 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We don’t have any exact numbers, but in my two years here I’ve seen significant year over year growth in our affiliate marketing sales. This fulfills our primary goal. We’ve also onboarded productive new affiliate publishers. PartnerCentric, Inc. has exceeded all our goals.

How did PartnerCentric, Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

I’m really happy with their account management. We have weekly calls to review our performance any challenges that have come up. They’re responsive to our requests and questions, and they always email us back.

Spreadsheets stored on Google are used to manage our projects. Ongoing metrics are always available to us. We both update and make comments to these sheets.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their overall expertise in affiliate marketing stands out, as does their account management and knowledge of the industry.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Obviously, we’d like lower pricing, but our costs grow as the program grows. This is the only thing I can say about them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

PartnerCentric would be a good choice for anyone looking to start or grow an affiliate program. Be clear with your goals. I’m confident that they’d be able to help other companies meet their goals.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of marketing operations for a company that streams high school sports. We’re partners with 46 state associations, but we work with schools for regular season sports in every state across the country. Meanwhile, we stream high school sports when fans can’t make it to the games, allowing them to watch the games on their phones or laptops connected to their TVs — wherever they can get internet access. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with PartnerCentric, Inc.?

We’re a subscription-based service like Netflix and ESPN+, and we’re trying to grow our subscriber base. To do that, we use PartnerCentric to get more referrals from areas we might not reach by ourselves. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

PartnerCentric has connections with companies in the affiliate programs space, and they’ve connected us with those companies. They then give those affiliates information about us for them to refer more subscribers to our network. 

Apart from companies in the affiliate network, PartnerCentric also helps us contact smaller firms that want to get paid to help us promote our group. We send the firms’ information to Daniel (Affiliate Program Manager) to set them up. Overall, the affiliate network is a mix of large and small companies. 

What is the team composition?

I work with two PartnerCentric resources, and I have one main point of contact from their team. 

How did you come to work with PartnerCentric, Inc.?

Our CMO had worked with PartnerCentric in the past, and he had a great experience with them. Based on that past experience, he wanted to use them again. 

What is the status of this engagement?

The affiliate program started in February 2020, though we had to stop for 1–2 months because of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the engagement is now ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

PartnerCentric has brought in companies that drive good traffic. Not only that; we’ve also grown our subscriber base, which is our main goal. So far, we’ve had a fantastic year — we’re up by at least 60% on the year. 

Overall, their services have made it easier for us to acquire partners that refer customers to us. The partnership is a seamless way to help us and other companies make money through the referral program. 

How did PartnerCentric, Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

I have weekly video calls with Daniel and his team, and we also communicate via email. Whenever I need something, I can email them and they’ll respond quickly. Overall, we’ve had no problems on this side of things. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The ease of working with PartnerCentric has been their distinguishing factor. They respond quickly to our needs, and we haven’t run into problems that they can’t solve. They’re always there to help us, and the process has been seamless. 

Moreover, Daniel knows exactly what we’re trying to do. As a result, the team can find the right companies to partner with us on our affiliate program. Overall, everything has been easy and great. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t any. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

PartnerCentric is a great partner, and hiring them is a great choice for you. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a small, full-service bank in Chicago that offers a credit card to mainstream audiences. My position is the marketing director of customer acquisition.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with PartnerCentric, Inc.?

We were trying to grow our business and brought in PartnerCentric to augment the services we were receiving from another vendor. They brought expertise, as well as access to their relationships with publishers we hadn’t had any luck accessing to date.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our initial step was to educate PartnerCentric, Inc. on our business, our products, and our target audience. This allowed them to recommend appropriate publishers for us to partner with. Their involvement continued after identification, as they negotiated terms with the publishers we selected and sent us write-ups to review for accuracy. Additionally, we worked with them to ensure all commissions were set up to appropriately attribute payments.

After the go-live, the spigot opened and allowed us to see which publishers were performing well and which weren’t PartnerCentric was proactive about recommending changes to our targeting criteria. As time went on, we maximized our channels and opened to new ones to grow account volume.

What is the team composition?

I worked with two teams of two people at any given time. One account manager and one analyst were on each team, with the former cultivating relationships with publishers and the latter maintaining tracking and reporting. 

How did you come to work with PartnerCentric, Inc.?

We were working with another vendor in a similar role who recommended PartnerCentric, as they had relationships in the industry that our initial vendor didn’t. The two vendors have worked very well together.  

What is the status of this engagement?

We went live with our program in December 2018, but new accounts didn’t kick off until January 2019. Our relationship continued up to January 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our program was already stable, but PartnerCentric contributed an extra 25% to our new accounts. In the first four months of 2020, their contribution increased to 36%. They were a key, integral part of our team.

How did PartnerCentric, Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

They were excellent. Our account person was proactive and continually brought creative ideas about new places we could advertise and new ways to position our products. The business analyst was similarly outstanding. I can’t remember a single mistake or omission they made in something we received. We could always trust their numbers.

PartnerCentric was very responsive. We used a project tracker to collaborate, as well as weekly calls and ad hoc emails.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their expertise and broad relationships stood out and gave us an edge in bringing in clients.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The only hiccup happened in the early months. PartnerCentric put together a plan for ramping up and set an advertising goal for new accounts for the first six months. It took them a lot longer than expected to reach that number, so they could have managed expectations more upfront. The results began sprinting along quickly, though, and they responded excellently when I brought this issue to their attention.

During this slow period, we were paying a commission to PartnerCentric after they paid a commission to the publishers. We were also paying them a flat amount regardless of the booking numbers. PartnerCentric was willing to renegotiate our agreements, and even give up some revenue, so that the financials would work out for us.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Encourage them to leverage best practices, both within your industry and with publishers outside your industry. This will help refine your program and identify new opportunities.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I lead the eCommerce business including affiliate marketing for a national retailer in the wellness space.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire PartnerCentric, Inc.?

We hired PC to manager our existing affiliate program and run it more efficiently

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We shortlisted three agencies to partner on managing our existing affiliate marketing program. Deciding factors were overall partner fit, costs and demonstration to build additional value to the program. The working team also became a deciding factor.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

PC did an audit of our existing program and helped transition the program from a shared service internally. They were able to quickly stand up the program with no gaps of service or missed payments to our affiliate partners. The team was able to identify opportunities for growth and efficiency.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We worked primarily with our account manager, but also relied on the existing resources within PC, particularly around new complementary technologies and analytics.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

I can't recall the specifics as it's been some time since we worked together, but the team was able to make a sizable improvement in our affiliate marketing program. They utilized existing partnerships with key affiliate partners to ensure fair compensation and efficiency.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The PC team was able to communicate regularly with members of my team to improve communication around the program. This resulted in a smooth program and more efficient communication.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The PC team was able to adapt the program to fit our business and advise us on growth opportunities. The company size complemented my small team and became an extension of our business. They were able to navigate challenges with our program in a seamless manner.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

It would have been ideal to expand their work into other areas of the business, but the company was sold and I left the organization.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO of Kind Water Systems

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We sell residential water treatment equipment online.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire PartnerCentric, Inc. to accomplish?

• Drive revenue
• Add partners
• Help build our brand awareness

SOLUTION

How did you find PartnerCentric, Inc.?

Worked with Schaff in the past. PC acquired Schaff.

Why did you select PartnerCentric, Inc. over others?

We knew their predecessor company.

How many teammates from PartnerCentric, Inc. were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

• Manage existing affiliate partners.
• Find and onboard new affiliate partners.
• Drive revenue through affiliate channel.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• New affiliates added.
• Revenue growth.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

• Hi touch weekly updates.  
• Very detailed.  
• They had quick responses via email.

What was your primary form of communication with PartnerCentric, Inc.?

Virtual Meeting

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Our account manager, Courtney.

Are there any areas for improvement or something PartnerCentric, Inc. could have done differently?

No.