Affiliate partnership programme is helping motoring organisation boost growth in online channel

Affiliate partnership programme is helping motoring organisation boost growth in online channel

UK motoring organisation RAC offers a comprehensive range of services to consumers and business including breakdown cover, insurance, legal services, automotive checks, and examinations.

Having launched an affiliate programme on the buy.at network almost three years ago, the brand has seen 156% channel growth from 2008 to 2010. RAC has run a variety of performance driven campaigns within its sector. Throughout the life of the programme, it reported that these promotions have proved invaluable to the uplift of its affiliate business, specifically building publisher relationships and incrementally increasing sales volume.

RAC has a proven track record of being progressive, innovative and engaging with online partners and is currently shortlisted for three 2011 A4U Awards, including best finance advertiser, best use of affiliate marketing as part of a multichannel campaign, and best search partnership.

Building brand partnerships online

Historically, RAC struggled to have a presence within the voucher code sector due to a lack of voucher code functionality on their website. In late June 2010, however, this obstacle was overcome with the introduction of a consumer offer via a dedicated voucher code partner, VoucherCodes.co.uk, in the form of an RAC co-branded Marks and Spencer (M&S) voucher.

VoucherCodes.co.uk was chosen as RAC’s exclusive partner for this campaign as it offered a range of promotional opportunities, including a newsletter database that offered exposure to a wide audience of over 3 million members. As the campaign was operated on a click-per-action (CPA) basis, this marketing opportunity offered a low risk, cost-effective platform to drive sales and attract new customers. The RAC was also reassured by VoucherCodes.co.uk’s strict adherence to the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) guidelines for voucher code sites.

Initially, the proposition was offered on a trial basis, as all parties involved were uncertain as to how successfully it would be received within the insurance vertical.

Ahead of the new Advertising Standards Association (ASA) guidelines and regulations, the RAC made sure the incentive displayed a clear set of stringent terms and conditions, with the prerequisite that they be clearly displayed in their entirety on the voucher code site, with a visible start and expiration date in place.

To ensure RAC, as a business were pushing its higher-end products, the promotion was also limited to only customers who purchased a level of coverage outside the basic roadside package, priced at £28. This resulted in improving the average policy value with by 14%.

The vouchers were initially offered at a value of £15. However in November 2010, RAC decided to increase this to £20 to strengthen their proposition. In the near future, RAC is considering working with additional, well-known brands in the retail sector where consumers can choose their preferred voucher.

Partnership yields strong results

Due to the strength and exclusive nature of the offer and the appeal and consumer interest in the RAC brand, VoucherCodes.co.uk was able to provide the offer with its full promotional support, including regular newsletter and banner opportunities.

RAC’s results yielded an impressive 3,000% uplift in number of sales in comparison to the same timeframe in the previous month. This level of increase was not a one-off and the increase in return on investment (ROI) was calculated as 182%.

RAC then ran the incentive later on in the year, and achieved an additional 1,800% increase in sales. Going into 2011, the RAC and VoucherCodes.co.uk proposition hit a record high with an enormous 5,431% increase, making a great start to the first quarter of the year.

As a result of performance RAC is now testing different voucher code incentives across its other products, such as car and home insurance, with the hope of expecting similar results to that of breakdown.

Marina Pettengell, head of partnerships at VoucherCodes.co.uk, commented: “Since our initial campaign in 2010, our relationship with RAC has gone from strength to strength. As a result of RAC’s proactive and innovative approach, we have been able to provide RAC with significantly more exposure, and have seen a phenomenal improvement in RAC’s performance on VoucherCodes.co.uk.”

Elizabeth Woods, affiliate manager for RAC, added: “We’ve been overwhelmed with the performance of our M&S promotion via eConversion’s site VoucherCodes.co.uk. It’s been refreshing to work with a publisher who is flexible and willing to find an alternative solution to fulfil the RAC Breakdown promotion. Their enthusiasm to work collaboratively with RAC and the consequent increase in ROI has benefited both parties considerably and we look forward to growing performance even further in 2011.”