Cloggs has over ten years experience selling branded footwear online. Cloggs.co.uk, offers top brands including Dr Martens, Converse, UGG Australia, Fitflop and many more, providing home shoppers with access to top brand footwear at low cost.
The site receives 15,000 unique users per day on average whilst the European site www.cloggs.eu, launched in 2008 after an excellent track record with affiliate marketing, receives approximately 4,000 unique users per day.
With a relatively modest marketing budget compared to some of the larger online retailers, Cloggs needed to focus on the most effective marketing measures. In-house activities centred on SEO, content development and site design, to enhance its USPs of great customer service and user-friendly functionality.
APPROACH
Affiliate marketing was acknowledged as the best way to allow Cloggs to compete and build and maintain their online presence. Cloggs had worked with a number of other networks before signing up with Webgains. Webgains was selected because of its European reach and strong reputation for customer service.
Cloggs is 100% committed to making its affiliate strategy work and employs an affiliate marketing agency, Existem am, to help realise this objective. Each month Cloggs plans, produces and sends in advance new promotional codes as well as seasonal campaigns to its affiliates. All supporting marketing initiatives including banners and mid season sales offers must be ready long before the “go live” date to ensure distribution is fully prepared and ready to maximise exposure. Thanks to the transparency and inherent functionality within the Webgains platform, Cloggs can communicate directly with all affiliates involved, or a specific sub-set, and at the same time are able to create bespoke creative for them if required.
Kerry Gunn, Marketing Manager at Cloggs explains the importance of communication with affiliates and how it contributed to the success of the program: "Cloggs has spent time maximising the use of all the relevant communication channels available to increase its contact with affiliates. These channels include - the Existem-am blog, Cloggs Affiliate Blog, Webgains Blog, the Webgains email system, the Affiliates4u Forum and direct msn contact through Existem am. We have found all these channels have really helped to make sure that affiliates are always up to date with our top selling products and also any new products or new brands we launch. We also provide affiliates with the option of exclusive codes to help convert their traffic while promoting their own website.”
Following the success experienced in the UK market with Webgains and Existem-am, Cloggs has now expanded the program into Europe.
Nick Thomas, Company Director, comments on the success of their European activity:
“We have been merchant partners with Webgains for a number of years now and it has provided our online business with a first class and dedicated service that you just don’t get with some of the larger networks.”
“We always get fast support and I find Webgains’ systems the friendliest to use and manage affiliate relationships with. This has encouraged us to use Webgains’ services to enter Europe confidently and the results have been astonishing. The success of our European site in its first year would not have been as profound without the excellent support of the whole Webgains team.”
RESULTS
Gunn says, “Affiliate marketing is a good way of getting into the ‘nooks and crannies’ of the internet whilst targeting unique customers. Affiliates drive a significant volume of our overall number of new visitors. We get completely fresh customers from this channel, with no issue of duplication or conflicts with other marketing efforts from other online channels. Another benefit is that this is completely pre-qualified traffic, which means it is more likely to convert into customers. Conversion of this traffic is actually higher than pay-per-click, shopping feeds and comparison websites.
“The challenge for the future,” Gunn comments, “is finding new affiliates and of course ones who can become key affiliates on our program. It is important to be consistent and find creative ways to incentivise affiliates and keep them loyal.”
The Cloggs affiliate marketing program has grown by 112% in 2008. We fully expect continued growth in the years to come.
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