With support from Tradedoubler, Marks Electrical cut its average CPA by 15% and lifted affiliate ROI by 15% without simply spending less, by shifting from optimising for volume to optimising for value.
Campaign Objective: Profitability Under Pressure
Marks Electrical is a leading UK online retailer specialising in household appliances and consumer electronics.
Against a backdrop of inflation, cautious consumer spending and increased competition, the business needed to improve the profitability of its affiliate programme. The challenge was to ensure that investment was directed towards the partners and activity delivering the greatest commercial value.
The objective was to improve affiliate profitability and efficiency through a more data-led approach to investment and optimisation, while ensuring the programme was well positioned for the important peak trading period.
Strategy and Approach: Value Over Volume
The strategy centred on a shift from optimising for volume to optimising for value.
Rather than evaluating success primarily through the amount of traffic or sales generated, Marks Electrical and Tradedoubler focused more closely on the relationship between investment and return. Performance data was used to identify where the budget was creating the greatest value and where activity could be improved.
A second priority was to make the publisher portfolio more efficient. This meant directing greater attention and investment towards higher-performing partners while continuing to develop the mix with publishers capable of delivering strong conversion and commercial value.
The strategy also recognised that timing matters as much as allocation. Instead of treating exposure as a static investment, the programme aimed to align it more closely with publisher performance and periods of stronger consumer demand.
Finally, established affiliate models such as cashback and voucher activity were treated as areas for active optimisation rather than routine programme components. The aim was to improve how these partnerships contributed to conversion and ROI while maintaining their important role within the wider publisher mix.
Execution: Budget Follows Performance
The strategy was implemented through a series of data-led changes across the programme:
- Optimise acquisition costs: Performance across core categories including Floorcare, Large Domestic Appliances and TV/AV was analysed to identify opportunities to reduce cost per acquisition and improve the return generated from publisher investment.
- Reallocate investment towards value: Budget was shifted away from lower-ROI activity and towards higher-performing partners. At the same time, higher-converting publishers were onboarded to strengthen the portfolio and introduce new sources of efficient growth.
- Make exposure more dynamic: Static exposure planning was replaced with a more performance-weighted approach, allowing investment to respond to publisher performance.
- Improve cashback and voucher efficiency: Cashback and voucher activity was refined to strengthen conversion and ROI, including the use of exclusive-code strategies to create more effective promotional opportunities.
- Review and optimise continuously: Performance insights were used throughout the programme to guide investment decisions, ensuring activity could be adjusted as publisher and category performance evolved.
Together, these changes moved the programme towards a more adaptive model in which publisher investment, exposure and optimisation decisions were increasingly guided by measurable commercial value.
“Any business with a payback period longer than its billing cycle will look inefficient when it is measured that way.”
Results: 15% Higher Affiliate ROI
The programme delivered measurable improvements across cost efficiency, exposure performance, conversion and overall return.
Marks Electrical achieved:
- 15% reduction in average CPA
- 18% improvement in return on exposure
- 20% uplift in click-to-sale conversion
- 15% overall increase in affiliate ROI
The results demonstrate that improving efficiency did not simply mean reducing investment. Instead, the programme focused on using investment more effectively – directing it towards activity with stronger performance and adapting exposure according to measurable returns.
Challenges: Fixing What Wasn’t Working Hard Enough
Improving profitability in a challenging retail environment: Inflation, cautious consumer spending and increasing competition put greater pressure on marketing efficiency. The programme responded by making ROI and acquisition cost central to optimisation decisions rather than pursuing volume alone.
Identifying where investment created the most value: Not every publisher or placement contributed equally to profitability. Performance analysis enabled the budget to be redirected towards higher-value activity and supported the onboarding of publishers with stronger conversion potential.
Improving established publisher activity: Cashback and voucher partnerships were already important parts of the affiliate ecosystem, but there was an opportunity to make them work harder. Refining promotional approaches and using exclusive-code strategies helped improve conversion and efficiency.
“More traffic or sales do not automatically make an affiliate programme more profitable.”
Key Learnings for Advertisers: Smarter Investment, Not Just More of It
- Optimisation should focus on value, not simply volume.
More traffic or sales do not automatically make an affiliate programme more profitable. Understanding the relationship between investment, acquisition cost and return can lead to better decisions about where to scale.
- Budget allocation should evolve with performance.
Affiliate investment does not need to remain fixed across partners or periods. Using performance data to continually reassess allocation can help advertisers put more budget behind opportunities that demonstrate stronger commercial value.
- Established publisher models still offer opportunities for optimisation.
Cashback and voucher activity should not be treated as static components of a programme. Promotional mechanics and partner activity can be refined to improve conversion and ROI.
Marks Electrical’s case demonstrates that improving affiliate performance isn’t always about increasing volume. Smarter investment decisions, continuous optimisation and a stronger focus on partner value can deliver greater efficiency and measurable commercial impact.
Read more about this Tradedoubler partnership
