Maximize web traffic conversion with technology partners

One of the newest additions to the affiliate marketing landscape, technology partners offer advertisers a simple method of launching powerful solutions to drive a range of marketing goals.

Rather than dedicating time and resources to building something in-house, brands of all sizes are rapidly turning to these types of partners to outsource the same innovation. 

Additionally, as many technology partners are specialists in a specific area - whether that’s conversion rate optimization or product discovery - you can often lean on the expertise of their teams to maximize your performance.  

Time savings and impressive results have made technology partners one of the fastest-growing partner types on Awin. Brands activating them on their program increased 64% between 2022 - 2024 as advertisers tapped our dedicated Partner Directory to solve their biggest challenges.  

What is the definition of a technology partner? 

When defining a technology partner, it’s important to make a distinction between a partner and a provider.  

A technology partner connects its technology with another company’s for a mutual benefit, whereas a technology provider simply supplies a technology for its users.  

When channeled through an affiliate program, technology partnerships offer equal benefits on both sides.   

Advertisers can launch a solution often within a few clicks and only pay for the results it drives. Meanwhile, the technology partner gets access to a customer base that it can engage to drive those results and, in turn, monetize their solution.  

Every time their solution assists a pre-agreed action, whether that’s converting a customer, rescuing a basket from abandonment, or something more specific, the advertiser typically pays a commission. 

Most technology partners are remunerated on a cost-per-acquisition model (CPA). However, monetization via cost per click (CPC) or cost per thousand (CPM) is not uncommon.  

Types of technology partners 

Technology partners come in all shapes and sizes. Awin’s tech partner directory is full of connections and solutions, each with its own way of helping advertisers tackle a certain problem. In short, where there’s a marketing challenge, there’s usually a solution to solve it. 

Popular types of technology partners include:  

• CSS (comparison shopping services)
  CSS partners such as Redbrain, Lyst, and Incubeta maximize the performance of your Google Shopping campaigns. Their software and in-house specialists can often spot gaps in your strategy to boost your customer acquisition and brand awareness.
  
  Though some CSS partners could be considered a blend of agency and technology partner, there are many self-serve options if you’d rather use a solution and manage everything in-house.  

• Conversion rate partners
  Conversion rate partners like Upsellit, intent.ly, and SaleCycle operate on your website. They engage with customers at key moments in their journey to increase the likelihood of them making a purchase.
  
  All retailers have customers who dwell on pages or open additional tabs to compare prices elsewhere. The role of the conversion rate partner is to detect these scenarios and give each customer precisely what they need to convert. 
  Intervention methods include timely overlays, browser notifications, display and email remarketing, and even AI-powered shopping assistants. 
• Product bundling tools
  If you’re more focused on growing your average order value (AOV), a product bundling tool like Increasingly will have you producing the right recommendations to expand your customer’s basket.
  
  Also operating on your site, these technologies emulate the ‘frequently bought together’ function trusted by Amazon to generate personalized product suggestions based on real-time data.
  Signals like recently browsed products, demographic information, and even past purchases help these technologies determine the right upselling and cross-selling opportunities for every journey.  
• Brand partnership solutions
  Brand partnership solutions allow you to unlock a new revenue stream by sharing rewards from relevant advertisers and generating a commission each time they’re redeemed.
  
  Prior to the assistance of technology partners, it was time-consuming to recruit and manage brand partners and build a solution to host their rewards. Technologies like BrandSwap and Tyviso now cover these tasks for you. 
  You can also approach brand partnerships from an acquisition angle, using the same technology to target customers on other retailer’s websites rather than hosting the rewards yourself. 

Where do technology partners belong in the marketing funnel? 

The primary role of technology partners is best understood in the context of Scott Galloway’s ‘clock model’, a concept that succinctly illustrates the impact of affiliate marketing across the marketing funnel.  

There’s an affiliate partner for each section of the clock, and indeed the marketing funnel:

• Pre-purchase: Advertisers compete for attention to raise awareness of their brand, products and services. 

• Purchase: Once a customer has landed on their site, it’s up to the advertiser to assist them and eventually convert them.

• Post-purchase: Customers can still be engaged after they’ve completed a purchase. Advertisers can either recommend their next purchase based on a previous one or suggest something from a relevant brand partner.   

Technology partners are generally found in the purchase phase of your marketing funnel. Technologies like conversion rate solutions and product bundling tools interact with customers when they have a reasonable understanding of what they want to buy.  
Furthermore, as many technology partners are only paid a commission when a purchase is completed, the CPA model puts pressure on them to be effective in this area.  
 
Thankfully, they are. Technology partners specializing in helping customers complete a purchase boast an average CVR (conversion rate) of over 9% on the Awin platform. For context, the CVR of incentive publishers and content partners are around 8% and 1% respectively. 
 
Technology partners are also adept at increasing the value of customers’ purchases. Those with solutions focused on increasing basket values have an AOV of $214 on Awin, above incentive publishers on $196 and content publishers on $156.

Why the affiliate channel is a great place for technology partners

The affiliate channel has become an important base for technology partners and a vehicle for their growth, providing crucial infrastructure and support to allow the model to thrive. 
 
Research conducted by Forrester and Awin revealed ‘gaining access to innovative new technologies’ as the number one attraction of affiliate marketing in the eyes of Chief Marketing Officers.  
 
We’d put this down to a few reasons:  

• Ease of implementation 
  Thanks to the Awin Master Tag, advertisers can launch a new technology partner through the same JavaScript they use to track results across their affiliate program. As a result, Awin now has a host of technology partners that can go live in one click with no coding or integration. 
   
  If your new technology works, you can add more solutions to boost its effectiveness. If it doesn’t, you can remove it just as quickly as it went live.
• Instant impact 
  Technology partners are among the quickest partners to start producing results.   
  Looking at two years of activations on Awin’s platform, it takes just 48 days for these partners to become ‘sale active’ on an affiliate program. By comparison, cashback, coupon, loyalty, and sub-networks all take over 100 days to reach the same status.  
• Safe deployment  
  Rest assured that every technology partner is pre-vetted and infosec assessed before it lands on Awin. Our internal team performs all the necessary checks to give you peace of mind with each integration.
• Paid on performance 
  Who said technology had to be ‘build or buy’? With the affiliate route, you can essentially ‘borrow’ innovative solutions without having to bear any upfront costs or drain your in-house resources. You simply pay on results, much like you would with any other publisher.

How to use technology partners: top Awin success stories

There is no one way to use a technology partner. In fact, it’s now common for advertisers to deploy multiple solutions concurrently to solve different marketing challenges.  
 
We’ve picked a few examples from Awin’s technology partner case studies to demonstrate some typical collaborations and outcomes.  
 
SaleCycle drives +2,000 additional customers per month for Vodafone 
 
Leading global telecommunications provider Vodafone wanted to grow sales for its home broadband product. Rather than trying to drive more traffic to its site, the advertiser decided to focus on the visitors that were already there. 
 
The brand teamed up with conversion rate specialist SaleCycle, whose data-driven solutions identify customers at risk of abandonment before engaging them with personalized and timely messages.  
 
First, SaleCycle recommended a three-cycle email and SMS campaign. A bespoke script was used to target customers who added home broadband to their basket but left Vodafone without purchasing. The messages started with a reminder of the products they left in their basket and ended with a ‘10% off’ coupon code to enhance the appeal. 
 
This campaign was supplemented by two on-site efforts. One monitored common precursors to abandonment such as inactivity and mouse movements towards the edge of the pages on Vodafone’s site. Another, named ‘the problem solver’, provided answers to customer questions to better understand their needs.  
 
After giving Vodafone the tools to plug various gaps in its abandonment strategy, SaleCycle delivered the following results:

• +2,000 incremental sales every month from customers at risk of abandonment 

• +36% CVR vs Vodafone’s previous email abandonment solution 

• +44% CTR (click-through rates) vs Vodafone’s previous email abandonment solution 

Tanita Dickson, Ecommerce Specialist at Vodafone, also highlighted the value of advice given by technology partners when building campaigns. SaleCycle’s recommendation of SMS retargeting came as a surprise to the brand. However, it produced a hugely positive outcome.

Roman lands +88% increase in referral program revenue by expanding technology partnership  
 
Fashion brand Roman’s use of referral technology Soreto is a great example of an advertiser expanding its use of a technology partner based on early success. 
 
Soreto’s first solution invited recent purchasers to recommend Roman to their friends for a 25% discount. Displayed on the order confirmation page, the campaign’s native design, multiple sharing options, and simple user journey produced an instant impact. 
 
It didn’t take long for Roman to broaden its strategy by launching two additional Soreto innovations:

1. Boost landing page
   To help Roman enhance the targeting of its referral program, Soreto created a static banner to include within the brand’s email campaigns.
   
   This directed subscribers to a landing page hosted by Soreto, featuring the same ‘25% off’ promotion, allowing the brand to engage customers who were yet to make a purchase.  
   
2. Reach pre-purchase placement
   To encourage referrals from Roman’s existing customers, Soreto advertised the same offer through a native overlay on the brand’s account management area.
   
   This solution, much like the landing page and order confirmation placement, was launched via Awin’s one-click activation, meaning zero development work on Roman’s side.
   
   Looking at Roman’s referral program before and after Soreto’s two innovations went live, the results showed a strong all-round performance: 

• • +88% revenue  

• • +75% sales 

• • +30% social shares 

• • +15% AOV uplift 

It’s sensible to test the waters with a technology partner before exposing them to multiple touchpoints and audiences. Roman’s expansion of Soreto shows how valuable those next steps in the partnership can be.

Tefal’s Black Friday visitor recovery delivers +23% CVR and +14% AOV  
 
Basket abandonment presents a constant challenge for advertisers over Black Friday. With so many customers looking for the best deal, kitchen appliance and cookware brand Tefal enlisted the help of technology partner RECOVA to mediate.  
 
The advertiser’s week-long Black Friday event was optimized by technology that targeted customers heading onto Tefal from Google Shopping. On hitting the ‘back’ button, potentially to compare prices, visitors were directed to a purpose-built landing page hosted by RECOVA.  
 
Designed to bring potential abandoners back into the purchasing mindset, the page was equipped with several smart features: 

• Personalized recommendations based on recently viewed products. 

• Highlighting RRP against lower prices at Tefal to show savings by shopping directly. 

• AI-powered optimization, with top-performing recommendations showing more frequently. 

Over the course of the campaign. Tefal reported a +23% increase in CVR and a 14% AOV boost against its on-site averages, equating to a six-figure annual revenue contribution. The brand subsequently kept RECOVA on its site beyond Black Friday to maintain the impact on conversions and order values.

Create your own technology partner success story 

Which marketing challenges are you currently facing? Whether you’re aiming to enhance conversion rates, acquire new customers, boost order values, or personalize the customer experience, Awin has a technology partner to help.

Maximize the performance of your website by activating a technology partner today.