How subscription brands are using brand partnerships to drive record performance.

An increasing number of subscription brands are using brand partnerships to acquire new customers. Learn how you can partner with brands like Myprotein, Boohoo, and Currys to reach new customer audiences. 

Due to the impact of high inflation, UK households continue to navigate the cost-of-living crisis that has impacted the economy since late 2021. It has meant a sharp uptick in costs, increasing energy prices, and record-high interest rates. But subscription services aim to provide a new way for customers to acquire goods and services whilst managing more predictable outgoings.

 UK shoppers spend a cumulative £2 billion every year on subscriptions, with 81% of households subscribing to at least one, with food services holding the most (52%) of the share. That said, other retail categories have also started the switch to subscription-based payment methods. 

Subscription boxes across the retail sectors:

52% Food 
24% Shaving products 
22% Clothing 
18% Perfume and cosmetics 
14% Pets 

Source: Whistl.co.uk  

But, despite their growing popularity, subscription-based businesses are not without threat. In some respects, their growing success has almost become their own biggest challenge. With increased awareness of subscription services, customers typically need help juggling hundreds of pounds worth of monthly subscription outgoings. With this, the majority of UK banks now allow customers to easily cancel monthly direct debit payments to subscription services. Whilst this rightly gives customers more control over how they manage their subscriptions, it does mean subscription services are continually searching for new potential customers.  

Harnessing the power of brand partnerships for strategic acquisitions.  

With the need to continually acquire new subscribers, an increasing number of subscription advertisers are exploring brand partnerships. Put simply, a band partnership is a mutual collaboration between non-competing brands who partner together for combined success. Through a brand partnership campaign, subscription advertisers can connect with the customer base of another brand, aiming to acquire customers from an already engaged shopper audience. 

In 2023, Awin supported multiple subscription brands, with over 1.3m referrals to subscription advertisers from brand partners. With over 300 individual brand partnership campaigns, subscription advertisers acquired over 110k new customers, a 19% YoY increase from 2022. When a subscription is offered as a free gift to qualifying customers, the average conversion rate is +20%, and feedback from subscription advertisers suggests that at least 48% of referred customers convert into full paying subscribers after the free trial.

 At Awin, we actively support various brand partnerships that offer complimentary gifts during the checkout process. We recently facilitated a successful collaboration between Myprotein and SimplyCook, where shoppers were provided with a free trial of their recipe box subscription, featuring four unique recipes. Following their Myprotein purchase, customers received instructions on how to redeem their SimplyCook trial. Throughout the campaign, Myprotein referred over 55,000 customers to SimplyCook, and an impressive 26% of them went on to become SimplyCook subscribers. 

When crafting a brand partnership offer, subscription advertisers should consider providing prospective customers with a free or heavily discounted trial. For instance, SimplyCook offered Myprotein customers their first subscription box for free. With this approach, it's anticipated that referred customers would convert at approximately 20% when they land on your site. 

Unlike other, more traditional gift campaigns, the subscription service will also allow retailers to capture valuable first-party data. In our SimplyCook example, Myprotein referred customers to SimplyCook where they redeem their trial recipe box. In doing so, SimplyCook captured the first-party data that they could later use to retarget that customer. What we also find is that where the partnership is well aligned, subscriber conversion rates are often significantly higher when compared against other acquisition channels. Among the subscription brands already supported by Awin, more than 48% of customers from the free trial gift are typically converted into full paid subscribers. 

“Across the last few years, the Awin brand partnership program has driven us great low-cost trials which are activating up to 15% higher than traditional publishers within the affiliate program. We are very grateful for the networking opportunity and hope to find more partnerships in the future to grow our customer base.”

Vicki Christie 
Head of Acquisitions, SimplyCook

Find out more

Do you want to join over 30 leading subscription services already using brand partnerships with Awin to drive strategic acquisitions? For more information on how your brand might benefit from brand partnerships, please contact the Awin Brand Partnerships team: uk-brandpartnerships@awin.com.