Affiliate marketing has been a staple for online businesses for years, with proven results for both the companies and the marketers. Offline businesses, however, have had to simply rely on digital advertising without any real accurate way to track what was working, and what wasn’t. That is, until now. Yub is a company that started out under the umbrella of TrialPay (a popular online affiliate network), but has now secured the financing to break out on their own.
Yub is the world’s first offline affiliate network, offering a variety of different types of businesses the ability to harness the power of performance marketing, without any adjustment to their current offline business. This zero-integration technology allows retailers and restaurants to track their customers from the online clicks into the offline purchases they make.
$12 Million was raised from big name investors and companies to launch this innovative new company. Included in the list of investors is Visa Inc., Atomico, DAG Ventures, DFJ Growth, T. Rowe Price and many others.
How it Works
The offline affiliate network starts out much like most online affiliate networks, with websites, blogs, Facebook and advertisements. Marketers promote exclusive deals from businesses, in an attempt to bring them new business. Rather than simply directing them to an online product or service, however, they sell them offers from offline retailers or restaurants.
For example, a marketer may choose to promote a 20% off deal from a restaurant. They promote it to their customers in a variety of ways, and those that are interested register their credit card with Yub. When they use that credit card to pay for their meal, their discount is automatically applied. The restaurant employees don’t have to do anything differently, and beyond the initial sign up, the customers don’t either.
Yub provides detailed analytics and other reporting options as well, so offline businesses can really see how well their marketing dollars are performing. So far there have been several merchant campaigns completed, which has proven that Yub is an extremely effective marketing tool. Merchants have realized the following proven benefits from a Yub partnership:
- Acquiring New Customers – In customer surveys, 90% of those who used Yub reported that they did not plan on shopping at the specific merchant prior to seeing the digital offer.
- Increased Spending – Customers who bought into Yub promotions spent an average of 1.5-2 times the required minimum amount. This means, if they bought a $50 gift card to a restaurant for $40 (20% off), they likely ended up spending $75-100 in the restaurant.
- Email Lists – A full 45% of customers who signed up for Yub promotions opted-in to receive future information and deals from the specific merchant they purchased from.
- Customer Loyalty – 50% of the customers who were surveyed indicated that they planned on returning to the retail store or restaurant within the next three months.
At this early point in the business, Yub has already signed with two of the top 25 U.S. restaurant chains, and two of the top 50 U.S. retail brands. Additional brands will undoubtedly be very interested in signing up for this innovative new marketing platform.
You can read the full press release from Market Watch (a Wall Street Journal Company) HERE.
