The Challenge

The challenge with Sunmed came from a strictly digital standpoint. Sunmed has always been well-known for their brick and mortar presence, being one of the largest retailers in the CBD industry, but had little to no online presence until working with GR0. Our aim was to bridge the gap and leverage a full funnel affiliate program to translate this reputation into a successful web presence.‍

The Strategy

GR0 launched an affiliate program on ShareASale and began recruiting the highest quality partners to promote the brand and drive traffic to the site. We carefully vetted each opportunity and provided extensive detail and recommendations to Sunmed so they could make a simple, informed decision.‍

While working to establish the conversion side of the channel turning visitors into customers, we had to ensure affiliate partners were driving new customers to the site. After many months of hard work, we were able to get Sunmed approved by Healthline (our top content target) and engaged in a paid placement package to drive awareness for the brand.‍

After getting Sunmed into Healthline, it became the top source of visitors, bringing in more than 5,000 clicks in just 6 weeks. When we compare those 6 weeks to the time before, Sunmed had 132% more customers coming from affiliate links. This is even more impressive because the 6 weeks prior, Sunmed had its best month ever in the program's history. This just drives home the point that Healthline was a worthwhile investment and we made the right choice.

Examples

Initially, we aimed to partner with reputable affiliates who specialize in converting customers, creating a steady income and dominating search traffic related to our brand. By securing our position in searches for discounts and offers, we prevented competitors from grabbing potential customers and made it easier for new customers to smoothly check out while enjoying a discount on our brand. To make sure our budget wasn't heavily affected by these partners, we set up a commission structure that maximized their impact without adding extra costs for us.

In addition to owning discount search traffic, we partnered with UpSellIt, a conversion specialist, and integrated their unique technology with our lifecycle team’s work in Klaviyo. UpSellIt’s cart-abandonment pop-up would show shoppers items from their cart, offer a time-limited discount, and display the final checkout total to urge customers to follow through with a purchase. This made the discount more real for customers and boosted our average affiliate conversion rate significantly. We went from 11.2% (Jan - July 2023) to an impressive 20.1% (August 23 - Jan 24) - marking a 79.39% increase.

In addition to newsletter sponsorships, Sunmed was placed as the Featured Partner Offer at the top of the following high-traffic articles:

Our Wins

Getting approved by Healthline is no easy feat, but we were dedicated to explaining the benefits of this placementI We clearly communicated with Sunmed the value of getting in with this publisher and they were willing to commit the financial resources to make it happenI Our goal is to establish the Sunmed brand as a web presence that meets their brick and mortar reputation, and this Healthline partnership is a huge step in doing so.

‍In the six weeks prior to GR0 taking over SunMed’s affiliate work, the company had their biggest month in company history thanks to a boost from our Black Friday/Cyber Monday campaign. Even without the advantage of major seasonal shopping days, GR0 was still able to increase their traffic by another 132% in the six weeks since launching the Healthline partnership. This further illustrates the massive impact of GR0’s expertise and partnership in a highly-competitive space.

The growth in clicks and revenue is pretty steadily increasing, reaching over $84k in revenue in less than one year

GR0 earned Sunmed a spot as a featured partner in Healthline, which is a difficult thing to accomplish