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By Alex Cramer
On the consumer side, online shopping is usually pretty simple. You Google a product you’re interested in, view your options and then do a quick checkout when you find what you’re looking for.
However, on the brand side, online shopping is a complex and intense experience of building a proper sales funnel, creating a seamless shopping and checkout process and knowing exactly how and where to target your customers.
So while you may make a superior product, you won’t drive sales unless you also create a superior online shopping experience.
That’s where Wickfire comes in. They’re able to use proprietary data and technology to engage with shoppers through every step of the online buying experience, from their initial searches to providing the final targeted push to help complete a sale.
They’ve achieved incredible success in the affiliate space and have generated hundreds of millions of dollars in sales for their clients.
We spoke with John Doe to learn how Wickfire was able to become a major player in affiliate marketing.
AP: Tell us about the origins of Wickfire.
WF: Over a decade ago, Wickfire’s two founders, Chet Hall and Jon Brown brought their background in software development and keen understanding of the affiliate space to create new search marketing technology to better help consumers with their online purchase decision-making. Wickfire partners with e-commerce product and service advertisers across nearly every imaginable consumer product category, as well as select subscription services, technology products, and finance and insurance products.
AP: What kind of success have you had since you launched?
WF: Wickfire’s online advertising channels have generated over $1 billion in sales for their clients by leveraging superior technology and data-driven decision-making expertise. Wickfire owns and operates BuyersGuide.org, which captures 5M customers monthly by helping consumers evaluate and research their e-commerce purchasing decisions, and TheCoupon.Co, which provides deals and coupon codes for thousands of merchants and reaches over 500k unique visitors monthly. Wickfire’s paid search campaigns cover the purchasing funnel and provide a low-risk, but highly effective means of generating sales.
AP: How do you distinguish Wickfire from competitors in the affiliate space?
WF: Between our various paid search channels, we cover the entire shopping process, from initial research (bidding on generic keywords) to the final push to make a purchase (TM+ coupon terms). Additionally, we have been recognized as a technology leader in the International Performance Marketing Awards for three consecutive years. In our first year, we were a finalist for Best Performance Marketing Technology, and in the past two years, we’ve been recognized for Best Automation or AI and for Best Machine Learning and AI. In 2020, we were a finalist for Best Use of Data. Wickfire has also been recognized as a Microsoft Rising Star of the Year Runner-Up for 2021 and Trailblazer of the Year Finalist for 2022! Technology is our team’s passion and the core of our business, and it’s a great honor to be recognized for what we’ve accomplished.
We’ve also been recognized by many of our partners as being part of an elite group of publishers that are their top partners. We were a Google Premier Partner and Bing Select Partner for many years, and are currently a Bing Elite Partner, CJ Performer and Rakuten Linkshare Platinum Publisher.
AP: Have you noticed any changes in consumer behavior in the current economic climate?
WF: On TheCoupon.Co, with tighter budgets consumers are increasing their searches for the best deal. We help brands remain competitive in their offerings and ensure accurate messaging in the search results pages (Google, Bing, etc.), so they don’t lose those sales.
Additionally, on the product comparison side, we have built greater support for consumers looking to shop on Amazon, while continuing to hone our methods of promoting individual e-commerce sites.
AP: Which verticals have you had the most success with?
WF: Recently for Buyer’s Guide we have seen a ton of success in our insurance categories, as well as expanded categories for product comparison categories. At this point, we are helping users find everything from baby monitors to lawnmowers! One thing to note for Buyer’s Guide, for most advertisers we require a higher commission rate/CPA compared to base network rates because we are bidding on expensive generic keywords.
On TheCoupon.Co, home categories (kitchen tools, pet supplies, etc.) and beauty products do incredibly well, but we can work with any brand that is open to offering us TM+ bidding rights (bidding on a brand name in combination with coupon keywords on Google and Bing). We can additionally optimize around commission increases to increase volume.
AP: Tell us about your relationship with Advertise Purple.
WF: We have worked with Advertise Purple for many years, and each year we continue to grow our partnership. They are my go-to agency recommendation because of their proven success in advertiser management and their knowledge of the affiliate space. I look forward to seeing our relationship grow in the years to come, and the continued success we are able to achieve for their clients.
