lisa riolo, impact.com, affiliate marketing, program segmentation, social media marketing

Program Segmentation: Fireside Chat With Lisa Riolo

Lee-Ann is once again joined by co-founder and advisor of Impact.com, and long-time lover of the Affiliate Marketing podcast, Lisa Riolo.

Lisa has over 25 years in experience of leadership and executive experience within organizations of all sizes (from start-ups to national corporations) and business models. Managed teams across all functional areas and through fast-paced growth. She and Lee-Ann have a lot to discuss affiliate marketing given their long histories circling each other in the digital marketing world. Listen here to find out what they came up with.

The importance of data in segmentation

Lee-Ann is of the belief that segmentation comes down to data, and that data will drive your decisions on what audiences to target.

Lee-Ann says: “So segmentation is very data driven for me when, when I’m talking about segmentation, I’m talking about looking really deep, not just at the surface delivery that your partners are giving and then segmenting them out into buckets and, and sounds really simple again, but when you segment your partner database, you see your weakness.”

She continues: “So I would say my, my advice on segmentation is to start with your customer first. Who is your customer that you want your partners to attract? Yes. And then work backwards from there and go, okay, these are the types of partners that I need to be going after. And then make sure that you’ve got a mix because.”

How do you shift budget when it comes to segmentation?

Lisa was wondering about the idea of shifting a budget when it comes to segmentation, which is based on performance. How do you shift into more risky areas in order to expand your audience?

Lee-Ann explains: “We are often too scared to test because we are driven by targets and we need to meet quota. Yes. That’s actually killing your creativity as an affiliate manager.

“So, the best thing to do is to set aside some of your budget for your portfolio management, even if it’s like 10% of the total portfolio budget that you have, and actually use that. For consistent testing month on month, on month, on month. And fig, you, you have to kiss a lot of frogs to see what works.”

The importance of creative feedback

Sometimes feedback has to go through a million filters and iterations until it reaches the right people.

Lisa said: “This is true for agencies and affiliate managers, et cetera, which is creative feedback. So you, what you’re talking about in many respects is it’s a type of a feedback loop where your partners are giving you access to a consumer. That feedback loop also needs to bounce back through your organizations or your clients. So, you also have to share, so I’ve, you know, I’ve seen this and it’s really effective is at the beginning of, of, of a year, or there’s usually some kind of, you know, sort of a QBR R type process where you’re going in and oftentimes you have leadership share with leadership.

“I’ve taken 10% of the budget, I’ve put it over here for a certain amount of testing. We want to share with you back the data that this has revealed for us also, and, and you made these really great points with the example of the wallet that information should get to product.”

If you are interested in more affiliate and social media marketing insights, take a look at our blog for all the latest news and advice. Or for a more personalised approach, book a free call with a member of our team.

Or, for the very best advice from industry peers, sign up to gain access to our Amplify Virtual Summit. Download or stream our Amplify event which aims to bring you the latest affiliate, performance, and partner marketing insights from across the globe. Don’t miss it.

Listen to find out more about:

  • Why is segmentation important?
  • The importance of data in segmentation.
  • Why program segmentation is important to an affiliate program.

Key segments of this podcast and where you can tune into go direct

[03:00] – The ease of recruiting affiliates and the blocking of niche audiences

[06:00] – What are birders?

[09:00] – Uncovering new segments of customers

[12:00] – The importance of networking in affiliate marketing

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