A small DTC beauty brand with the brief a lot of small brands quietly carry: we know affiliate could be doing more for us, but every agency wants a budget we don't have — and the programme hasn't moved in years.
Vertical
Beauty
Focus
SME programme growth
4x
Monthly affiliate revenue
13.1x
ROAS — up from 11.0x
2x
UK monthly orders
The approach
I took the programme on in April 2025. The rebuild:
Rebuilt the partner mix on fit, not size — smaller, curated partners whose audiences match the brand convert better, and they prioritise you because you're a meaningful client, not a rounding error. Tidied out the partners who weren't earning their keep.
Built a community and affinity channel as the foundation: employee-benefit platforms and NHS, teacher, forces, carer and student discount sites. Small per-partner volume — but a stack of small channels is exactly the right shape for an SME.
Got pragmatic about market: doubled down on the UK with the partners who actually performed there, and used an adjacent English-language market as a proving ground for offer mechanics.
Locked in a monthly rhythm: clear priorities, a partner of the month, and one strategic test in flight at all times. Not glamorous — but it's the difference between a stuck programme and a growing one.
The findings
In twelve months, monthly affiliate revenue went from €6,263 to €24,824 and orders more than quadrupled — on the same budget two agencies couldn't make work. ROAS went up, not down: 11.0x to 13.1x. That's the part that matters for a small brand — most agencies grow programmes by paying more, and doing the opposite is the only way the maths actually works for an SME. AOV held flat, so the growth is real customers spending normal amounts, not manufactured by deep discounting. And the brand's stated priority — the UK — doubled in orders.
