Merchant Case Study: Lovehoney

Sex sells. And a brand that knows a thing or two about that is Lovehoney. They’re one of Skimlinks top merchants and we sat down with their affiliate marketing manager Catherine Dunn to discuss their strategy for success. 

Key numbers 2019-2020: 

H1 2020 vs H1 2019

Tell us about Lovehoney. 

We’re the sexual happiness people: A fun brand, that loves engaging with customers and that has 277k customer product reviews, more than any other sex toy producer in the world. 

How do you approach your affiliate program?

Our affiliate program in the UK has been around for over 12 years.

Direct engagement of partners is key to our success; hence our affiliate initiative is a very strong marketing focus for us. We have a thriving affiliate product review program. We work with content sites and adult bloggers to develop strong and personable partnerships to drive brand awareness.

Our commission structure is designed to reward partners, prioritise our own brand products and bring in new customer sales. We make great use of data to identify key publishers, make sure we work with them closely, drive up the percentage we offer to reward them properly, and find that works well for both parties. 

With promotions we target exclusive offers during specific key seasonal events. We drive up performance by offering tactical exclusives to key partners during these times. It is about putting the right product, at the right price, in front of the right person, at the right time. 

How does Lovehoney work with Skimlinks? 

Over the past four years Skimlinks has helped us reach out and establish partnerships with a large network of content partners we might not otherwise have had access to.

We love the preferred partner program and it has brought real benefits: insights, regular reporting, connection with big publisher names, regular calls and meetings with them. The platform really enables publishers to easily promote Lovehoney. 

The Account Management team is also super proactive and a real pleasure to work with. They help drive engagement with key publishers. 

We’ve collaborated on a UTM parameter project, that is helping to deliver even more valuable information for us. Providing insights that make it easier to identify and target relevant partners with bespoke offers and promotions. We are excited about this initiative!

As we look to expand in new markets, we can also leverage Skimlinks’ global network to reach out to publishers in those markets. 

Thinking about expansion, what are your plans for growth in Q4 and 2021?

We have seen significant recent expansion in Australia and the US. The key to that is localisation. We have teams on the ground, who can attend meetings for us and tailor our approach for each region. 

Through Skimlinks we can take feedback on our approach from local publishers and leverage the global network to reach out to more publishers in those markets. 

As we move into the key shopping season our goals are the same as most advertisers: Grow the program, grow traffic, grow revenue, grow new customers and keep existing customers coming back for more. We know we can count on Skimlinks’ support as a key partner for the key events in the season from Singles’ Day to Black Friday and beyond.