Today, we continue to discuss the 4 levels of Operational Maturity in affiliate marketing for lenders. We’ll go deep on 301 and 401 levels and wrap up with some tactical things you can do to land at the 401 level.

Summary of the 4 levels:

𝟭𝟬𝟭 - 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹

We're focused on the volume of leads and the cost of acquisition. The rest of the operation looks a lot like affiliate programs in other industries. There's not much attention placed on the quality of accounts that we acquire.

𝟮𝟬𝟭 - 𝗤𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲

We learn that not all leads are created equal and not all lead sources are created equal. We pay more attention to what happens to a customer post-booking.

How much revenue are they driving?

What are the delinquency rates?

What are the loss rates?

We start to think about the relationship between LTV and cost of acquisition.

𝟯𝟬𝟭 - 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗽 𝗮𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲

We learn that when we make a change to our business, the affiliate reacts in a certain way, and that in turn has a knock-on effect on our business. We also start to overanalyze why volumes dropped and why applicant quality is changing. We often get distracted by a lot of these questions as there are often no actions we can take as a result of our curiosity.

𝟰𝟬𝟭 - 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁

We learn that our success relies on delivering exceptional products and exceptional buying experiences for our affiliates' customers. Under this frame, we recognize that each affiliate's a little different. They all have different buying experiences, data assets, customer types, and integration capabilities. We try to reverse engineer our business to best fit each partner. We notice that we were overanalyzing the volatility in our programs, and conclude that our investigations were often unproductive.

Timestamps:

(00:00) 301 Intro

(04:20) 301 Strategy

(15:55) 301 Challenges and realities

(18:43) Recap of 101-301

(21:48) 401 Deep dive - becoming leaders

(30:48) Model alignment

(41:48) Wrap up

Where to find Carlos:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter/X

References:

A written summary of the 4 levels of Operational Maturity: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/the-carlos-caro_operational-maturity-affiliates-activity-7204481122464907264-f_hC

Find Us:

Don't forget to subscribe to Affiliate Marketing for Lenders. If you’re interested in being a guest on the show (or if you have questions for a future episode), send me a note on LinkedIn, Twitter/X, or at carlos@newmarketgrowth.com.

Today, we introduce the 4 levels of Operational Maturity in affiliate marketing for lenders. We’ll go deep on 101 and 201 levels. The 301 and 401 levels will be covered in our next episode.

Summary of the 4 levels:

𝟭𝟬𝟭 - 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹

We're focused on the volume of leads and the cost of acquisition. The rest of the operation looks a lot like affiliate programs in other industries. There's not much attention placed on the quality of accounts that we acquire.

𝟮𝟬𝟭 - 𝗤𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲

We learn that not all leads are created equal and not all lead sources are created equal. We pay more attention to what happens to a customer post-booking.

How much revenue are they driving?

What are the delinquency rates?

What are the loss rates?

We start to think about the relationship between LTV and cost of acquisition.

𝟯𝟬𝟭 - 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗽 𝗮𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲

We learn that when we make a change to our business, the affiliate reacts in a certain way, and that in turn has a knock-on effect on our business. We also start to overanalyze why volumes dropped and why applicant quality is changing. We often get distracted by a lot of these questions as there are often no actions we can take as a result of our curiosity.

𝟰𝟬𝟭 - 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁

We learn that our success relies on delivering exceptional products and exceptional buying experiences for our affiliates' customers. Under this frame, we recognize that each affiliate's a little different. They all have different buying experiences, data assets, customer types, and integration capabilities. We try to reverse engineer our business to best fit each partner. We notice that we were overanalyzing the volatility in our programs, and conclude that our investigations were often unproductive.

Timestamps:

(00:00) Why maturity matters

(04:36) The 4 levels

(10:18) 101 deep dive

(17:56) 201 deep dive

(26:15) Wrap up and next steps

Where to find Carlos:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter/X

References:

A written summary of the 4 levels of Operational Maturity: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/the-carlos-caro_operational-maturity-affiliates-activity-7204481122464907264-f_hC

Find Us:

Don't forget to subscribe to Affiliate Marketing for Lenders. If you’re interested in being a guest on the show (or if you have questions for a future episode), send me a note on LinkedIn, Twitter/X, or at carlos@newmarketgrowth.com.

Episode 005: Today, we discuss the marketing levers lenders have at their disposal to improve the performance of their affiliate marketing campaigns.

We’ll discuss levers in the following categories:

• Eligibility
• Impressions/placements
• Click-through rate
• Application rate
• Approval rate
• Funding rate
• CPA/Payouts

Timestamps:

(00:54) Recapping previous episodes (01:50) A big misconception (03:02) Key levers (09:30) CTR (18:37) Application rate (21:35) Approval rate (27:09) Funding rate (29:49) CPAs / payouts (31:43) Conclusion and final thoughts

Where to find Carlos:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter/X

References:

Click-through rates by ad rank/placement on Google: https://firstpagesage.com/reports/google-click-through-rates-ctrs-by-ranking-position/

Outline of levers discussed in the show

https://medium.com/@newmarketgrowth/your-affiliate-marketing-levers-9f98092ab37b

Find Us:

Don't forget to subscribe to Affiliate Marketing for Lenders. If you’re interested in being a guest on the show (or if you have questions for a future episode), send me a note on LinkedIn, Twitter/X, or at carlos@newmarketgrowth.com.

Episode 004: Today, we tackle two simple, but important questions. The first: “What affiliates should I partner with?” And the second, “Where should I host my targeting model?”

We cover:

• How to build a list of potential affiliate partners
• Why “getting in” isn’t an easy as you think
• How to build a pitch for potential partners
• Where to host your targeting model
• Guiding principles for targeting model development

Timestamps:

(00:43) Outline of today's episode

(04:25) Building a list of potential partners

(09:25) Why getting into publishers isn't easy

(14:15) Crafting your pitch 18:18 Hosting your targeting model

(18:18) Hosting Your Targeting Model

(22:20) Targeting model platforms

(36:56) Guiding principles

(41:45) Wrap up / final thoughts

Where to find Carlos:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter/X

References:

Credit Karma Lightbox

https://www.creditkarma.com/about/commentary/credit-karma-welcomes-team-bitmatica

Monevo

https://www.monevo.com/us

Eagle Data

https://www.eagledata.biz/

https://medium.com/@carlos.ny/a-chat-with-travis-broad-ceo-at-eagle-data-a6409c6683a7

MoneyLion

https://www.insidermonkey.com/blog/moneylion-inc-nyseml-q1-2024-earnings-call-transcript-1299056/

Find Us:

Don't forget to subscribe to Affiliate Marketing for Lenders. If you’re interested in being a guest on the show (or if you have questions for a future episode), send me a note on LinkedIn, Twitter/X, or at carlos@newmarketgrowth.com.

Episode 003: Today, we tackle a big, foundational question. “Why should I bother promoting my lending products in affiliate channels?”

We cover:

• Size of publicly traded affiliate networks
• How many consumer loans are opened per year on affiliate networks
• Why your CMO, CPO, CRO, and CFO should care
• A 60-second elevator pitch for your CEO

Timestamps:

Where to find Carlos:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter/X

References (affiliate marketplace public filings):

Credit Karma

https://investors.intuit.com/_assets/_719de469f18090d69a0faddc62c8f705/intuit/news/2024-05-23_Intuit_Reports_Strong_Third_Quarter_Results_and_1188.pdf

Experian

https://www.experianplc.com/content/dam/marketing/global/plc/en/assets/documents/results-and-presentations/2024/experian-roadshow-jan-to-mar-2024.pdf

NerdWallet

https://investors.nerdwallet.com/news-releases/news-release-details/nerdwallet-reports-first-quarter-2024-results

Lending Tree

https://investors.lendingtree.com/static-files/6091a1b9-f0c2-4d4e-b6c0-990085edb7a5

QuinStreet

https://investor.quinstreet.com/static-files/726eb814-7f4e-47ee-9d01-5a200817a027

MoneyLion

https://investors.moneylion.com/news/detail/122/moneylion-announces-first-quarter-2024-results

Find Us:

Don't forget to subscribe to Affiliate Marketing for Lenders. If you’re interested in being a guest on the show (or if you have questions for a future episode), send me a note on LinkedIn, Twitter/X, or at carlos@newmarketgrowth.com.

Episode 002: In this episode, we describe affiliate marketing for lenders with tangible examples. From there, we talk through the dynamics of the affiliate game and how affiliate partnerships are structured. This provides a baseline 101 for anyone unfamiliar with the topic, and a recap for those who are more familiar with this space.

Additionally, we discuss:

• What mindset to bring to the game
• Our super-lever: approval rate
• Notes for performance marketers new to affiliates

Timestamps:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter/X

Find Us:

Don't forget to subscribe to Affiliate Marketing for Lenders. If you’re interested in being a guest on the show (or if you have questions you'd like me to address in a future episode), send me a note on LinkedIn, Twitter/X, or at carlos@newmarketgrowth.com.

• Who this Podcast is for
• What we'll talk about in future episodes
• Why affiliate marketing is important
• My professional background
• Why you should (or shouldn't) listen to me

• LinkedIn
• Twitter/X