We often neglect our feet. Not only do we overlook them on purpose, but we don’t realize how important it is to take care of them! Whether we know it or not, we utilize our feet regularly from walking to and from work to cooking while standing! Our feet are an essential part of our life. Without taking good care of them, foot pain can be debilitating and impede our ability to work & to do the things that we love.
Understanding that, Soul Insole is here to make our life better, the brand offers the most cutting-edge, practical solutions for foot support and to assist people in regaining their quality of life.
We were fortunate to speak with Laina Gossman, CEO, and Founder of Soul Insole, about her growing business and her story about how she works and manages her affiliate team with UpPromote.
Let’s dig deep into her story now!
The company
Laina Gossman, the founder/ CEO of Soul Insole, began her career at FootCare Systems, a small San Diego shoe store specializing in custom orthotics and trendy comfort shoes. She also learned how to make personalized shoes at this shoe store.
People came to Laina year after year with chronic foot problems to get custom orthotics built, genuinely helping stop the pain. With a background in kinesiology and biomechanics, Laina decided she wanted to help more individuals than she could by hand-carving orthotics one at a time; therefore, Soul Insole was founded.
Soul Insole is the most minimalist yet supportive foot rehabilitation device for relieving pain and pressure so people can walk comfortably all day long. Every year, the business assists over a hundred thousand people with foot problems and walking with comfort and ease.
The challenge
With such a huge client base that loves our goods, it would be fantastic if they could earn money and discounts by recommending them. That’s when I came to affiliate marketing. However, this marketing type would seem complicated with many tasks to handle at once, including creating affiliate programs, working and managing affiliates, paying affiliates, etc.
That’s why we truly need the help of an affiliate app. Then I came across UpPromote: Affiliate Marketing on the Shopify app store, the most credible and comprehensive affiliate app with several programs ideal for all-sized businesses.
I thought UpPromote would be great as we could use their affiliate model for success when we began to build an affiliate campaign. And it truly is.
The solution
#1 Build up an affiliate team that loves our products
We create engagement with our affiliates. We remind them that they can become our partners once we know they are passionate about our products and generate content highlighting them. We let our partners try our products, and they probably love them and are willing to recommend our products to make some money when they are at it.
It creates a win-win type of partnership that we enjoy offering.
UpPromote helps us automatically set up the affiliate program, and then we assign our affiliates to the appropriate program to manage them effectively.
#2 Segment our affiliate partners
Up to now, we have nearly 200 quality affiliates. We only activate those affiliates who we find suitable for our affiliate program.
We separate our affiliates into two categories to better manage them: professional affiliates and general affiliates.
Professional affiliates: We assign Coupons to them manually, which they can share with their consumers. The UpPromote system will track and notify us when any orders are successfully referred, and the affiliates will receive commissions.
General affiliates: We don’t assign Coupons for these affiliates. Instead, we’ll give them store credit if they refer their friends and family to us. We can encourage them to buy more and recommend more others to use the store credit we provide.
As a result, our commission distribution appears more efficient as it is well-spent and appropriate.
#3 Recruit more affiliates with higher commission
We had no problems setting up an affiliate network because UpPromote guides us through the process in a few super simple stages. Or, anytime I came across any questions, I would reach the support team, directing me immediately.
What I mean here is anyone can start an affiliate program, but that’s only the start.
To make your affiliate program a success, you’ll need to acquire as many affiliate partners as possible. The bigger the commission, the more affiliates you’ll be able to recruit. That is why we strive to offer high sales commissions to entice affiliates to join our program on UpPromote Marketplace and social media.
In the health & wellness field, we believe in offering top-dollar commissions up to 50% to attract potential affiliates. Don’t forget the success of your affiliate program also lies in the product quality.
#4 Be supportive whenever your affiliates need
I believe many merchants like us overlook this vital point: to nurture your affiliates, so they stay longer and bring in more sales.
First of all, remember to support your affiliates by assisting them in gaining a better understanding of the brand. The most efficient way to help your affiliates comprehend your items and discover whether they’re right for them is to give them a sample of them.
Allowing them to utilize your product before promoting it is always a good idea. They’ll sell more of it and sell it faster if they know what they’re selling!
Our team is always in favor when our affiliates need to write anything about our brand to promote on their social media. We allow them to take pictures and text from our websites as they wish. Sometimes we help share information that they can use in articles; everything is all done individually when communicating with affiliates about their specific needs.
All these things cannot be done without the In-app chat feature of UpPromote, as sending emails individually takes time and might lead to affiliates being overlooked. Thanks to this feature, I can communicate with them promptly.
Wrapping up
Thank Laina for such a fantastic interview and previous advice for all merchants in UpPromote and out there! Visit Soul InsoleInsole for additional details. If you’re interested in being a Soul Insole affiliate, click here to get started.
