Starling Bank optimises its partnership programme with automation
Overview
Starling Bank, a digital challenger bank, based in the UK, wanted to reduce manual processes in its partnership marketing programme which had been hindering growth. Founded in 2014, it is a leading digital bank in the UK, with over 2 million accounts.
To promote its app and attract more customers, it launched a small referral program with about 10 content and comparison site partners. This network was tracked and managed via manual processes for approvals, invoicing, and reporting. But these manual processes left little time for relationship-building.
Starling Bank knew it would need a more efficient, automated approach to partnership management if it wanted to grow the size of its programme. The solution was to automate processes in order to focus on relationships.
Working with Impact’s Partnership Cloud, the bank streamlined processes and eliminated manual tasks so that it could better manage the flow of partner applications and new opportunities. Processes were automated at every phase of the partnership life cycle - from how the bank responded to inbound applications to its ability to get each contracts set up quickly. Attribution was integrated, too, making it simple to track all partner-driven events and to pay out only when conversions were recorded.
What was the role of digital within the media mix?
With the help of Impact’s Partnership Cloud, Starling was able to create a single landing page and use it across all partnerships, eliminating the time-consuming task of setting up individual landing pages.
The technology also enabled it to automate tracking and attribution, which enabled the team to optimise performance and to seek out new, valuable partnerships.
Payments became automated and streamlined, with efficiency leading to a number of knock-on benefits. For instance, the bank could devote more time to personal interactions with partners which, in turn, helped to generate more creative ideas and ensure adherence to compliance and brand standards.
Key statistics
What results did you attain? What was the biggest achievement?
The outcome was a mature programme with the freedom to scale. Streamlined contracting and payment has led to time savings as well as improved communication, creativity, and compliance.
Since launching Impact Partnership Cloud, Starling Bank has had the time and resources to accelerate every aspect of its partnership programme, with room for future growth.
The team increased the number of partners onboarded per month at an average of 41% month-on-month; it increased monthly account opens coming through affiliate partners by an average of 31%; reduced time to onboard new partners six-fold; increased monthly clicks from partners at an average of 58% MoM; and increased monthly app installs coming through affiliate partners an average of 50% MoM.
Emily Aye, Paid Acquisitions Specialist at Starling Bank, said: “We have automated our onboarding processes, contracts and reporting capabilities, allowing us more time to test, learn, refine and scale across new and existing partnerships.”
What was the killer headline?
Starling Bank optimises its partnership programme, with automation leading to an average increase of over 50% in monthly app installs
