Simon’s run his own eCommerce store, spent 30 years running an office supply business, and now mainly spends his time coaching other business owners… But he’s also the founder of My Flyer Inserts — built to help eCommerce businesses swap parcel inserts with each.
Simon has been in the partnerships business for a couple of decades already.
It all started with his office supplies business, where he had a successful inserts campaign with Screwfix and had catalogues going out in their parcels.
If you’ve got a really good offer, you have to check out partnerships and get into it.
One of the best examples Simon has is one he did with a classic CD catalogue. He partnered with a colleague who was mailing out 100,000 catalogues and Simon inserted a card where all people had to do was write their name and address and send it back to him for a sample pack of his stationery.
He targeted a 2% response rate out of 100,000 but ended up sending out 10,000 packs and grew his business 20% in the first twelve months.
While putting inserts in a classical CD catalogue would not have been Simon’s first choice, he says he still went for it and it worked.
Partner with a brand that shares the same values as you do. You can also partner with a more well-known brand to help you get a step up the ladder.
With the latter, you will get a better conversion rate because the trust factor is already there.
With partnerships, expect that your first advert is never going to work.
You have to wait until the third or fourth one to begin seeing results. You may not make money with your first insert, but in due time you’re going to get new customers.
Simon decided to do partnerships after selling his stationery business about 5 years ago and his accountant advised him to leverage his years in business by doing some business coaching and mentoring.
For the smaller businesses he talked to, he went and set up his self-service website so people can partner with whoever they want.
If we’ve inspired someone to take their first step with partnerships — what do they need to know to give themselves the best chance of success?
Devise a good offer.
Offering discounts will not always be the best way to do it, so try giving a product with perceived value. And don’t forget to put your logo and website on the item.
Once you’ve started of course you’ve got to ‘keep optimising’! So what’s your favourite way to improve partnerships performance?
Keep revising your offer, as well as testing and measuring different offers and designs. Test it out by giving it to your family and friends, and ask them for feedback.
It all boils down to the words you use and getting your offer right.
If someone listening wants to learn more about partnerships is there one cheap/free resource you’d recommend?
Visit My Flyer Inserts to know more or email Simon.
Crystal ball time — what’s coming up in the next 6–12 months that we should be getting ready for in partnerships?
Christmas is coming up. Now is the time to start looking for your potential partners and thinking about your inserts.
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