The Company
The Company: Skylum (formerly Macphun) is a global leader in complex photography applications for Mac and PC.
Learn how FastSpring’s Affiliate Program helped Skylum boost ROI while enhancing stability, analytic insight, and control.
The Challenge
Skylum Wishes to Build an Affiliate Program to Nurture Its Community
As a global leader in photography applications, Skylum understands the power of community. The company got its start as a Mac-only software provider, selling primarily through the Apple Store. As the business grew, the team began to crave independence, so they transitioned their fledgling website into a vibrant marketplace that now facilitates most of their sales.
This change kicked off a period of rapid growth, and the team believes it was their connection to the photography community that fueled this success. Many of them came from this community and had spent years building and nurturing relationships. So when the team decided to launch an affiliate program, they did so with an important goal in mind. They wanted to build a program that would reward their treasured community and provide it the nutrients needed to flourish.
The Solution
A Trusted Provider Offers Expanded Capabilities to Support the Program
Of course, building an efficient affiliate program requires that you think through every detail. Skylum was already using FastSpring to process transactions. So it decided to start by exploring FastSpring’s capabilities. Skylum learned that not only could FastSpring track and manage affiliate transactions, but it would connect them to an entire network of affiliate partners.
This was great news. Skylum’s team trusted FastSpring. It managed complex transaction concerns (like local tax requirements and currency conversions) perfectly. Tasking the solution to handle their affiliate activity as well was a “no brainer.”
The Results
Skylum’s goal was to design an affiliate program that would strengthen its connection to the photography community. This meant Skylum needed to be selective when choosing affiliates. It wanted to work with reputable photographers who would only associate themselves with quality brands. FastSpring helped Skylum achieve this goal.
FastSpring’s support staff guided Skylum’s team through the creation of an appropriate marketing mix for their product offering and helped them to attract the right affiliate partners. They also showed them how to activate and mobilize affiliates and set up the platform to track every sale. Once enabled, the FastSpring solution manages each order, alerts the partner of the sale, and compensates them for their effort.
Skylum also gained a wealth of reporting capabilities. They can see which affiliates are promoting their offers. And they can monitor the number of impressions, clicks, and conversions each affiliate drives.
This empowers the team to:
- Track the impact of their marketing initiatives.
- Identify high-performing affiliates so they can encourage their success and drive incremental revenue.
- Spot under-performing affiliates so they can suggest improvement opportunities.
FastSpring’s Affiliate Platform has been hugely beneficial to Skylum. In a time of growth, the team was able to scale and reach a wider audience while continuing to nurture their community. Now, the company is moving into new markets. Using the FastSpring platform, they will identify and connect with new affiliates who will help to fuel this expansion. With FastSpring, Skylum has found a partner in growth that will continue to power its success.
Watch the video to hear this story from Skylum and to learn more about its experience with FastSpring.
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Global Payments
Fraud Prevention
Subscription Management
Affiliate Marketing
Checkout
Digital Invoicing
Tax Compliance
Interactive Quotes
Reporting and Analytics
Merchant of Record
Developer Tools
Use Cases
