How a leading heritage brand boosted membership growth and sign-ups by +62%.

The Challenge

A UK-based tourism and heritage organization sought to revamp its membership growth strategy amid the cost-of-living crisis. As a brand with a strong charitable mission, it aimed to balance sustainable growth while maintaining its premium positioning.

The key challenges included:

• Driving new membership sign-ups despite economic constraints.
• Expanding upper-funnel placements with a reduced advertising budget.
• Overcoming commission caps that limited exposure through cashback and voucher partners.
• Scaling traffic growth without diluting the brand’s reputation.

The Gen3 Approach

To drive cost-effective member acquisition, Gen3 implemented a structured strategy:

• Leverage Content Partnerships: Collaborated with 20+ high-authority content publishers, extending beyond traditional voucher and cashback partners.
• Optimized Promotional Strategy: Shifted from frequent discounting to seasonally targeted promotions, maximizing ROI.
• Peak Season Focus for Membership Growth: Capitalized on the summer school holiday period, leading to 48% of annual new sign-ups.
• Affiliate Mix Diversification: Balanced partnerships across content sites, cashback platforms, premium voucher providers, and closed user groups. The top 10 affiliates accounted for 70% of all new memberships, creating a sustainable and diversified growth model.
• Traffic Expansion via Subnetworks: Increased reach by partnering with subnetworks, reducing dependency on voucher sites that could impact brand integrity.

The Results

Key Performance Wins:

• +62% increase in new member sign-ups YoY
• +60% revenue growth YoY
• +446% increase in traffic via content partnerships and subnetworks
• +12% increase in active publishers
• +64% revenue growth compared to prior years
• +38% rise in sales volume
• +59% increase in productive publishers

By implementing a refined promotional approach, affiliate mix diversification, and a seasonal member acquisition strategy, the organization successfully scaled new membership sign-ups while maintaining brand positioning and cost efficiency.

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