Commission Junction - Advertiser case study.

Snapfish Case Study

Snapfish Increases Publisher Sales by 600 Percent Using CJ Vantage™

Over 100 billion images are snapped in America each year. With digital cameras in over 43 million homes in America, that number is predicted to reach one trillion in just a few years. Snapfish, a service of Hewlett-Packard, is consistently recognized as one the Web's best photo services. Through traditional advertising and marketing both on and offline, Snapfish reaches its target customers through a number of methods. But one of its most successful marketing channels is its affiliate program with Commission Junction. In fact, Commission Junction helped Snapfish increase its affiliate sales by over 600 percent in just one year.


	"We are continuously impressed with the high level of service, the enthusiasm and the way Commission Junction truly cares about our program. They constantly go above and beyond our expectations." Candice Nobles Senior Marketing Manager

Snapfish's senior marketing manager Candice Nobles will be the first to admit the affiliate program was not taking advantage of all the opportunities available when she took the helm in 2001. In fact, the EPC* was $1.13 and they were considered a "one bar" advertiser**. Candice worked with Commission Junction to make changes such as improving commission offers, revising product copy, adding a logo listing and changing the commission structure to be more competitive with other players in the photo category. In addition, the company offers a standard 20 free prints to new customers. In a few months they saw gradual improvement. But for Snapfish and Commission Junction, it wasn't enough – it was obvious that more growth was possible.

In 2001 Snapfish signed on as a CJ Access™ client, Commission Junction's self-service, turnkey program. As a CJ Access client, Snapfish was able to tap into the industry's most ethical and productive network of publishers – the CJ Marketplace. With the experience and knowledge gained through CJ Access, Snapfish decided to upgrade to CJ Vantage in 2005 – a solution that not only provides access to the publisher network, but also offers consulting expertise from Commission Junction. CJ Vantage helped grow the program by providing strategic support and helping recruit top-performing publishers. In addition, the Snapfish team was invited to visit the Commission Junction headquarters in Santa Barbara to brainstorm ideas that would increase revenue and to meet with the publisher team. Today, Snapfish has an EPC of $70 and have become a "five bar" advertiser – they are truly taking the program to the next level!

The Commission Junction team and Snapfish's internal team have also developed a strong working relationship. The groups are passionate about the program, sharing ideas and thoughts and trying to create the best way to work with their publishers. Snapfish benefits from the ongoing strategy and expertise delivered through the CJ Vantage solution.

"We are continuously impressed with the high level of service, the enthusiasm and the way Commission Junction truly cares about our program," said Candice. "They constantly go above and beyond our expectations."

"Snapfish is a great advertiser to work with. They are always striving to improve their program, to work with publishers and implement creative and unique ways to reach target customers," said Dave Osman, vice president of advertiser development at Commission Junction. "Snapfish's experience demonstrates the potential that can be reached by moving from CJ Access to CJ Vantage."

With the challenge to store, print and share potentially one trillion photos, Snapfish has its work cut out. But with a strong brand and partnership with a creative and hardworking affiliate team at industry leader Commission Junction, their future looks pretty as a picture.

* In 2001, Commission Junction made a revolutionary move by publishing the performance metrics of all advertisers, publishers, and ads within the CJ Marketplace. This approach provided both advertisers and publishers for the first time a way to gauge the value of their existing and potential relationships based on two key metrics – average earnings per 100 clicks (EPC) and network earnings – and fundamentally took affiliate marketing to the next level.

** Commission Junction has an easy-to-read ranking system from one to five bars to help show performance of advertisers and publishers. This gives potential partners another avenue to gain information.

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