Overview
Upstart, an online personal loan provider, recognized performance marketing as a scalable, cost-effective channel for growing their customer base. However, sourcing reliable publishers while managing application volume proved to be a strain on their team’s time and resources.
They identified MaxBounty as a network that could connect their brand with high-performing publishers while managing application and compliance processes.
Upstart’s strategic partnership with MaxBounty led to a +106% YoY increase in funded loan revenue, generating 53 million and counting in total loan revenue for the company.
Obstacles
As a digital lending platform operating in a highly regulated and competitive industry, Upstart faced significant challenges in scaling its performance marketing efforts through publisher partnerships.
While the company recognized the potential of publisher-driven lead generation, several obstacles prevented them from achieving their desired growth, including:
- Difficulty Identifying High-Quality Publishers: Upstart struggled to distinguish between legitimate, high-value partners and those with questionable traffic sources driving low intent users. This was preventing them from achieving their desired ROI.
- Application Volume Management: A high volume of publisher applications placed a considerable burden on Upstart’s internal teams. This slowed the onboarding process for high-value partners with more potential.
- Maintaining Compliance Standards: Given the strict regulatory environment surrounding financial services, Upstart needed to ensure all marketing partners adhered to its compliance standards. Monitoring promotional methods across dozens or even hundreds of publishers presented a consistent operational challenge.
Upstart also sought a channel that could effectively target users who had a credit score of 580 or higher. Previous marketing efforts yielded too many users with poor credit scores, exposing Upstart to unwanted financial risk and regulatory scrutiny.
These challenges highlighted the need for a more scalable, strategic approach to publisher management that prioritized quality and compliance.
Strategy
After partnering with Upstart, MaxBounty’s Advertiser Team developed a revenue-sharing campaign that rewarded publishers a 1.7% commission on each funded loan generated through their user traffic.
MaxBounty’s team then began an in-depth analysis of its current publishers to identify those that fit the following criteria:
- Proven experience and success promoting other personal loan campaigns, especially those with a revenue-sharing model
- A track record of sending exceptionally high-quality traffic
- Previously demonstrated they could successfully target users with credit scores above the “Poor” range
- Ability to send traffic from countries with high loan-approval rates
This analysis included continually narrowing the list to just a few publishers capable of delivering high traffic volume, based on the mutual view that this approach would outperform a broader, less concentrated effort. This small group of publishers would also be better positioned to start driving measurable results immediately, which was important to Upstart.
MaxBounty took full ownership of all publisher vetting, application and compliance tasks, and the identified publishers were then approved on the Upstart campaign to begin driving traffic to the company’s website.
Performance Results
MaxBounty’s publishers delivered immediate, measurable results for Upstart by driving high-intent user traffic that quickly translated into funded loans. These publishers were especially effective at leveraging contextual traffic sources to reach the target demographic identified by Upstart.
In the first year of partnering with MaxBounty, Upstart more than doubled its total funded loan revenue from performance marketing efforts. Since launching the campaign, MaxBounty’s publishers have driven users who generated over 5,700 funded loans, resulting in $53 million in total loan revenue for Upstart.
Performance Data Breakdown:
- +106% year-over-year increase in funded loan revenue
- 5,700+ total funded loans generated by users acquired through MaxBounty publishers
- $53M+ total funded loan revenue generated by users acquired through MaxBounty publishers
Become a MaxBounty Advertiser to have our team design a unique growth strategy for you and your brand.