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Dollar Shave Club’s Razor-Sharp Acquisition and Retention, Powered by Partnerize.

Jan 22, 2025

Leeanne Boulton

Global Director Integrated Marketing

Dollar Shave Club is a disruptive razor subscription service with millions of members. As part of their on-going marketing strategy to achieve vertical-leading customer lifetime value, the brand challenged their agency, The Specialist Works, to drive more value through the affiliate channel, by improving in-channel customer retention rates, on the Partnerize platform.

Dollar Shave Club defines a profitable customer as retaining 50% of members after 12 months. The Specialist Works set out to understand at which point a customer acquired through the affiliate channel becomes valuable, as well as to define the sweet spot for commission rates to achieve optimum customer lifetime value. The Specialist Works challenged traditional approaches to partner commissioning for subscription brands, by introducing a new commission structure, rewarding customers at the most valuable point in the customer cycle. The Specialist Works created a clear measurement framework to prove incremental improvements made through the campaign and showcase the value that can be driven through the affiliate channel.

The team relied heavily on Partnerize’s integrated technology solutions including analytics and attribution to be able to view their partner channel results side-by-side with the brand’s digital mix. Working within the parameters of the measurement framework, the agency was able to evidence success to Dollar Shave Club.

The Specialist Works unique approach to testing new commission structures and proving their hypothesis before rolling out to a wider audience ensured that they were not only driving new customers, from best-fit strategic partners, but were also driving valuable customers with a higher chance of retention. In fact, through this optimized approach, affiliates achieved a higher 12 month retention rate–higher than all other paid channels. The Specialist Works was able to optimize partner relationships and adopt a strategic approach to commissioning. Some key highlights include a 13% increse in sales YoY and an 84% increase in retention rates YoY.

To learn more about Dollar Shave Club’s story and results, download the full case study right here.

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Dollar Shave Club’s Razor-Sharp Acquisition and Retention, Powered by Partnerize.

Leeanne Boulton

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