In the digital age where influencers and creators hold sway over consumer behavior, a promising startup, Social Snowball, is spearheading a new way to curb the prevalent issue of coupon code leaks to discount sites like Honey and RetailMeNot. This tech-savvy solution ensures proper commission allocation and credit attribution for each sale.

Social Snowball, the brainchild of 24-year-old Noah Tucker, rose to address a personal experience he faced while establishing his own ecommerce platforms and consulting on affiliate and influencer marketing for Shopify sellers. Tucker, who turned to the online realm after his grueling stint on a fishing boat, found the need for a more efficient and accurate tracking system in the rapidly changing digital market.

Originally designed as a platform to streamline the management of influencer and creator affiliates for Shopify stores, Social Snowball equips merchants with the tools needed to generate referral codes and effectively oversee affiliate performance, payments, and ROI. Tucker's venture filled the vacuum left by outdated tools that seemed a mismatch for the new-age affiliates, leading to the redevelopment of the traditional affiliate model.

Social Snowball's latest innovation, Safelinks, presents a one-time use link similar to password recovery systems. These links serve as discount coupons that influencers can share with their audiences. Should these codes be leaked to a discount site, they become instantly useless, effectively eliminating any unintended benefits.

Tucker observes that the use of coupon codes is a popular tactic among TikTok and Instagram influencers to incentivize purchases and build loyalty. However, the tracking mechanism often fails when customers switch devices, leading to losses for the brand and influencers.

Further, the advent of browser extensions has allowed these codes to be re-used far beyond the intended audience, rewarding unearned commission credits to the influencer. The brand ends up suffering financial losses both from the discount offered and the commission paid to the influencer.

Safelinks address this problem. Each time an influencer posts an affiliate link on their Instagram page, Safelinks generates a single-use coupon code. This safeguards the customer experience, offering them the expected discount and the influencer a scalable sharing option.

Social Snowball, a completely bootstrapped operation to date, boasts a team of seven remote employees and a portfolio of 1,300 brand customers that include names like Fanjoy, Outway, and True Classic. The company, based out of Los Angeles, has employees spread across the U.S., Canada, and Brazil.

Despite the initial time investment in building the solution, Social Snowball is now seeing significant growth while operating profitably. The company follows a VC mindset, aggressively reinvesting the profit into hires, technology, and marketing. Tucker aims to maintain complete control of the company to stay customer-focused and product-centric.

Source: https://multichannelmerchant.com/marketing/coupon-code-leaks-addressed-by-startup/