As part of the new study commissioned by Impact, Forrester Consulting asked 400+ partnership professionals about what benefits they’ve derived from partnerships over the past 12 months. The study revealed practical tactics for companies wanting to increase their revenue and how putting partnerships to work in very specific ways can help them.
Not everything made it into the study, however, so we wanted to share some bonus findings from the research that highlight the many ways companies benefit from their partnership programs. Respondents listed a variety of ways, among them perks you might expect, like higher revenue, brand awareness, and customer attention. But they saw less expected results, too, like more upsell opportunities, higher customer LTV, and even uplift in stock price.
Top 14 benefits from partnership programs
Here’s how partnership professionals answered when asked:
“Which of the following benefits has your organization seen from its partnership program investments and initiatives over the last 12 months?”
The study responses also underscore how partnerships drive notable revenue growth, with 23% getting more than 25% of their overall revenue from the partnership channel, and for some companies the number surpasses 50%.
What this means? Companies that are slow to adopt risk losing to competitors with strong partnership programs.
How partnerships contribute to a company’s overall revenue
Here’s how participants responded to this question:
“To the best of your knowledge, how much do partnerships contribute to overall company revenue?”
The tactics for partnership success
These reported benefits support previous research that shows how successful partnership programs expand reach and drive revenue. But the new study also provides a more tactical roadmap to drive greater returns on program investment.
The data shows that to move from low-maturity to high-maturity status, programs must implement tactics like developing comprehensive criteria for partner recruitment, automating repeatable processes for recruiting and onboarding new partners, developing joint objectives and metrics, and breaking down internal silos to build the best routes to market strategy.
Starting the journey to higher performing partnerships
The firms most likely to see the biggest benefits from the partnership economy are those in the high-maturity category that make the investments necessary to fully exploit the channel.
Among the key takeaways from the study:
- Mature firms have made significant strides in overcoming challenges, increasing their automation, and expertise across the phases of the customer life cycle. This has allowed them to see stronger revenue increases compared to low-maturity firms.
- Across most phases of the partnership lifecycle, high-maturity firms have two to three times more automation than low-maturity firms.
- Low-maturity firms must start closing the gap by removing the most manual aspects of their partnership programs to move faster and become more flexible and responsive.
For an in-depth look at the data by vertical and phase of partnership and more, download the full study here, or start your journey now by connecting to an Impact growth technologist at grow@impact.com.
