How URLgenius positioned itself with brands and influencers to grow revenue

URLgenius, the first non-PII (no personal information collected) and QR code platform that helps marketers open apps to the right screen from any marketing channel, recently surpassed $1.3B in Q4 2023 commerce revenue, based on it’s client’s commissions that it generated while using the URLgenius’ technology.

To reach this point, URLGenius leveraged the creator economy as it identified that the creator economy thrives on social media, with e-commerce apps as the primary monetization mechanism. After establishing the “app-to-app” customer journey as crucial, the focus shifted to eliminating friction, such as mobile web logins, so that brands can maximize commissions and boost sales, according to URLgenius’ CEO & founder, Brian Klais.

“Customers prefer apps and as a marketer, if the links behind your ads, your Instagram stories, or your Facebook posts are sending traffic to mobile website logins when the customer prefers the app, your conversion will suffer because they won’t login that way,” said Klais, who noted that word-of-mouth through social media led to a significant number of referrals from existing customers and agencies, though he did not specify how much.

As part of this, URLgenius tapped influencers like lifestyle influencer Tara Thueson, who has 147,000 followers on Instagram, and fashion influencer Aliana Nicole, who has 49,000 subscribers on YouTube, to test out the platform on their own e-commerace stores. Klais says URLgenius increased Thueson’s commissions for Prime Day last year by 9x her average, and it had been consistently about 3-4x before then. The two shared URLgenius platform links on their own respective stories and posts back in 2023.

URLgenius’ technology was also utilized by brands like GoPro and Warner Music Group, at a time when QR codes were becoming more prevalent.

“For a content creator and an advertiser, there is nothing but upside for including an actionable moment through a QR code,” said Christa Carone, marketing strategic adviser at KERV Interactive. “URLgenius has been brilliant in taking the friction out of embedding links everywhere and anywhere, making it easy is the fastest way to scale any new consumer touchpoint.”

Moreover, Klais mentioned that Nicole realized that it had to be her followers who placed an order in the App for her commissions to be credited to her. As soon as she started using URLgenius, she saw an immediate increase in Amazon earnings of 200-300%. Klais said it’s influencers reported on average 67% higher conversions immediately after using URLgenius and 49% higher average order values. Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.

“Influencers need links that can open apps from social media while passing their affiliate tags into the app to measure results,” he said. “URLgenius doesn’t rely on third-party cookies. So today’s privacy trends and imminent cookieless world work in our favor because customers are looking for easier, trusted solutions.”

Klais said the platform can assist marketers in boosting app engagement or increasing app installs from various channels. Regardless of the industry, be it e-commerce, healthcare, or finance, the platform proves valuable. For brands with an app, linking to it from diverse marketing channels, including social media, is a common requirement. Early adopters of this idea include influencers and affiliates, showcasing their agility and resourcefulness. However, the principle holds true for any app, emphasizing the need for marketers to measure app engagement and sales from social media without relying on SDKs. 

In response to new technologies and market demands, URLgenius remained true to its mission of creating codeless, no-SDK, privacy-compliant solutions, while also listening to its customers and their market needs in real time.

The landscape of content creation is undergoing a significant transformation, according to Stephanie Harris, CEO and founder of PartnerCentric, the largest independent WBE-certified partnership marketing agency in the U.S. The trend, according to Harris, is more than just a temporary shift; it fundamentally alters the intersection of traditional affiliate marketing and content creation as creators earn more income through affiliate commissions than through conventional brand partnerships.

“The potential for content creators to expand their revenue streams is immense. Leveraging these evolving tools to their advantage, enables them to scale from a passion project into a full-time career,” said Harris. “It opens up more avenues for them to diversify their income across various platforms and formats, while also arming them with the data to prove value.”