
Introduction & Context:
Institut Impec is a premier beauty school based in Casablanca, offering specialized training in various beauty procedures, including cosmetology, skincare, and makeup artistry. The school provides professional certifications that help students launch successful careers in the beauty industry.
Despite its strong reputation, Institut Impec faced difficulties in scaling its student enrollments. Traditional marketing channels were becoming increasingly expensive, and the return on ad spend (ROAS) was declining. The school needed a sustainable, cost-effective method to attract new students while maintaining profitability.
The Challenge (Pain Point & Problem Statement):
Institut Impec struggled with:
- A high cost per acquisition (CPA) of $120 per student.
- Limited reach due to reliance on paid social media ads.
- Low referral traffic despite a satisfied student base.
- Inefficient use of influencer partnerships that lacked performance tracking.
The challenge was to create a scalable, performance-based marketing strategy that could lower acquisition costs while increasing enrollment numbers.
Affiliate Marketing
Institut Impec
Casablanca, Morocco
Mohamed Chourouki
The Strategy & Execution (Step-by-Step Breakdown of Actions Taken):
To solve these challenges, we implemented a performance-driven affiliate marketing program. The execution involved several strategic steps:
1. Affiliate Partner Recruitment & Onboarding
- Identified beauty influencers, bloggers, and industry professionals with engaged audiences interested in beauty education.
- Created an attractive commission structure: Affiliates earned 20% of tuition fees for every student they referred.
- Provided affiliates with a custom dashboard to track their referrals, commissions, and conversions in real-time.
2. Strategic Partnership & Influencer Collaboration
- Partnered with micro and macro beauty influencers to create compelling testimonials and promotional content.
- Developed an exclusive affiliate-only scholarship program, where referred students received a small tuition discount, incentivizing sign-ups.
- Supplied affiliates with pre-made content (videos, email templates, and banners) to streamline promotions.
3. Optimized Tracking & Attribution
- Integrated unique affiliate tracking links and promo codes for accurate sales attribution.
- Utilized UTM parameters to monitor traffic sources and measure affiliate effectiveness.
- Implemented an AI-powered CRM to manage leads and nurture affiliate-driven prospects with automated follow-ups.
4. Performance-Based Incentives
- Established a tiered commission model: Affiliates who referred more than 10 students received a 25% commission boost.
- Hosted monthly affiliate contests, rewarding top performers with cash bonuses and free beauty courses.
- Featured high-performing affiliates on Institut Impec’s official social media, increasing their credibility and reach.
The Challenges & Roadblocks:
While rolling out the affiliate program, we faced a few hurdles:
- Initial hesitancy from influencers: Many beauty influencers were accustomed to upfront payments rather than commission-based earnings. We overcame this by showcasing projected earnings and providing guaranteed minimum payouts for top-tier influencers.
- Tracking discrepancies: Some affiliates reported issues with link tracking. We addressed this by implementing multi-touch attribution and allowing referrals via email and social DMs.
- Affiliate drop-off: Early on, we noticed that some affiliates lost motivation after a few weeks. We countered this by launching a weekly leaderboard and real-time progress updates to keep engagement high.
The Results & Impact (Before vs. After Data Comparison):
The transformation was significant. In just 90 days, the affiliate program delivered the following results:
- Student enrollments increased by 320%, growing from 50 students per month to 210 students per month.
- CPA dropped by 58%, reducing from $120 per student to $50 per student.
- Affiliate-driven traffic accounted for 64% of total enrollments, drastically reducing reliance on paid ads.
- Affiliate earnings exceeded $25,000, creating a profitable and self-sustaining referral network.
Key Takeaways & Lessons Learned:
- Leveraging micro-influencers and beauty professionals proved more cost-effective than traditional ad spend.
- Providing affiliates with easy-to-use promotional materials boosted conversion rates.
- Tiered incentives and gamification strategies helped maintain affiliate engagement and motivation.
- Implementing robust tracking solutions ensured accurate commission payouts and reduced disputes.
Conclusion & Final Thoughts:
By shifting from traditional advertising to performance-driven affiliate marketing, Institut Impec successfully scaled enrollments, reduced CPA, and built a long-term, cost-efficient acquisition model.
Moving forward, the school plans to expand into international markets by recruiting affiliates from Francophone countries and introducing exclusive online beauty certification programs.
This case study demonstrates how a well-executed affiliate marketing program can revolutionize student acquisition in the education sector while building a community of brand advocates who drive sustainable growth.