Latest / Affiliate Dialogues / 26 - Out of the Comfort Zone, Into Cashback with Elisa Procaccini
Transcript
- [00:00] (Teaser) I think I would like to forward the last wish that I've made to myself also to our listeners and in particular to women … yes, you are ready, yes, you are enough, yes, you simply have to go for it. [00:35] (Intro) [00:43] Hello, today I'm very thrilled to welcome someone who brings a fresh perspective to the affiliate world. [00:49] Since May 2025, Elisa Procaccini has worked at mycashbacks as an account and portal manager, [00:57] looking after cashback campaigns and affiliate partnerships across the Italian, Spanish and DACH markets. [01:03] Welcome to Affiliate Dialogues, it's a real pleasure to have you here today Elisa. [01:13] all our listeners. Hello, hello, I'm also very excited and I would say we start immediately [01:20] into the three first quick questions. First question is hiking in the mountains or exploring [01:27] a new city. Well, I come from a village in the Alps, so I grew up surrounded by mountains, [01:43] English, German and Chinese, which one is your favorite? [01:47] That's a tough one. You're basically asking me to pick my favorite child. [01:53] So I think that each language serves a different purpose in my life. [02:00] So I wouldn't be able to choose just one honestly. [02:03] Okay, okay. Loved it. [02:06] And last question is describe affiliate marketing in one word. [02:13] If I had to choose just one word, I think I would say challenge, because there is always [02:20] something new to try, something new to learn, new markets to discover. [02:24] So challenge is the most suitable word in my opinion. [02:28] Okay, okay. [02:29] All right. [02:30] So I'm excited to dive a bit more into this later. [02:35] First of all, your journey is really exciting because your path into affiliate marketing wasn't [02:43] exactly the classic one. I don't think there's a classic one in [02:46] affiliate marketing, because everyone just randomly drops into the [02:51] field. But before you started at mycashbacks, you worked in [02:55] customer experience, content creation, and you even taught [02:59] Italian, like, how did you end up in affiliate marketing? [03:04] I would say it was almost by chance. When I moved to Germany [03:08] at the beginning of 2025, I knew that I was looking for a [03:13] in the marketing field, but I didn't know exactly what specific position. And then in May of that [03:20] same year, I started working as a junior portal manager at mycashbacks. And since then I fell in [03:27] love with my job and I fell in love with this field. So here I am. Nice. Nice. And since you [03:34] already had so many different experience and skills, is there like one specific skill or like [03:43] today from your previous jobs? Thanks to the customer experience, I would say adaptability. [03:54] The skill of being able to find different solutions to different problems. I think that's the most [04:00] valuable one for me. Okay, that makes totally sense. Interacting is also such many changes [04:13] This was also one of the first topics we discussed and also one of the first things you came up with. [04:20] And yeah, maybe for the listeners, I was a bit curious and I found Elisa through like speaking in front of the camera at like Affiliate Connect. [04:33] And then you told me that like, yeah, you really get out of your comfort zone quite often recently, also the podcast. [04:43] And last year you went to Mexico on your own without much kind of a planning. [04:50] And yeah, what did that experience teach you or like what is, yeah, leaving the comfort zone [04:54] bringing to you? [04:59] I would say that that experience taught me to simply say yes, even if you don't [05:06] feel ready or even if you're unsure, I think it's important to simply say yes and then [05:13] afterwards, because you don't know where saying yes to even a small opportunity will lead you [05:23] and bring you in the future. So that's what has taught me. [05:27] I totally agree. So yeah, I'm glad that this time saying yes was leading us here. [05:34] Exactly. And yeah, let's talk a bit about cashback. Yeah, as we already know now, you [05:43] last year but you've already lived your first Black Friday which is also [05:50] something I want to talk with you about today because this is one of the biggest [05:54] events in affiliate marketing and yeah there's a lot of preparation behind and [06:02] first also maybe from your experience since you work across Italy Spain and [06:13] on the different regions. [06:15] And I would say Black Friday is big everywhere, [06:18] but of course, maybe the outcome is different. [06:21] How is it from your perspective, [06:23] since you have so many knowledge about different countries [06:28] and yeah, how popular is cashback in different countries? [06:35] Germany is definitely our most established market. [06:39] And in Italy and Spain, there is still a lot of potential. [06:43] But for all three markets, I'd say that there is still a lot of room for growth. [06:49] So yeah, I wish that more people knew about cashback. [06:53] So if I could give an advice to advertisers that wanted to establish their presence in [07:06] moment, because they won't have much competition for [07:10] attention. And so they will be able to get known before the [07:14] market gets crowded. And so yes, that's what I'd like to say. [07:22] Okay, and if you do you have an idea why right now, cashback [07:28] is still less popular in Italy and Spain? [07:36] not familiar with the concept and the benefits of cashback. [07:40] And that's why it's very important for them to have a very [07:44] easy experience and to understand all the conditions. [07:49] So to be able to understand when they will get their money [07:53] back. So it's very important to make the experience very easy [07:57] and transparent. Because yes, they're not familiar with that. [08:06] For example, now you encouraged also the different markets to do it now before the competition [08:13] is going to grow. [08:14] How would you say, how is the adaption for different campaigns for each market right [08:20] now or like, how is the process behind? [08:25] With mycashbacks, we adapt our approach to seasonality, I would say. [08:36] well. Yeah. Okay. Okay. And now in general, the Black Week. [08:42] How is it like? How important is Black Week for a cashback [08:47] portal? And also, I really want to know when is the time you [08:50] start planning? [08:52] Black Week is very important. It's one of the most [08:56] important periods for a cashback portal. And we started [09:06] June, we already had all our Black Week packages ready. And by the beginning of July, we were [09:12] already reaching out to advertisers and account managers to present our campaigns, our offers. [09:21] Okay. And is there a different behavior you can tell while Black Week from cashback users? [09:36] different approaches? How would you say how was your experience last year and how maybe [09:42] also you prepared this year? How is the cashback user behavior? [09:47] Cashback users already know what they want to buy and even before Black Week starts. [09:57] So they will compare prices, but they will go for the best overall deal, I would say, [10:06] And yes, and then they have the advantage of course of having cashback on top of that. [10:13] So not only great deals, but also money that comes back to them. [10:19] Okay. [10:20] And how is it for you or like for you as a team, if you have also the whole aftermath, [10:28] like what makes a Black Friday campaign really work on the cashback portal and how do you [10:36] success or like, yeah, how is it? [10:40] I would say clear offers and well-defined conditions are very [10:45] important for being transparent, as I was saying before. But the [10:51] strongest campaigns are the ones that are backed by activity [10:56] throughout the year. So, yeah, brand awareness needs to be built before Q4. [11:06] or maybe around June the timing or you would say already? [11:10] Yes, even June, yeah. [11:12] It could work, but all along the year, [11:15] being there, being present, not with the highest cashback [11:19] rate, but just being there, presenting your offer, [11:22] presenting your brand, your shop, that's [11:24] key to have the stronger result than during Black Friday. [11:30] OK. [11:31] All right. [11:36] insights from your cashback perspective, from your work. And with all these insights, let's get a bit [11:42] practical for all the advertisers listening. So what makes a partnership between an advertiser and [11:51] a cashback portal really successful? Apart from the obvious so shared KPI, shared goals and [12:06] delivered on time. I would say that fast and fair commission [12:14] confirmation and reliable tracking are both very important [12:20] aspects so that the user can trust the shop. [12:25] Okay, okay. And is there also like the most common misconception [12:36] Probably the fact that users only care for the highest cashback rate and that's it. [12:44] And as I was saying before, actually they really value the overall deal. [12:50] Yeah. [12:51] Okay. [13:02] fixed visibility campaign with us during the Black Week. [13:08] And it worked better than simply increasing the commission to the highest, [13:16] because users had the chance to understand better their offer, [13:23] having premium placement on different channels. [13:32] increasing the cashback, increasing the commission and that's it. [13:35] Okay, okay. [13:37] Very interesting. [13:38] And would you say, since there are so many different advertisers and also, as you said, [13:44] they start already you have to be aware of the whole brand awareness and push that also [13:50] before Q4, how can an advertiser really stand out on a portal with so many different offers? [14:02] I've partially already said it, like I think that the most important thing is being like [14:10] a having a consistent presence on the portal all along the year. And in that way, the user [14:17] will be able to already get to know the brand. And so the advertiser won't have to simply [14:32] look for the brand on the portal actively. [14:35] Yeah. [14:36] Okay. [14:37] And, um, yeah, maybe one last question is also if you look into the future now, um, let's [14:46] say maybe next year, how do you think, um, yeah, which might be some [14:52] challenges or some exciting parts where you see more growth or maybe, yeah, like, [15:02] cashback part of doing Black Friday. Is there an outlook you can give us? [15:11] I wish for the Italian and Spanish market to grow exponentially. That's what I hope. [15:21] For more people to understand the real value of cashback. [15:32] professional notes, I would like to keep on learning and having more and more AI knowledge [15:43] that is always more and more important in this field. Yes. And then on a more personal note, [16:02] a yes to new opportunities. So yeah, that's what I can imagine for the next year. [16:10] Okay, thank you so, so much. This was such an insightful conversation. And yeah, let's come to [16:17] a closure. I already, you already said some really nice things also for your personal future or for [16:32] the listeners maybe can take this and also maybe implement it for their own journey. [16:38] Maybe one last advice, a little quote. [16:41] What should it be? [16:42] I think I would like to forward the last wish that I've made to myself also to our [16:48] listeners and in particular to women, because we always let that voice, little voice in [17:02] listening to it. And because yes, you are ready. Yes, you are [17:06] enough. Yes, you simply have to go for it. You have to say yes. [17:12] And you never know where that yes will bring you. So please [17:16] simply go for it. [17:19] That's a really, really nice word. And I think I totally agree. I [17:23] I really, I think especially the ready part, you know, that you [17:26] don't always have to wait until something is already [17:32] perfect or like, you know, because so many people are not ready and still try anyway, [17:38] and it still leads you somewhere, even though it just might be a little learning, you know, [17:43] can be a big learning in the end. So yeah, yes. Thank you so much for your time. I [17:49] really enjoyed your conversation. And yeah, I like to say thank you, Hannah, for having me. [18:02] Thank you, bye. [18:03] Bye.