AI coupon tech company RevLifter sets sights on U.S. growth

In the three years since RevLifter was created in London, the company has grown from an idea that interested major online retailers to a business that saw a 433% increase in revenue in 2019.

The AI coupon tech company is making U.S. expansion a priority. RevLifter currently does 40% of its business in the United States with U.S. headquarters in Atlanta. It plans to increase that number to 70% by 2022, with Atlanta as a hub of that growth, according to Jim Harriman, named general manager of RevLifter's North America operations last year.

Harriman, who was previously with advertising and marketing firm CJ Affiliate, is based in the company's Alpharetta office. He talked with Atlanta Business Chronicle about the company's origins and plans.

How did the company get its start? Who are the company owners and when and how did they develop the idea for the company? The idea behind the company came out of the affiliate channel.

The co-founders of RevLifter, Simon Bird and Ryan Kliszat, realized retailers were questioning incremental value of incentives and coupons when a customer was already shopping on their site and ready to buy. Equally, the performance marketing industry (AKA, the affiliate marketing industry — an online marketing channel where brands and publishers connect through networks in exchange for a commission on any sale that is generated through the brand's website as a result of publisher efforts) was crying out for a solution that catered to the needs of the consumer and the advertiser. While employed at a large coupon code publisher, Simon experienced this first hand.

Using their personal networks, Simon and Ryan met with large online retailers — the majority of which are now clients — to present the idea of RevLifter. The hope and goal was to build something based around retailers' goals of personalizing offers, delivering incremental sales and targeting customers based on their unique behavior.

How did RevLifter secure seed funding and how will that funding be used to grow your company? Thankfully much of the funding was sourced through the co-founders' personal and extended networks. We also focused on finding investors which added value to the business rather than simply providing funds, plus Simon and Ryan created a very clear vision for the business and how funds were going to be leveraged. Essentially, the $2.9 million in seed funding will be used to further enhance products, machine learning, and AI capabilities.

Additionally, we plan to boost our presence in the U.S. at our Atlanta HQ where growth is intensifying rapidly, not just because of the size of the market but because of the particular appetite the U.S. consumer has for deals and incentives. The U.S. currently represents over 40% of our business. By 2022 we estimate the U.S. will represent over 70%. We've just planted the Atlanta HQ late last year. We have 27 employees total, three of which are making Atlanta home, with plans to hire many more throughout 2020. Our business (revenue) has doubled since establishing roots in Atlanta and we expect that to continue. It's possible by the end of the year we have 3-4 times the (number of) employees in Atlanta.

What is the company plan and growth strategy? 2020 will be a pivotal year for RevLifter. After an incredible period of intense growth in 2019, growing from 30 to 90 clients and achieving a phenomenal 433% increase in revenue, we are set to be in full scale-up mode by mid-2020.

We are planning to initiate series A funding by the end of the year which will facilitate further investment in our AI and aid the expansion of our U.S. operation.

We’ll also be developing our product portfolio. Currently, we incentivize customers via three core products: RevPage, a personalized deals page that drives incremental revenue (any revenue a brand received that is above and beyond what they would have received if they didn't engage the customer at all during the purchase cycle); RevConvert, which launches subtle on-site messages to engage people in key moments, helping drive more sales; and RevRewards, personalised e-gift rewards that boost your revenue.

This year, we’re looking to enter other marketing channels across display, email and fintech. We are actively exploring how our platform can revolutionize the way customers are incentivized to pay for products and provide an additional revenue stream for retailers.

How does RevLifter make money? We can work with clients in a few ways. Currently, the majority of our clients operate on an affiliate CPA (cost per acquisition) model, which means we get paid on a performance basis. This has been instrumental in proving the worth of our technology and helping us gain speed to market.

However, we’re now offering a SaaS service model which incorporates fixed monthly fees to use our technology. We’ll be offering different tiers of service depending on how much a retailer is willing to invest and the level of personalization they’d like to offer to customers.

What is your competitive advantage and how do you know? RevLifter differentiates itself from competition because we’re striving to prove incremental value with every customer we engage with. This lies within the incentivization process and our ability to deliver real-time personalized offers based on what our technology can glean from the live basket.

We focus on understanding our client's goals, which often includes gaining new customers, increasing average order value, improving conversion rates, and growing market share. We also deliver unique incentives which create incremental value by assessing the advertisers' specific needs. Our products are tailored to our customers.

Lastly, if a customer does leave a brands site, we offer a unique approach to naturally reengage the customer in a way that’s meaningful and relevant, via our RevPage product. This engagement has proven to help a brand maintain customer interaction, drive loyalty, and increase value for the brand and the customer.

How has the company been innovative in its field? Personalization is a real buzz word within the performance marketing industry. (In) every trend-based article, every marketer’s checklist, personalization is always a prominent feature. So why, then, are customers repeatedly left to fend for themselves in the search for offers and deals that will edge them closer to the checkout?

RevLifter seeks to answer this issue through the use of an AI-powered deals platform (artificial intelligence that drives which deals or offers a customer may be exposed to). It is inspired by our conversations with retailers — groups who were demanding more intelligent ways of incentivising their audiences. Driving innovation is at the core of our business: our purpose is to drive innovation and revenue for our clients to improve both the customer and retailer experience.