When marketers think about growth, the first question is often: "How much more budget do we need?" But Huawei's affiliate programme tells a different story.
In a recent Affiverse webinar, Huawei UK and Tradedoubler shared how the programme achieved 190% affiliate revenue growth while keeping costs under control. The discussion featured Miranda Yuan, E-commerce Traffic Manager at Huawei UK, and Daniel O'Kane, Head of Partner Development UK at Tradedoubler, who offered a behind-the-scenes look at the strategy, partnerships and day-to-day optimisations that helped drive these results.
One of the most striking takeaways was that growth didn't come from a single breakthrough initiative. Instead, it was the result of many small improvements that compounded over time. Read on for the key lessons brands and affiliate marketers can take from Huawei's growth journey.
Start With The Foundations
"When people think about growth, they think, 'If you don't have enough budget, how can you grow?' But actually, there are lots of things you can do to make sure your foundation is really strong. If you don't have a really strong foundation, then it's really hard for you to find the real opportunity." – Miranda Yuan, Huawei.
Before Huawei focused on growth, it took a step back to assess the health of the programme. The team conducted a thorough performance review to understand:
where budget was being spent
which publishers were driving results
where opportunities for improvement existed
One key finding was that the programme had become too reliant on a small number of publishers, making sustainable growth more difficult.
This review became the foundation for everything that followed. Rather than chasing growth immediately, Huawei first focused on understanding where the biggest opportunities were hidden within the existing programme.
Look Beyond Your Top Publishers
Huawei's top publishers already played an important role in the programme's success. However, the team recognised that growth would require looking beyond its strongest-performing partners and identifying additional opportunities across the programme.
Working closely with Tradedoubler, Huawei analysed its publisher mix to uncover untapped potential. This meant:
identifying underutilised partners
re-engaging previously inactive publishers
exploring new publisher types that could complement existing activity
Huawei also focused on building a more diversified publisher mix. Rather than depending heavily on one publisher category, the programme expanded its presence across cashback, content, comparison, closed user groups and employee benefits platforms.
This approach helped unlock new revenue opportunities and reduce risk: A diversified publisher mix creates a more resilient programme and ensures that brands can reach consumers through different touchpoints and purchase journeys.
The Devil Is in the Details: Fix the Small Things
While strategic planning played an important role in Huawei's success, many of the gains came from something much simpler: getting the basics right.
As small details can have a significant impact on programme performance, Huawei took a closer look at everything from product feeds and voucher codes to tracking, landing pages and publisher assets. In one example, adding voucher codes to the product feed helped improve visibility and conversions on comparison shopping sites. In another, regular performance reviews helped identify issues that could otherwise have gone unnoticed, such as incorrect voucher codes or tracking gaps.
These may seem like minor adjustments, but together they helped remove friction from the customer journey and made it easier for publishers to drive results.
"Programme growth doesn't happen overnight. You have to go back to basics. You have to look at the partners you have on the programme, how they're driving results, what they need to drive results, and how you can help them get the things they need." - Dan O'Kane, Tradedoubler.
For affiliate managers, this is a reminder that operational improvements can unlock as much value as new launches. Regularly reviewing your programme's fundamentals can reveal opportunities that have a much bigger impact than expected.
Test Before You Scale
Another key factor behind Huawei's growth was its disciplined approach to testing.
Rather than immediately investing significant budget into new partnerships or placements, the team first looked for ways to validate opportunities on a smaller scale. This allowed them to assess audience fit, traffic quality and potential performance before committing larger investments.
For example, when working with new publishers, Huawei often explored organic collaboration opportunities first. These initial tests helped the team understand whether a publisher's audience was genuinely interested in its products and whether the partnership had long-term potential.
This approach also helped ensure that budget was allocated where it would have the greatest impact. Instead of spreading investment too thinly, Huawei focused on scaling the partnerships and placements that had already demonstrated value.
Build Growth Through Partnerships
Throughout the webinar, both Miranda and Dan emphasised the importance of strong relationships – with publishers, with internal stakeholders and with the affiliate network itself.
For Huawei, this meant working closely with Tradedoubler to identify new opportunities, benchmark performance, gain insights from other markets and strengthen relationships with key publishers. The team also used cross-market learnings to understand which publishers, campaigns and tactics were delivering results elsewhere and how those successes could be adapted for the UK market.
Just as importantly, Huawei maintained regular communication with publishers to ensure everyone was aligned on objectives, product priorities and performance expectations. This collaborative approach helped the team identify opportunities faster and make more informed decisions about where to invest time and budget.
As affiliate programmes become increasingly complex, strong partnerships can provide a valuable competitive advantage. Whether it's accessing market insights, uncovering new publisher opportunities or learning from other regions, collaboration can help you scale more effectively than working in isolation.
Conclusion: Lessons from Huawei's Growth
Want to learn more? Watch the full webinar to hear directly from Huawei UK and Tradedoubler about the strategies behind this growth story.
If you'd like to explore how your affiliate programme could benefit from a similar approach, get in touch with our team. We'd be happy to discuss opportunities to help you grow performance while keeping costs under control.