Quick Take: Consumers trust people and communities more than ads. impact.com’s Q2 2025 results show partnerships (affiliates, creators, advocates, publishers) are now a primary growth engine. Here’s what matters for Customer Success—and how to act this month.
Key Highlights From Q2 2025
Momentum with new customers.
impact.com added about 900 clients in Q2, including Udemy, Upside, waterdrop®, and Sandals & Beaches—evidence that more brands are shifting budget from ads to partnerships.
Product upgrades that remove friction.
Updates across Performance, Creator, and Advocate improved security (scoped API tokens), consent/attribution in GDPR regions, and made partner onboarding easier.
Customer‑first leadership and global reach.
The company appointed Jessica Breslav as its first Chief Customer Officer and expanded operations in Spain and the U.K., signaling a deeper focus on long‑term customer value.
Research + community.
New benchmark reports, creator shopping insights, and expanded iPX events highlight what’s working across the partnership economy.
Why This Matters for Customer Success
Lower Blended CAC. Partner‑influenced deals convert faster at lower cost.
Faster Time‑to‑Value. Peer content and creator how‑tos accelerate adoption.
Higher NRR. Advocates stay longer and expand more as social proof compounds.
Trust As A Strategy. Partnerships center on credibility—exactly where CS excels.
If you need a plug‑and‑play system to turn champions into weekly demos, my article on how CS teams generate sales demos weekly via referrals walks through the full playbook.
Five Moves You Can Ship In 30 Days
Launch A Micro‑Advocacy Program. Pick 10 champions, equip them with referral links, and track sourced ARR; the weekly referral system shows the exact steps.
Add Advocacy KPIs To Your CS Dashboard. Track referral pipeline, win rate, and NRR from advocate accounts; grab ready‑to‑use scorecards inside the Customer Success templates hub.
Run A GDPR/Consent Audit On EU Accounts. Document consent flows and attribution in one slide for every QBR; keep risk cues front‑and‑center with 15 churn alerts every CS leader needs.
Harden Integrations With Scoped Tokens. Rotate API keys, move to least‑privilege tokens, and make security posture part of every renewal conversation.
Nominate A CCO‑Style Owner Inside CS. Centralize advocacy + enablement under one leader who partners with Marketing and Partnerships.
De‑Risk Growth With Compliance And Attribution
Privacy‑first consent and secure integrations are now deal‑critical; when finance and data are messy, renewals suffer. For a practical look at eliminating billing friction that derails otherwise healthy accounts, see how to kill billing friction and protect renewals.
Extend Your Advantage With Loyalty And Data
Loyalty As A CS Lever. If you’re exploring rewards that drive real behavior (referrals, reviews, repeat use), the breakdown of TRIFFT’s €550k funding and the CS plays behind it is a helpful primer.
Hiring Signals → Adoption. Better recruiting and onboarding data shortens TTV; Ashby’s Series D analysis shows how to connect quality‑of‑hire to activation and support load.
Catch Silent Risk Early. Before you scale advocacy, protect the core by spotting quiet churn patterns with the QUIET method.
What To Watch Next
Creator Impact In Enterprise Cycles. Expect more buyers to request peer and creator proof earlier.
Privacy‑First Attribution. Teams that treat consent and security as features—not chores—will win renewals.
CS + Partnerships Alignment. Success plans will include advocacy KPIs and partner‑influenced pipeline as standard.
My TakeAway
Partnerships work because they’re built on trust, and Customer Success owns trust.
When CS leads advocacy, referrals, and creator enablement, you cut acquisition costs, speed adoption, and raise NRR.
—Hakan | Founder, The Customer Success Café Weekly Newsletter