The Modern Affiliate Strategy Driving ASTR the Label’s Ecommerce Growth With Jessica Kalichman

Jessica Kalichman is the Marketing Director at ASTR the Label, a Los Angeles–based fashion brand known for its contemporary, trend-driven designs. She brings over 12 years of experience in brand development and digital marketing, having previously driven high-impact campaigns in the toy and entertainment industries. Known for blending pop culture insights with data-driven marketing, Jessica has led the creation of over 160 commercials and digital campaigns, helping brands achieve global visibility through innovative storytelling and strategic partnerships.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

• [2:23] Jessica Kalichman outlines ASTR the Label’s three affiliate marketing pillars
• [4:43] Why media placements and influencer affiliates are prioritized over discount-heavy strategies
• [6:33] Leveraging ChatGPT and “answer engine” visibility to drive fashion discovery and brand growth
• [9:41] Shifting from untrackable influencer marketing to performance-driven affiliate attribution and measurable results
• [12:30] Strategic product gifting through inventory planning, micro-influencers, and conversion-focused allocation
• [15:05] Measuring affiliate success using Shopify tagging, dashboards, and direct sales correlation

In this episode…

Your biggest growth strategy may not be ads, but partnerships you’re underutilizing. Many ecommerce brands invest heavily in paid media while overlooking the compounding power of affiliates, creators, and strategic visibility. How can brands actually turn affiliates into a scalable, revenue-driving engine instead of a flailing side tactic?

Marketing leader Jessica Kalichman draws from her extensive expertise in performance marketing and influencer strategy. She explains that successful affiliate programs are built across three key pillars: traditional platforms, media-driven affiliate PR, and performance-based creators — with the latter offering the most growth potential. By shifting from vanity metrics toward trackable affiliate links, brands can clearly see which creators drive the most revenue. Jessica also highlights the importance of aligning product selection with the right creators, planning gifting inventory, and leveraging emerging channels like AI-driven search visibility to stay competitive. Ultimately, it’s about building a measurable, diversified system that prioritizes conversion without the guesswork.

In this episode of Minds of Ecommerce, Raphael Paulin-Daigle talks with Jessica Kalichman, Marketing Director at ASTR the Label, to discuss affiliate-driven growth strategies. Jessica discusses structuring affiliate channels, leveraging influencers for measurable conversions, and using AI search visibility to drive revenue.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Raphael Paulin-Daigle: LinkedIn | X
• SplitBase
• Jessica Kalichman on LinkedIn
• ASTR the Label: Website | Instagram | TikTok
• How Fire Department Coffee Built a Mission-Driven Ecommerce Brand With Luke Schneider on Minds of Ecommerce
• ShopMy
• Shopify
• The Knot
• Brides.com

Quotable Moments:

• “I don't think there's a perfect ratio, and I think it changes and it varies based on also where we're putting our efforts.”
• “Influencer gifting alone is really unpredictable and not very attributable. You're not able to really see who's driving what.”
• “I don't think there's a perfect ratio, and I think it changes and it varies based on also where we're putting our efforts.”
• “The creator who has 20,000 followers, who's a full-time lawyer, but a part-time content creator.”
• “We probably do about 70% of earned gifting. So there's no pay attached to it.”

Action Steps:

1. Build a diversified affiliate program: Spreading efforts across platforms, media, and influencers reduces risk and increases overall revenue potential.
2. Track influencer performance with affiliate links: Measuring real sales instead of engagement ensures marketing spend drives actual business results.
3. Plan gifting inventory ahead of launches: Strategic allocation improves campaign execution and prevents wasted product and missed opportunities.
4. Match products to the right creators: Aligning products with authentic creator fit increases trust and boosts conversion rates.
5. Invest in AI-driven discovery visibility: Optimizing for platforms like ChatGPT helps your brand show up where modern consumers are searching.

Sponsor for this episode…

This episode is brought to you by SplitBase.

At SplitBase, we design, test, and manage high-converting landing pages and on-site experiences for fashion, luxury, and lifestyle ecommerce brands. Our optimization program pinpoints exactly where your store is losing money most, and then we help you fix that.

The result? Increased conversions and profits for our clients.

With our team of conversion optimization specialists, performance marketers, and conversion-focused designers, we've got your back when it comes to testing and optimization.

Request a proposal on SplitBase.com today, and learn how we can help you get the most out of your marketing spend.

You can find us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. Don’t miss out on our exclusive podcasts at Minds of Ecommerce.

Episode Transcript

Intro 00:06

Welcome to the Minds of Ecommerce podcast, where you'll learn one key strategy that made leading e-commerce companies grow exponentially. We cut the bullshit and keep the meat in a 15-minute episode. Founders and executives take us through a deep dive of a strategy so you get to learn and grow your online sales. In the last episode, we heard from Luke Schneider, founder of Fire Department Coffee, and we talked about how to build a team driven by purpose with a clear mission to drive growth. Now today, get ready.

I'm chatting with Jessica Kalichman, the marketing director at ASTR the Label, a Los Angeles-based fashion brand. And today, well, we're going to talk about how to grow through affiliates, but through the lens of a fashion brand. I'm your host, Raphael Paulin-Daigle, and I'm the founder of SplitBase. This is Minds of Ecommerce. Now for today's episode.

Well, we're sponsored by SplitBase, of course. Now at SplitBase, we have been helping eight and nine-figure brands such as Dr Squatch, Amika, and Hyperice through customer-focused conversion optimization programs, our programs pinpoint exactly where your store is losing money most and then we help you fix it. The result increased conversions, higher AOV, reduced acquisition costs, and, of course, more money in, which allows you to scale advertising profitably. So if you want to learn more about how to increase conversions through SplitBase, go to splitbase.com and learn how we can help you get the most out of your marketing spend. All right, Jessica, welcome to the show.

Thank you so much for being here.

Raphael Paulin-Daigle: 01:49  

Thank you for having me.

Jessica Kalichman: 01:50

Yeah. So I know you guys at ASTR have grown quite a bit through affiliates, and you've had some pretty interesting strategies, I believe, as it's been one of your biggest acquisition channels. So I'd love for us to dive a little deeper into that topic today, and maybe just to get started and give our listeners a bit of context. Can you tell us a bit more? How do you guys do affiliates at ASTR?

What are the types of affiliates you work with? What does a typical affiliate program look like for the brand?

Jessica Kalichman: 02:23

Yeah, for sure. So at ASTR, we approach affiliates kind of in three buckets. We have the traditional affiliate platform. So those that customers would probably be aware of are like Capital One, Rakuten, Retailmenot, websites like that, where customers are typically using them as either plugins and their browser or actively searching more like discount codes or codes to shop some of their favorite brands. There's also the affiliate side of PR, so traditional PR is not really what it used to be, especially in the fashion industry.

And a lot of the outlets right now are, you know, driving their business based on affiliate relationships and affiliate links with other retailers. And so that's become a huge part of, I would say most brands PR strategies really need to focus on the affiliate side. And the last thing is influencers, and this is the biggest part, I think, where there's the most growth potential and where we're really, I would say, directing our efforts. Influencer gifting alone is really unpredictable and not very attributable. You're not able to really see who's driving what, how much they're driving, where they're driving to.

It's very much, you know, a spray and pray tactic where you're gifting a bunch of people and seeing what sticks to the wall. And now with, you know, the affiliate side of, of content creators has grown, has grown so much. I would say in the last ten years, I've been working with influencers for over 12. And it's been really interesting to see like the business that it's become and the influencer economy. And I think working with platforms, affiliate platforms, particularly like Shopify and like has really been able to help us grow and understand that side of our business.

Raphael Paulin-Daigle: 04:08

Okay, so you've got three pillars now. That third pillar, I think, is probably the one that people hear the most about or think of immediately when they think of an affiliate program. But let's say, for example, that first pillar with discount codes and affiliate sites. Actually, before we get to that, what's the percentage we are looking for, you know, most of the affiliates are in one bucket or more in the other? Do you think there's one that's better than the other in general, or it's really pretty much teamwork when it comes to affiliate strategies?

Jessica Kalichman: 04:43

I don't think there's anything perfect, and I think it changes and it varies based on also where we're putting our efforts. Obviously, the first bucket is not, I would say, the priority just because of the effect it has on possibly diluting the brand. We don't want a million promo codes, you know, running around. I think it's important to be part of our strategy. I think we need to play in that game, but I wouldn't say it's where most of our effort needs to go.

I think between media and PR and influencers is where I would prioritize, mainly because another thing that, you know, is becoming more and more relevant is having your brand be featured in articles and places like that allows your brand to show up when someone is searching on ChatGPT, what to wear to a wedding. We get, you know, we show up in searches. And so that whole strategy didn't and that whole, you know, those tactics didn't exist two years ago. So things are constantly changing. And so that ratio of where we're spending our time and effort and budget, I think will continuously change as the industry is changing.

Raphael Paulin-Daigle: 05:54  

That's interesting. I'm curious here. So you're talking about, for example. Yeah, getting seen in search, not in search engines, but in answer engines at the end of the day, and ChatGPT and so on. Is that becoming a pillar of the strategy?

I know we're just starting to see that, but you're mentioning it. How much are you thinking about this as a fashion brand on a day-to-day basis? Because I know in B2B this is something that's definitely being discussed. On the ecommerce side, we're talking about ChatGPT with social media, with AI shopping and so on. I'm curious, what's your take on this and what's the strategy so far?

Jessica Kalichman: 06:33  

Yeah, I mean, honestly, it's in progress. There's still so much to learn and there's so many, you know, agencies and vendors that are popping up that are also still learning because there's not much, you know, historic data for it, but it's a huge priority for us. I think our target customer is about 25 to 35 years old, and they're using these platforms for every aspect of their life. You know, how many memes do you see of women in that age range talking about how ChatGPT is their therapist? Is there a nutritionist? Is there a travel agent?

And so why not? You know, what do I wear on a first date? What do I wear to a job interview? What does it mean? Garden, formal wedding?

What's appropriate to wear there? That just helps us show up for them in the places that they are. And especially as a DTC brand who has a huge presence in wholesale, it's really important for us to not only, you know, rely on our wholesale partners, which are great to have and a great distribution channel for awareness. We have a job to do too, showing up for our customers so they can shop directly from us, especially because, you know, we have styles that are exclusive to our website and an opportunity to give them, you know, something different than what they're finding in some of our partners.

Raphael Paulin-Daigle: 07:47

I'd love to know a bit more about the media strategy that you highlighted a little bit. How do we go about that? How should a brand think about that? Is it just like, hey, let's try to get media mentions like, where do you start?

Jessica Kalichman: 08:00  

Yeah, I mean, honestly, we're still figuring it out. I don't think there's anything like a super clear action plan or answer to that. We're working with a lot of partners and meeting with a lot of potential partners who are experts in that. And so it's about finding for us the pages that generate the most traffic, the outlets that generate the most traffic that are, you know, there's sites in particular like The Knot and Brides.com who women trust and go to for advice and for recommendations where we can show up for them. And so while we also have opportunities organically to be featured and build strong relationships with those media partners, it's also important to include that on the affiliate side as well, to really ensure that we're showing up in the right place for the right time.

Also, it's seasonal the same way, you know, there's obviously the seasons within a year, but there's also what I call wedding season. And that's really like March through June is our time to shine. And that's where we need to show up for the right people and the right places. And that's really what drives that media strategy.

Raphael Paulin-Daigle: 09:08  

And then let's talk about influencers. You know, you've been working with influencers for over 12 years at this point. Is there anything you think as you've, you know, worked on this brand and have seen, I'm sure a lot of brands approach affiliate affiliates with influencers. Are there strategies that you feel at this point in 2026? Just doesn't work anymore?

The landscape is evolving fast. I think, you know, there's likely some aspect of trust that is also changing quickly with AI and influencers. What's working in 2026?

Jessica Kalichman: 09:41

I find when you're using influencers, there's two ways to use influencers. There's from a pure content creation standpoint. So you're really just looking for additional content to support your product. So whether that's just for your social feed, whether you want imagery for your website or your email of real people in real life wearing your product, there doesn't need to be any metrics or KPIs attached to that, that will measure if that was a successful initiative or not. And in that area, I think things are still working.

Where it's not working for us is where we use influencers and content creators to drive sales, but don't have any attributable factors to see what they're doing. And so the way it used to work would be that you're just reaching out to influencers. You know, when I first started, there were no DMs on Instagram. We were emailing their blogspot emails, and then it came to DMs and then it came to summer, you know, represented by agencies or whatnot. But it's simply either in an earned way or we have a product we want to give, you know, guarantee if you post or not, no problem.

But we think you would look great in our branch. Here you go. Or paid, whereas we want to give you this product, you're obliged to do X, Y, and z. We have usage rights for this many days for these many channels that we want to use. And sometimes if we see a spike in either the product they're wearing or traffic on our site, we can maybe attribute it to them, but there was no real opportunity to see that when someone wore this dress and we made 30 sales on a Sunday, it was because of that person.

Now, with the affiliate side of things, we're really able to see who is making a difference and who is moving the needle. And in a lot of cases, it's not the huge influencers that you think of or the people that we would pay big money to. It's the creator who has 20,000 followers, who's a full time lawyer, but a part time content creator. And people really trust what she's wearing to work every day, and that's what they're buying into. And so I think that's kind of like revolutionizing space and becoming really one of not so secret weapons anymore for brands.

Raphael Paulin-Daigle: 11:53

What's the approach to gifting? Because obviously we're talking about a slightly more micro approach, which I've been hearing as well from a lot of brands, right? But of course. Right. You have a limited capacity for gifting as well.

And if we're working with more micro-influencers, that means maybe more gifting, and it's more of a volume game than say, if you're working with a couple really big ones and it's just a couple gifting things here and there. So what's the approach? How do you decide who to work with? How many people do you have to work with for this type of approach to work? And do you give it to everyone?

Jessica Kalichman: 12:30  

Yeah. I mean, I wouldn't say we give everyone. We definitely need to be a little strategic with how we're not, you know, a beauty or supplement brand where we have hundreds of products in a dark room that we can just give away. And it's a one-size-fits-all type product. We obviously have size runs and colorways and things to consider, but since joining the team over two years ago, we've significantly changed our gifting strategy and now I'm involved in the buying process.

And so before we close out a collection, we'll allocate gifting units right at that point. So I know six months ahead of time what we're investing in. And we decide that from a brand level of like, what are our priority styles? How big do we want to go? How much do we want to invest in?

And then not only are we adding gifting units, but often we'll reflect our buy as well. Because if we believe in it and we're giving it, we hope we can sell more of it. And so it's really changed the way that we buy products. And then we give on multiple levels. So we have a PR agency who helps us with giving more macro influencers and VIP celebrities.

They are in touch with stylists for celebrities who are doing press tours or interviews or editorial photo shoots. And that's how we get our brand placed in those areas. And then internally, we take care of all, I would say, mid to micro-level influencers. We probably do about 70% of our earnings. So there's no pay attached to it.

There's no guarantee from anyone. It's just in-kind and hoping for content out of it. Most of them are still through affiliates, so they're obviously incentivized to wear and post because they get commission off of sales that they make. And then about 15 to 20% is or 20 to 30% maybe is more paid. So there's a more strategic intent behind it, where we're really working with people who we've seen have really engaged audiences, whether that's on their Instagram broadcast channel, they have a Substack, Instagram Stories, they get a lot of clicks and links.

So that's kind of the way that we split it up. But at the end of the day, for us, the priority with content creators is driving conversion. And so we need to make sure that we can hold them and us accountable for every item that we get.

Raphael Paulin-Daigle: 14:46  

Yeah. Amazing. So at the end of the day, how do you keep them accountable and how do you track that? There's a lot of tools these days. Now, obviously, if the influencers work and they all have an affiliate link, that's one thing, but it sounds like it's not always going to be the case, right?

So how do you guys measure that?

Jessica Kalichman: 15:05  

Yeah, I would say predominantly it is through the affiliate platform. So the majority of the gifting that we do is through the shop, my platform, and they have an incredible dashboard that allows us to really be able to track who is linking to what, how many clicks they're getting, how much volume they're driving. It's also in the back end of our Shopify. And so every order that's made from Shopify gets tagged. And so I'm able to see at the end of each month, not only, you know, how much was purchased through Shopify, but how many people used whose codes for what items.

And the most fun for me is at the end of every month, when I can see a direct correlation to someone wearing something. And that's the thing that got sold the most, and you're really able to see that's how the influence was made. And so we do track it mostly through there. There is still, you know, the assumption and the guess of when we see a dress or a top or a jacket that did really well, but there was nothing really else happening. But, you know, someone wore it.

We recently had a dress. There was a dress that was on Emily in Paris, and there was a whole Reddit thread of, what is this dress? I need to find it. It actually wasn't our dress, but someone thought that it was. And it was like it created this entire, you know, more or less campaign for us without us doing anything.

Of people who like higher search for that dress sales for that dress. And it was great to be able to be a part of an unintentional pop culture moment that we're able to attribute, you know, one thing to another. But there is still that kind of mystery. There is a bit of a black hole sometimes when it comes to measuring the success of, of influencer gifting. And I think that's kind of just something you have to live with and just, you know, hope for like that halo effect of, I know that it's great coverage that we got this.

While I can't exactly see the direct correlation, I know that from a brand equity and affinity standpoint, that was the right move. And so, you know, I'll still consider that a success.

Raphael Paulin-Daigle: 17:05  

Yeah, I think us marketers have gotten used to being able to measure almost everything, and I think it's hard sometimes to realize that, hey, I actually can't measure this to 100%, but you know, sometimes you just gotta trust the process. I'm curious about product selection, right? Because, you know, a skincare brand, for example, is pretty straightforward. They have their hero products and then you send the products, like you said, they have a bunch sitting in a warehouse and it's said and done. But when it comes to fashion, you've got a lot of different styles.

Different styles may match with different personas. It's a bit more complex. So how do you decide which products to give? Is it really just a question of what you feel works best with this influencer? Are there hero products that you're pushing?

How does it work?

Jessica Kalichman: 17:54  

Yeah, I mean, it actually varies and you kind of yes, to both of those things and more. It really depends. We often give gifts through a line sheet. And so sometimes it's a curated line sheet based on what we're putting, you know, Volume behind, but they're definitely priorities within that. But we're giving a lot of the time the freedom to choose whatever.

I think in any case, and with any content creator for any industry, forcing them to do something that is out of their comfort zone or not, what works for them will never do well. So if someone is, you know, a jeans and t-shirt kind of girl and we're trying to push a maxi ruffle floral gown, it doesn't work. And so we need to kind of match what we have to them. And with that, it's really being strategic in, especially when it comes to paid. If we have, you know, tons of dresses coming out that are white and we're really speaking to the bride, we don't really make wedding dresses, but we make like for every event leading up to.

So for your bridal shower, your engagement photo shoot, your rehearsal dinner, all of that we have. And so we're going to find ten, 20, 30, 40 women who are getting married this year, and they will be the recipients of these dresses. And how do we work together? Can we gift you for an upcoming event? Do you want to try on what I wear to my bridal shower?

Like there's so many content opportunities. So it's really about finding the right people for the product. And since we have so much product, and since the creator economy is so big, there's definitely like, you just got to think about how to match up the product with the person. And there's endless opportunities.

Raphael Paulin-Daigle: 19:36

So slightly more work maybe than a skincare brand, but that's part of the magic. We've been talking with Jessica Kalichman from ASTR the Label now, Jessica, this was fantastic, incredibly actionable. Now, if people want to learn more about either the brand or want to connect with you, where should they go? What should they do?

Jessica Kalichman: 19:56  

Yeah, for sure. I mean, our brand is on Instagram and TikTok at ASTR the Label, and you can reach out to me on LinkedIn at Jessica Kalichman.

Raphael Paulin-Daigle: 20:05  

Great. Jessica, thank you so much.

Jessica Kalichman: 20:06  

Thank you.

Outro: 20:13  

All right. Well, that's it for today's episode. And thank you so much for tuning in. Now, if you like what you've heard and you don't want to miss any of the new episodes that are about to come out, make sure you subscribe to the podcast, and well, bonus points if you also leave a review in the iTunes store or wherever you're listening to this. Now, if you're working on an ecommerce store that does over $1 million in revenue and you need help with conversion optimization or landing pages, well, I've got some good news because there's a pretty good chance we can help with that.

Go to splitbase.com to learn more or even to request a proposal. If you have any guest requests, questions, or comments, tweet me @Rpaulindaigle, and I'll be super happy to hear from you. And again, thanks again for listening. This is Minds of Ecommerce.

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