Grasshopper Case Study

Grasshopper is a digital-first bank built for founders, startups, and small businesses. Known for its flagship Innovator Checking and Innovator Savings accounts, Grasshopper delivers tech-forward financial solutions and a modern user experience, which has quickly made it a trusted name for growth-minded entrepreneurs.

The Challenge

As a fully digital bank, Grasshopper relies heavily on digital marketing to drive growth. Early experiments with a select group of affiliate marketing partners revealed the channel’s potential - but with a lean marketing team balancing product growth and user experience optimization, expanding this channel at scale required additional expertise and support.

The Goal

Grasshopper turned to Fintel Connect to leverage their expertise, and their objective was clear: Partner with Fintel Connect to grow new account approvals in a cost-effective, scalable way - without compromising partner quality or compliance standards.

The affiliate channel has evolved from a side strategy to a core driver of new customer acquisition making Grasshopper a stronger, more resilient acquisition engine and positioning Grasshopper as a leader in digital-first business banking.

Get the full case study!

Learn how leading LLMs - ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Copilot generate responses to consumer prompts about financial products and services, and how to benchmark your financial institution’s visibility across these AI-powered platforms.

Understand what influences financial brand visibility in AI Search Engines and what role affiliate marketing plays in winning the discovery game

Identify the strategic levers available to stay visible as consumer discovery shifts to conversational AI

Discover actionable tactics and proven growth drivers shaping performance in the era - and uncover how leading financial brands are positioning themselves as trusted authorities in this new landscape of discovery.

Who is this report for?

This report is essential for:

Marketing leaders at banks, fintechs, and credit unions navigating AI positioning and discovery.
Affiliate managers looking to maximize brand visibility in LLM-driven channels.
Product and growth teams focused on acquisition and maintaining brand trust.
Affiliates and publishers who want to position themselves as trusted authorities in AI recommendations.
Digital and content strategists aiming to understand which formats and publishers most influence AI outputs.

Why download this report?

Unlock AI Visibility: Unpack how generative AI is reshaping financial product discovery and learn how to make your brand appear where consumers are searching.

Source Selection & Weighting: Understand how each LLM chooses and prioritizes information sources, including the balance of brand-owned content versus third-party publishers.

Affiliate & Publisher Influence: Affiliates and publishers drive 63–64% of AI-surfaced content—understand how to position your brand within this ecosystem for maximum visibility and credibility.

Top Publishers Driving Discovery: NerdWallet, Bankrate, Investopedia, and Forbes dominate AI results—get practical guidance to leverage these relationships and stay top-of-mind.

Content & Format Optimization: Identify the formats AI favors—listicles, comparison tables, and educational articles—and how to structure your content for higher likelihood of citation.

Align with Consumer Intent: See how prompt type and product category affect visibility, and learn to diversify content strategies to meet the full spectrum of consumer intent.

Strategic Guidance for Executives: Get actionable recommendations to build Generative Engine OPtimiza, optimize GEO visibility, measure AI-driven inclusion, and future-proof your financial brand in an AI-first world.

Strategic Guidance for Executives: Get actionable recommendations for marketing, product, and growth leaders. Build LLM-specific strategies, optimize GEO visibility, measure AI-driven inclusion, and future-proof your financial brand in an AI-first discovery landscape.

LLM searches have grown 150% year-over-year, compared to just 20% for Google searches. If y9ou want to be seen where your consumers are searchiing, this is your key to success.f This report breaksdown how AI-powered discovery is transforming financial product visibility, highlights the affiliates and publishers shaping the conversation, and delivers actionable steps to ensure your brand is seen, trusted, and cited where it matters most. Get the insights today and start turning AI disruption into opportunity.

Get the full report now!

Hear From Our Partners

"The Fintel Connect team provide a top-notch customer experience and are highly responsive. Most importantly, they deliver on what they promise. Their professionalism and reliability make them a valuable partner in our marketing efforts."

Bruce Gemmill
Chief Marketing Officer, FVC Bank

"We saw our conversions through affiliate marketing increase MoM by 68% and 95% in the two months following the launch. The team at Fintel acts as an extension of our marketing team, providing creative solutions and a consultative approach."

Micah Davis
Chief Marketing Officer, Live Oak Bank

"Fintel Connect provides white glove service to publishers and brands which is combined with their best in class modern affiliate dashboard for reporting, accounting, and seamlessly tracking conversions."