Beyond the Hype: Button’s AI Delivers a 432% ROI by Fixing Mobile’s Broken Links

NEW YORK, NY – June 16, 2026 – In the world of enterprise technology, press releases touting triple-digit returns on investment are common. They often land with a thud, dismissed as marketing fluff. But occasionally, a report surfaces that warrants a closer look—not just for the headline number, but for the underlying operational problem it claims to solve. A new Total Economic Impact™ study, conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of mobile commerce platform Button, is one such case. The report finds that a composite enterprise retailer using Button's AI-powered routing technology achieved a 432% ROI, with a full payback in under six months.

While the figure is attention-grabbing, the real story is about execution. It’s a grounded look at how sophisticated technology is being applied to a notoriously messy and high-friction corner of the digital economy: the journey from an affiliate or creator link to a mobile checkout. For leaders who value results over rhetoric, the analysis reveals a significant, and often overlooked, leak in the mobile revenue pipeline—and a data-backed way to plug it.

Deconstructing the 432% ROI

The financial gains detailed in the Forrester study are not derived from a black box. They are the direct result of fixing a broken, yet ubiquitous, user experience. Mobile now accounts for the majority of shopping sessions, yet the path from discovery to purchase is fraught with friction. When a consumer clicks a product link in a creator’s social post or on an affiliate’s blog, they are often dumped onto a generic mobile website homepage or, worse, trapped in a clunky in-app browser. The purchase intent generated by the creator is lost in a sea of unnecessary taps and searches.

This is the precise problem Button’s Dynamic Decisioning technology is engineered to solve. The platform’s AI analyzes user context in real-time—device, operating system, app presence—to intelligently route the user to the highest-converting destination. This almost always means the retailer’s native app, which industry data shows converts at a rate 157% higher than the mobile web. If the user has the app, Button deep-links them directly to the specific product page. If not, it can route them to the App Store to drive an install.

The Forrester study quantifies the impact of this optimization. By fixing these broken journeys, the composite $1 billion retailer saw a 65% lift in conversion rates on its creator and affiliate-driven traffic. This wasn't just a marginal gain; it translated into a net present value of $3.4 million over three years. Furthermore, the platform drove 92,000 incremental app installs. Given that in-app customers spend twice as much annually as their mobile web counterparts, each install represents a compounding source of lifetime value.

Importantly, the study notes that these gains were achieved on top of existing Mobile Measurement Platforms (MMPs). This is a critical distinction for technical leaders. Button isn't seeking to replace the analytics stack; it provides a complementary optimization layer that MMPs don't, turning performance data into real-time action that directly influences revenue outcomes.

Fueling the Creator Economy’s Engine

While the ROI calculation is centered on the retailer, the technology's impact ripples outward to the other side of the partnership: the creators and publishers. The creator economy is rapidly maturing from a branding play into a performance-driven channel, but its growth is constrained by the same technical friction that plagues retailers. A broken link doesn't just lose a sale for the brand; it denies a commission to the creator.

As one creator manager in the technology sector emphasized to Forrester, this capability is becoming fundamental. "Deep linking is critical infrastructure for any creator that's doing this full-time, and I think Button is definitely the premier enterprise solution for this," they stated. By ensuring traffic converts at a much higher rate, this technology makes affiliate partnerships more lucrative and sustainable for creators, solidifying their role as a powerful sales channel.

Button's recent strategic moves, such as the launch of its "Creator Media" product, underscore this focus. The initiative aims to integrate retail media budgets directly into creator content, solving attribution gaps and allowing creators to earn higher commissions based on performance. This positions the company less as a simple utility and more as a foundational platform building the financial infrastructure for the next phase of the creator economy's growth. It transforms the relationship from one of simple clicks to one of shared commercial success.

Execution, Efficiency, and the Competitive Edge

In a crowded market with players like Branch Metrics, the key differentiator often comes down to focus and execution. While many platforms offer deep-linking as a feature, Button's strategy is anchored in commerce optimization. The AI-driven decisioning is not just about getting a user into an app; it's about dynamically calculating the path of least resistance to a completed transaction.

This focus on execution extends beyond the customer journey and into the internal operations of the retailer itself. The Forrester study highlighted a 15% reduction in time spent on affiliate program management, yielding over $107,000 in savings for the composite organization. This efficiency comes from automating manual tasks like link management and attribution reconciliation, freeing up marketing teams to focus on strategy rather than tedious troubleshooting.

An affiliate marketing manager at a retail organization described the practical impact: "We use Button as a revenue driver for our affiliate program, and it's been very efficient. Affiliate revenue has grown significantly... Button deep-links all the way through to specific products, which then drives conversion." This is the kind of grounded feedback that demonstrates value beyond a marketing deck—it speaks to a tool that solves real-world operational headaches while simultaneously driving top-line growth.

The strategic imperative for business leaders is clear. The friction in mobile commerce is no longer a minor user experience issue to be delegated to the UX team; it is a significant P&L problem that directly impacts revenue, profitability, and partner relationships. As mobile commerce marches toward a projected $2.51 trillion market by 2025, leaving these user journeys unoptimized is equivalent to knowingly turning away paying customers at the door.

As Button's CEO, Michael Jaconi, stated, "The creators, retailers and brands that are winning here know exactly where their consumers are coming from and optimize accordingly — and this study proves just how much that's worth." The analysis from Forrester provides a clear, methodology-driven framework for quantifying that worth, shifting the conversation from the theoretical potential of AI to its tangible, measurable impact on the bottom line.