The festive season is the most profitable time of the year for Ecommerce businesses. Year-on-year (YoY) we have seen Christmas activity grow, therefore it’s key for clients to have the right affiliate strategy in place to make the most of the festive period.
Here at iProspect we have been working on some tips to help brands maximise results and get ahead of the competition at Christmas.
Data analysis and Publisher portfolio
Although it may sound simple, reviewing last year’s results is a good place to start planning. By completing an audit, you can identify strong revenue contributors in your publisher portfolio and close gaps in your publisher mix through tactical recruitment. The audit should take place at least two months in advance to allow enough time to build relationships and discuss plans as well as targets with new partners.
Test and Learn
Don’t forget to test. Test different incentives with different publisher types to develop the right strategy on a partner level. This can vary from exclusive incentivisation to free monograming services to add value and differentiate your brand from competitor offers.
Planning and Preparation
It’s key to give partners early notice on plans for the holiday season, this will ensure that you don’t miss out on any valuable opportunities for exposure. In addition, adopting an early preparation mindset will help to strengthen relationships with main performance driving publishers and enable you to secure the best rates. It is important to note that by planning early you can set performance goals that will help towards a healthy ROI.
Mobile Optimisation
Retail traffic from mobile devices is steadily increasing. According to Commission Junction’s latest Holiday Report a third of all orders in their global network were converted either on smartphones or tablets last year (2017), with the highest percentage (51%) in the UK market followed by France and Germany. The average YoY revenue growth is 23% in these markets which is significant enough to monitor mobile opportunities closely.
Publisher Mix
While voucher and cashback sites are still on the forefront of driving substantial revenue volumes during Q4, content sites and influencers have gained more traction over the past years.
Based on our experience with publisher level optimisation we strongly recommend including content sites in the mix to drive brand awareness in the lead up to Christmas.
