Black Fridays and Cyber Mondays are a perfect opportunity for brands to boost revenue, for affiliates to drive new traffic and increase affiliate sales, and for customers to spend money on something they have been wanting for a long time with some crazy discount. It makes this event really wanted by everyone practically in every part of the world. Let’s have a closer look at the marketing opportunities and ways to make money during the largest sale of 2023.
In this article, you will learn about:
- Black Friday and Sales: What's Worth Knowing in 2023
- Why Black Friday is Important for Affiliate Marketers
- How to Get More Sales During Black Friday Through Affiliate Marketing
- 5 Additional Ways to Boost Affiliate Sales on Black Friday
- Conclusions
- FAQ
Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Sales: What's Worth Knowing in 2023
Every company has a period during the year when its sales are spiking. Black Friday and Cyber Monday are the two events that can easily help with that. Affiliate marketers can benefit from them too by guiding their audiences to the websites with the finest deals.
But what exactly should we know about Black Friday and Cyber Monday in 2023?
Black Friday and Cyber Monday are the first Fridays and Mondays that come right after Thanksgiving Day which is the starting point of the holiday season in the United States. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Black Friday was more focused on offline shopping while Cyber Monday was designed for those users who prefer eCommerce and online shopping. However, the situation changed, and these two days are equal now as online shopping became the only viable option for the affiliates’ pleasure, of course.
If you know what you are doing and have already thought about promotion strategies beforehand, you can increase your brand awareness if you are its representative or skyrocket your commission fees if you are an affiliate marketer. But if you don’t understand why you should bother about Fridays and Mondays, let us show you.
Why Black Friday and Cyber Monday are Important for Affiliate Marketers
The holiday season in general and Black Friday together with Cyber Monday in particular are extremely important for sellers as a large share of their annual income is generated during this period. It means that they should try their best to succeed with marketing strategies.
And affiliates can be a helping hand in that while maximizing their own revenues by making the most of both sales. Figures from Black Friday 2021 can prove the importance of this event for the affiliates as according to the world’s largest retail trade association National Retail Federation:
- 26.5% of Americans shopped online;
- total volume of sales comprised nearly $9 billion;
- average bill was $430;
- average discount was 25%;
- average order value increased by 9%;
- the most popular purchase was a mobile device – 43% of sales;
- Amazon is the source of 17.7% of sales.
As we can see, Black Friday is a Klondike for affiliate money makers around the world. It makes investing time and effort into online promotion really worthwhile. The whole process seems to be quite clear: massive online sales lead to opportunities for massive affiliate marketing sales, which, in their turn, lead to increased conversion rates in different verticals that will perform well till the Christmas holidays. Would you grab this chance or just let it slip?
How to Get More Sales During Black Friday and Cyber Monday Through Affiliate Marketing
Huge special offers, promocodes, deals, and discounts for all possible products usually start to appear on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, etc., and different websites a week before Black Friday. People also start preparing beforehand by adding the desired items to the carts and waiting for price cuttings. No wonder the increase in sales is really great.
If you are thinking of how you can improve your affiliate sales, we have prepared some tips to make your path a little bit easier. Read further to know how you can gain maximum exposure during Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Attract Affiliates
The best performers (affiliate marketers) deliver the best results. So, it is a good idea for any business to try to attract top marketing affiliates for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. It may be a challenging and time-consuming experience as the world of affiliate marketing is expanding at an enormous pace. But if the process was initiated beforehand, a new group of affiliates could be assembled just in time. The only thing left is reviewing the terms and conditions of collaboration to remove all the possible friction points. These points should be considered from the affiliates’ point of view and usually include:
- easy access to creative assets and resources like ads, images, and banners;
- algorithm managing referral links;
- promotion strategies that can be applied in the marketing process;
- contacts within the company for discussing all the possible questions;
- payment information.
All these points can be collected in one guide for a fast start. If it hasn’t been created yet, it is highly advisable to create it as soon as possible.
Seasonal Commission Rate
When someone does a job and does it well (like the promotion of products of one brand over another), they ought to be rewarded generously. Therefore, it is urgent to revise the commission rates during heavy shopping seasons like Black Friday and Cyber Monday. After an assessment of margins and industry average payments, figuring out how much the rates can be bumped up is a must. Remember to state it as clearly as possible – these increased payments are a bonus for stress and they are temporary and limited by the duration of the hectic days.
The details that the affiliates would definitely want to know include:
- commission fee for every product and category;
- cookie window so that the partners had a clear understanding of a period that makes a sale of products and services;
- payout details including payout methods, limitations, and timelines to set the affiliates’ expectations on how much they can earn and when they will be paid;
- terms and conditions of collaboration are necessary to establish all the important parameters of the affiliate marketing program that regulate the relation between the brand and the affiliates.
The money question is one of the most important in any business and constructive dialogue can solve practically all controversial issues. Don’t forget about that.
Research and Development
Different products have different selling periods. Black Friday and Cyber Monday are more suitable for those of them that sell fast. It may be a good idea to conduct market research to see what trends are on fire now. Google Trends is a perfect tool to find out what the most searched products and services are right now. Besides that, checking competitors and reading forums are a must too as they are a great source of free data on what your audience is looking for this year.
Development means getting better after analysis of previous mistakes. Here is a short list of questions that might be useful for the assessment of your prior affiliate marketing performance.
- What channels were the best and worst?
- Which landings and approaches generated more conversions and traffic?
- Which affiliate assets were the most useful?
These questions seem simple, but they give a clear understanding of what can be reused and what should be gotten rid of. Competitors’ examinations with the same list can be useful too.
Gift Suggestions
Gift suggestions are one more idea that will help to boost sales on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. According to statistics, 60% of customers buy presents for Christmas in November. It makes affiliate marketing during this period much easier and more effective. Affiliates can just direct clients to particular pages with recommended products and services or create content for each gift idea category. This approach also gives more opportunities for collaboration with influencers from different niches.
If you want to implement this idea on a deeper level, you can create special gift guides to encourage your audience to start shopping right now. As some people are lazy by nature, they will appreciate this approach as there is no necessity to browse for more gift ideas. Offer them a ready solution like gifts for parents, children, friends, and colleagues, and start getting commission fees. Create as many guides as possible and promote them heavily during Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
5 Additional Ways to Boost Affiliate Sales on Black Friday and Cyber Monday
The above-mentioned methods are a ready solution for getting more sales during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Their combination can be really effective. If you want to have more guarantees of success, read further. We have some more tips to boost affiliate sales.
Blog Posts
Writing a blog post about Black Friday and Cyber Monday is one of the best things that can come to the affiliate’s mind. Publishing them on websites and social media as soon as the details about special offers are available can really increase sales. It helps to warm up the audience who will know what discounts to wait for. One more advantage of early blog post publishing is that you have more time to get ranked on Google. And once you get it, you will see an increase in sales.
Urgent Deals
Both Black Friday and Cyber Monday are limited in time. Creating a sense of urgency within their timeframes can be a strong psychological trick that will enhance conversions through impulse purchases. One-day deals or one-hour deals are a good substitution for traditional “one discount for everything” as the goods and deals with discounts can be rotated every midnight or even every hour. A countdown timer showing when the offers expire can deepen the sense of urgency.
Creativity Wins the Game
Black Friday and Cyber Monday are definitely the busiest shopping season of the year both for businesses and customers. So, if the former doesn’t create banners that stand out, the latter won’t see them. Call to action (CTA), blog posts, campaigns on social media, catchy images, landings, expert opinions, social proof, visible spots for ads on the screen, and so on – just use everything that can convert. But try to catch attention in a thoughtful way – no unprofessional Photoshop with clumsy effects. Ads should look as natural as possible. Remember about competition with other affiliates – they want to sell too.
Optimized Landings
If you build your affiliate strategy on the basis of landings, make sure that you use them the most. Convert them into money makers with the help of optimization: add powerful CTAs, proofs, expert opinions supported by links and citations, effects, and other things that might be useful. Remember one simple point – people don’t need technical characteristics or particular features, no matter how great the product is. People want to buy something that will close the deal and fix their cravings.
And don’t forget about design – your CTA should be clear and distinctive. In other cases, your landing won’t convert, even if it is the fairest of them all.
Emailing Marketing
Black Friday and Cyber Monday can be upgraded by one of the oldest marketing channels – through emails. But like any other approach, it can’t be implemented recklessly. Customers should really want to read the email which makes advertising texts of utmost importance. Each word in the email should not just advertise something, it should serve a particular purpose – provide a solution, describe what customers get besides the product, what problems they will be able to solve, and so on. Clarity and usefulness are two basic principles of a successful emailing campaign. Probably, you will be surprised by the results.
Right targeting is also a thing in email campaigns. Pay attention to such things as a mobile device or geographical position. There are many countries where Thanksgiving is not a big deal or Cyber Monday is out of scope. In general, marketing tests on how different advertising configurations are working in different conditions are one of the best sources of useful data.
Conclusions
The necessity to increase sales during Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas, and any other national holiday means that the businesses should collaborate with their affiliates and effectively support them with information, data, marketing assets, and all the things that might be necessary for a good promotion process.
Most of the success is determined by early preparation which includes analytics, understanding of the current market trends, delivering effective solutions to new challenges, and the ability to respond quickly to issues.
Dialogue between all the interested parties is one more important condition of a successful marketing strategy. When affiliates have access to all the necessary data and know where they can get it and when the brand owner is ready to communicate, success becomes inevitable.
Employment of all the tactics described above to get ready for Black Friday and Cyber Monday can give any brand a considerable boost in sales through effective affiliate performance resulting in more revenues.
FAQ
Why do people actively shop during Black Friday?
The reason for active shopping during Black Friday is usually the one and only – discounts for practically every category of goods which makes purchases much more affordable.
How do affiliate marketers attract customers during Black Friday 2023?
Affiliate marketers apply different strategies and complex approaches to attract customers. For example, they launch special campaigns, optimize websites and blogs, adapt content, and so on.
What are the most effective ways to attract customers?
The effectiveness of any approach depends on a great number of factors like promoted products or services, vertical, season, and so on. There is no one unique cure for all the problems.
What triggers impact your audience during Black Friday?
The main triggers that impact a purchase decision include the customer’s perception that the deal is really profitable and high-quality content, of course.
Are affiliate marketers using paid traffic sources to increase sales?
Yes, affiliate marketers use all possible traffic sources to increase sales: paid, free, organic, and so on.
Is it possible to increase sales during Black Friday for free?
Yes, if the approach is comprehensive and built on the solid basis of preparation for Black Friday.
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