Black Friday through Cyber Monday: A Survival Check List for Affiliates
There are many theories of where the term “Black Friday” comes from and some are way more joyful than others. Regardless of its roots, the shopping bonanza has become one of the most lucrative festivities for companies around the world.
Black Friday is often used as an umbrella term to describe the traditional sales that take place the day after Thanksgiving. These span over the weekend and culminate with Cyber Monday, the last day of the shopping madness.
And, affiliates can take advantage of this event and boost their profit margins by making the right preparations. Below, we’ll break down Black Friday and provide a survival checklist to help increase your chances of success.
Why Should You Prepare for Black Friday?
Besides the fact that Black Friday adds another dimension to Turkey Day, the shopping frenzy is a great opportunity for affiliates to increase their revenue. On Cyber Monday of 2017, online spending reached $3.37 billion in the US alone.
The numbers for the entire four-day period? A whopping $5.03 billion in the US, out of which $2 billion occurred on mobile platforms. And, with more than half of consumers in the UK showing interest in the post-Thanksgiving sales this year, not preparing for it would mean missing out big.
This statistic shows the results of a survey conducted in the United States in October 2018. U.S. consumers were asked which items they purchased on impulse while shopping on Black Friday. During the survey, 29 percent of the respondents said that they made impulsive purchases on media such as books, video games, or CDs.
New Offers on Your Favorite CPA Networks
One of the great things about Black Friday is that it also brings a flurry of great CPA offers. Advertisers are eager to get their products out, so they tend to invest a large portion of their budget on ads for this four-day bonanza.
This translates to awesome deals for you, the affiliate. These often feature hefty payouts and they are usually fun to take on because they involve a creative element. Plus, they tend to have looser requirements, like this awesome offer from Walmart.
Here’s our quick guide on how to choose a high converting CPA offer.
The Black Friday and Cyber Monday Survival Checklist
Now that we’ve gone over the basics, it’s time to go over the survival checklist. Black Friday is literally a wave of shopping madness, with many stories of injured folks floating around the web.
While the digital version of the holiday may not be as intense, you still need to make preparations to ensure a successful post-Turkey Day sale. Here are some tips on preparing for Black Friday:
Check All Affiliate Links
Go through your website or platform and check all affiliate links individually. This will guarantee your payouts and help verify that all the parts of your platform are working properly. Make sure you update outdated and broken links at the same time!
Identify the Right Audience
There is a little something for everybody during Black Friday. Electronics, apparel, footwear, sports gear, and jewelry are extremely popular, but you have to make sure you provide an attractive proposal for your audience.
The key is to identify your target audience and make the right adjustments to exploit their Black Friday fever.
Quick tip: Check what campaigns used to work well for you before (offers, verticals) and create custom audiences. It’s especially important if you are planning to run similar offers.
Create Black Friday and Cyber Monday Content
After identifying the right audience, you should start creating targeted Black Friday and Cyber Monday content. Consumers know about the sales frenzy, so you have to get creative and use attractive ads to encourage them to take advantage of your promotions.
Here are some great examples:
Play with your ad copy:
Target Mobile Devices
Last year, 40% of the money spent on Black Friday came from mobile devices. Investing in mobile ads has become a necessity for the days after Thanksgiving. At the same time, you should verify that your ads are optimized for mobile to give them the best chance of success.
Read how to optimize your landing pages for mobile.
Prepare Your Site for Increased Traffic
In the early days of online Black Friday sales, many large retail stores saw their sites crash due to the monumental amount of traffic. Make sure your site, app, or game is prepared for a gigantic traffic spark!
If you’re not sure what that means, you may want to contact your IT team and give them the heads up!
Get Ready for More Upcoming Events!
Black Friday and Cyber Monday are exciting shopping holidays, but there are still many more left in the calendar. Stay tuned to get tips on getting ready for the upcoming seasonal events.
Want to know more about PropellerAds? Contact our team of experts and we’ll be happy to tell you more about our ads network. Or join us on Telegram to discuss Black Friday promos and more with fellow performance marketers.
