Q4 is the busiest time of year for eCommerce brands, with the holiday season driving a surge in sales. The quarter marks key retail dates like Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Boxing Day, with opportunities for bands to make the most of retail sales before the year ends.
Despite the economic uncertainties, shoppers aren’t deterred in their holiday shopping. It’s estimated that Australian customers are planning to spend $6.36 billion across the Cyber Weekend (from Black Friday to Cyber Monday), a figure that’s up by 3.0% from last year. In 2022, Cyber Monday recorded the largest eCommerce sales in history, with consumers spending $11.3 billion online. This year, more than 70% of global consumers intend to shop during November 2023.
Q4 is a time filled with revenue opportunities. But with so much competition, how does one stand out and capture market share? By focusing on quick wins.
Quick wins are small changes or adjustments brands can make to boost sales. These positive marketing strategies are relatively easy to implement and don't require a lot of upfront investment. More importantly, they help businesses stay ahead of the curve in the most busy period yet. For brands running eCommerce sites, implementing quick wins in their affiliate marketing and general marketing strategies can help them leverage Q4 sales. Let’s explore some of these solutions.
Affiliate Marketing Quick Wins
- Partnerships: Brands should review their affiliate applications frequently and offer short-term boosted CPAs to encourage quick engagement from key new partners.
- Recruitment: Brands should work with good quality affiliates from all channel types. This helps to diversify risk and also helps reach different customers at different stages of their conversion journey.
- Creatives: Update your creative assets frequently, and include and clearly label important campaign assets like Black Friday and Boxing Day. Once uploaded, including asset links in the messages centre to affiliates using the message centre will make it easy for the affiliates to promote the business. Using creative assets from other channels can ensure consistent messaging and can save time and resources in creating new assets,
- Commissions: Consider giving CPA increases to affiliates to either reward them for great content or to encourage their engagement with the brand. This helps to incentivise stronger affiliate relationships.
- Placements: Apply to ready-to-go campaigns in the Placement Marketplace for upcoming key periods such as Cyber-weekend, Xmas, Boxing Day, etc.
- Integrations: Commission Factory's Integrations Marketplace has several third-party tech partners who integrate directly with the MasterTag, designed to help you address strategic challenges or objectives. Seamlessly reach business goals this quarter, such as increasing AOV or decreasing exit intent, all addressed in our Integrations platform.
- Message Centre: Monitoring and responding to messages from affiliates who are looking to optimise their efforts is a valuable chance for brands to maximise their ROI opportunities and maintain a positive relationship with their affiliates. It also provides a platform to ask questions and explore potential incentives such as increased CPA or exclusive offer codes in exchange for placement opportunities, such as homepage banners or email inclusions. Additionally, brands can utilise the message centre to keep affiliates informed about their best-selling products, new developments within their brand, and upcoming promotions. Consistent communication is key to staying at the forefront of affiliates' minds and fostering strong partnerships.
General Quick Wins
- Run limited-time offers: People are more likely to buy something if they know it's only available for a limited time. Consider running flash sales, early bird discounts, or other limited-time offers to create a sense of urgency and encourage people to buy now.
- Optimise your website for search engines: Brands should optimize their keywords for potential customers to search for products. This will help brands get more organic traffic on the website, which can lead to more sales.
- Improve the checkout process: Make sure the checkout process is quick and easy. Avoid unnecessary steps and ensure customers can easily enter their payment and shipping information.
- Offer multiple payment options: Customers want to pay for their purchases in what's most convenient for them. Offer various payment options, including credit cards, debit cards, and other popular payment methods, e.g. Paypal or buy now pay later.
- Promote your products on social media: Social media is a great way to reach potential customers and promote the brand's products. Share engaging content, run social media contests, and use targeted ads to reach target audiences.
- Partner with other eCommerce brands: Partnering with other eCommerce brands is a great way to cross-promote products and reach a new audience. Brands should consider running joint marketing campaigns, offering product bundles, or cross-selling each other's products.
By implementing these quick wins, eCommerce brands can position themselves for success during the busy Q4 shopping season.
If you're an eCommerce brand wanting to boost your sales during peak seasons, get in touch with us about working with the Commission Factory. Alternatively, register as an affiliate or an advertiser on our platform today.