Capturing the Consumer at the Right Time with Affiliate Marketing
If your company is looking to boost sales, it’s important to strategically target and incentivize consumers at the right time and in the right way. This was evident last week during the Amazon Prime Day event, July 12-13. When discounts are involved, inflation has proven it can drive sales, rather than reduce them. Google reported search interest for “best deals” more than doubled on July 12, versus the day before.
With consumers reportedly spending more than $12 billion with Amazon, the Prime Day event saw an 8.1% YoY increase as consumers stocked up on essentials. Other retailers also saw success during the two-day event, with Adobe reporting an average online revenue lift of 141% for July 12-13, compared to an average June day.
The effect of the Amazon Prime Day event on Acceleration Partners’ clients
Acceleration Partners’ clients also saw significant increases July 12-13, compared to the Amazon Prime Day event in June 21-22, 2021. Overall, our clients saw a 11% increase in revenue and 172% increase in clicks YoY. Consumers leveraged affiliate partners with their purchasing decisions as they searched for the best deals and best values with partners.
Even with Amazon Prime Day occurring in July instead of June this year, our clients saw a 27% increase in revenue YoY and a 203% increase in clicks YoY in June, due to consumers starting to research deals for the upcoming July Prime Day event. What was clear from this consumer behavior was that consumers will decide to buy whenever the price and time are right.
Brands take advantage of high-performing partners ahead of Prime Day deals
As consumers continue to take longer to purchase in our current economy, they are engaging with different types of affiliate partners.
Loyalty partners were up 18% in revenue and 62% in orders YoY in June, while coupon and deal partners were up 32% in revenue and 35% in clicks. Sub-affiliate partners were up 163% in revenue and content partners were up 28% in revenue YoY in June as well.
Even though the average order value has been down – thanks to consumers spending less – brands are still seeing online shopping as a priority when there are promotions, sales or ecommerce holidays like Amazon Prime Day.
How affiliate marketing can continue to engage consumers to make a purchase
Now that the Amazon Prime Day event is over, and we’re still some time away from back-to-school shopping, you might be wondering how you can continue to engage consumers, despite the challenging economy.
Discover three ways affiliate marketing can creatively and cost-effectively attract and motivate your consumers to make a purchase:
- Give the consumer a reason to buy now. RetailMeNot saw more than 337 retailers launch promotions during the Amazon Prime period. This was a great opportunity to drive lapsed customers back while also encouraging new customers to take advantage of any promotions or sales. While this behavior is more noticeable during big ecommerce holidays, it can also be done with affiliate partners. Leverage loyalty partners to increase cash back for a few days to drive an interest and increase sales. Instead of focusing on one day, allow the consumer to take a few days before they must make the decision to buy. The day before the promotion or cash back increase ends, promote the urgency at that time to buy. This will give consumers a reason to buy, especially if they saw it a few days before and now want to make a purchase. It happened during the Prime Day event, and it will continue to happen during the back-to-school period and other holiday seasons.
- Increase order sizes with essentials. There is a shift in consumer spending, with consumers having to accept a higher cost on essential products like gasoline, for example. However, they do not have to accept a higher cost on “wants.” So why not give the consumer both? If you sell items that are considered essential, this is a great time to leverage your content partners to communicate to their audiences that you have essential items. With that traffic, you can increase your cart while promoting “wants” that are on sale. For example, a consumer may need to buy back-to-school supplies for their children, but they can also add a summer dress on sale with their purchase. This is a great opportunity to leverage content and mass media partners to personalize your consumers’ shopping experience.
- Review traffic that crosses into a new month. We are always focused on attribution—whether by the last click or even the first click, it’s critical to have some type of measurement in place. However, consumer behavior is evolving. With more consumers searching for the best deal, there are more clicks and traffic before the conversion occurs. In June alone, Acceleration Partners’ clients saw a 203% increase in clicks. Even though consumers are spending a good amount of time browsing, they are doing it with intention to buy. It may take a few weeks for a consumer to convert, even with a lower priced item. It’s important to look at the traffic from the previous weeks to understand when the consumer may convert. Also, the conversion may occur through a different marketing channel, based on your cookie window and/or attribution methodology. Traffic will be an important KPI with intentional browsing. With affiliate marketing, you only pay when the sale or action occurs, making affiliate marketing the perfect marketing channel for intentional browsing.