Five steps to increase sales

Focussing on increasing sales is the main task of every online marketer. As an affiliate network, we share your dedication to the cause. It’s what we do: helping you to achieve your marketing and sales targets.

As a network, we service over 1,600 advertisers and 40,000 publishers. And all these websites generate tons of (anonymized) data. It’s always wise to put findings to the test and measure the exact results. That is why we analyze this data on a regular basis.

We know what works best when promoting specific products and services. And we know at what specific time extra attention adds most to your marketing efforts.

That is why we can confirm that dedicated action periods do pay off. It is easy to find highlights year round that are suitable for promoting the right products.

Shoes, for example

Let’s assume you have an online shop, specialized in shoes. In the Netherlands, for example, April and September are the biggest ‘shoe months’ saleswise. It’s the change of the seasons that makes the Dutchies long for flip flops or rather furry lined boots.

Spotting opportunity, five years ago we decided to set up a theme promotion: nothing but shoes for a month. We dubbed it ShoeMadness and from the get go, the madness was real.

These two months have been dedicated to Shoes ever since. After analyzing all data related to ShoeMadness in the last five years, we determined five steps to maximize your sales during specific and dedicated action periods:

Five steps for max success!

1. Make sure the network is well informed when it comes to your promotions. What about a promotion code for free shipping? Maybe you are planning the sale of the century; all prices slashed for one weekend only! If your network does not know, there is little chance your publishers know there are sales to be made!
2. Increased fees make a difference: even if you raise your CPS temporarily, it is very interesting for publishers to give it a try and promote your campaign. Even a small increase – say 1 percentage point- can help you grow your publisher base.
3. Since we are talking money; publishers are keen for any extra they can (easily) make. Try an extra CPL for newsletters subscribers, or a CPC for attracting extra traffic to your site. Bloggers, for instance, really like this addition to the revenue model. Since it is all about gathering the right publishers, why not give this hybrid model a chance, if only for a month or so?
4. If the affiliate network is worth their money (we know we certainly are!), they will put all the offers and promotions together in one place. This makes it so easy for a publisher to decide which advertiser deserves their attention and focus. No longer are they ploughing through the system, looking to find the best campaign that suits their needs. They can sit back, scroll through the site and connect to any campaign that tickles their taste buds.
5. Ask the network to put in some elbow grease too! Affiliate marketing is a team effort; when publishers and advertisers join forces for a specific period of time, your network should do too! They can use their social media channels to maximize visibility and even personally contact and activate the right publishers to start promoting your campaign. Don’t settle for anything less, since your success is their success!

Dedicated focus is not restricted to shoe publishers. How about some extra effort surrounding Valentine’s day? Dating advertisers, florists and jewelers, have a lot to gain in February.

When looking at “Living” advertisers, it is easy to make an effort at the start of Spring (Garden furniture or BBQ e.g.) and come Autumn, when cosy is the ‘word du jour’, candles and accessories are in high demand.

End the year with a bang, when sparkly dresses and Christmas are everywhere. You will be very happy you did!