An affiliate program is an extra sales channel which brings you niche traffic and new customers. Having an affiliate program means that you already have a strong network that helps you increase your sales and acquire new clients. Seasonal trends, such as the winter holidays, offer a great opportunity to take things to a new level by giving your program a boost and skyrocketing affiliate sales.

American researchers predict that by 2022 the expenses of companies and private individuals in the affiliate marketing industry will exceed 8.2 billion dollars. And this is only in the USA. A well-implemented affiliate marketing program typically accounts for 10 to 20% of online sales for most merchants, and that is on a normal day. During the holidays, affiliate traffic can increase by 45% and improve conversion rates by 86%, with increases in revenue up to 126%. That would be such a bummer to miss out on!

Holiday success frequently plays a crucial role in fulfilling (and, why not, exceeding) sales objectives. Be creative - come up with your own holiday specials or offer a contest (a tournament or competition, perhaps) to coincide with a specific date. Ensure that your affiliate program is thoroughly planned and ready to execute prior to the beginning of the holiday season in order to be effective.

Preparing Affiliate Holiday Promotions

Incentivize sales and increase the conversion rate by creating exclusive promotions available to customers only through the affiliates and the affiliate links they use. Motivate affiliates by creating special commissions for them during holidays or by offering prizes based on their performance.

Here are 4 easy steps to follow for successfully selling through affiliates during the holidays:

1. Create Appealing Affiliate Holiday Promotions

Seasonal promotions that your customers find attractive can help you accomplish your sales targets and set your affiliates up for success. One way to do that is to create a discount coupon for the products that you want to push in this period through affiliates.

Make sure to give the code a catchy name so that is easy to remember. You can always choose words related to the holiday that you are preparing it for, such as "XMAS2021" or "SNOW21". Double-check the campaign's settings to confirm that everything is functioning correctly, so the affiliates can use it easily and not lose momentum due to technical issues. Here's what to look after: the coupon should be attributed to the affiliate channel, the coupon needs to be valid, and you'll need to set the code to be applied automatically or manually. Now you're ready!

2. Prepare Marketing Materials with the Special Promotion

Another strategy to ensure your affiliates' success is to provide them with dedicated banners, landing pages, and social media photos to promote your products. Having marketing materials ready to go that are prepared with the current season and promotion in mind saves your affiliates time and allows them to focus on advertising your product. Furthermore, it ensures that their efforts are aligned with your overall brand and your own promotions.

Let them know where they can find them and how they can correctly create links with their affiliate ID embedded in order to properly promote the products and track sales back to them. You can even make the materials available to the affiliates prior to the holiday season so that there is time to grab links and set up the promotion on the affiliate website.

3. Notify the Affiliates in Advance

Announce your upcoming holiday promotion days or hours before the start date. This will give your affiliates more time to prepare and focus on providing great content. You can reach them by email or make this information available through your affiliate dashboard (or better yet, both).

This way, they will not get frustrated and there will be more time to prepare everything carefully. Exclusive offers usually have a sense of emergency that drives the customer to buy and are a magical tool for converting affiliate audiences.

4. Incentivize the Affiliates for their Performance

Affiliates are still customers, and they like to be rewarded for their efforts and feel appreciated. With that in mind, you can do a few things to boost engagement and get your affiliates interested.

You can motivate affiliates by creating special commissions for them during holidays or by offering prizes based on performance. Or you can even create a contest for them where you include all the special offers they can promote, and you reward their performance. A great example is the "Winter Software LAND" from Avangate Affiliate Network, a holiday contest dedicated to affiliates. Check it out!

CONCLUSION

Seasonality is a great opportunity to increase your affiliate channel and maximize your revenue.

Boost your sales during the holidays by creating special offers available only through the affiliate program. Help your affiliates make your offer more visible by providing them with dedicated visuals. Disclose the specifics regarding your seasonal sales ahead of time so that the publishers have time to set it up and are ready to sell when the promo starts.

Last, but not least, ALWAYS remember to monitor and analyze the results, during and after the holiday, so that you know what to improve next time.