Labor Day weekend is just around the corner and, much like Memorial Day, this is one of the largest retail sales weekends of the year. People are online browsing for deals and it’s as important as ever to incentivize your affiliates to be active during this period. In the paragraphs to follow, I’ve laid out 3 ways to activate affiliates this Labor Day.
Temporary Commission Increase
I’ve suggested commission bumps before and I’m bringing it up again for Labor Day because they have always produced very positive results in my experiences. Whether you choose to run a Labor Day sale or not, any announcement concerning an increase in commission is almost guaranteed to get the attention of your affiliate base. To add on, if you do choose to not discount your product over the weekend, this still gives your affiliates a reason to promote your brand during this time.
When doing a temporary commission increase, I’ve found that setting a flat dollar amount seems to do better than a percentage. Flat dollar amounts are easy to deduce and affiliates seem to respond to them better. If your margin allows it, this could also be a great weekend to swing for the fences and offer double commission. There’s no better feeling for an affiliate than making a sale and getting credited for two.
Labor Day Activation Bonus
Activation bonuses have proven time and time again to be the best way to get affiliates to start placing your links and banners on their sites. The Labor Day holiday weekend is as good a time as ever to bust out a strategic activation bonus plan. Offering as little as $5 for a link/banner placement will still get a lot of attention. I would consider offering something larger for a full post/review of your product/brand that highlights your Labor Day promotions. This way, the affiliate will feel compensated for their work upfront and will be more likely to activate over this crucial holiday weekend.
Product Based Activation Incentive
Who doesn’t love free stuff? If your brand is product based and you have goods that you can afford to send affiliates, why not structure an activation bonus around sending them complimentary goods? This may not work as well for some affiliates as cold, hard cash; however, in my experience, a lot of affiliates are very receptive to trading product for their promotional services.
Here’s an example of how this could work: contact your inactive affiliates and mention that you’re having a special activation incentive leading up to and over Labor Day weekend. In exchange for a dedicated post you can send them a certain amount of your goods or perhaps a gift card/credits to purchase items from your site. A $50 gift card for them could go a long way.
I hope that you found these few ideas helpful and that you implement some of them this Labor Day. Good luck with all your affiliate marketing efforts and feel free to email us or comment below with any comments or questions.