Digital advertising always spikes during the holiday season and push ads are no different. The last few months of the year have grown into a multi-billion dollar event with digital sales increasing year-over-year. The huge e-commerce events like Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Amazon Prime Day, Free Shipping Day, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve all add to the consistent growth in business during this quarter.  Additionally, the affiliates can introduce dozens of new angles to leverage the holiday season.

COVID’s impact on e-commerce in 2020

Despite the Covid pandemic and the long crazy year, this season continues to break new records for online commerce. The COVID-affected holiday season can prove great for e-commerce players and affiliate marketers since for the first time ever, more than a quarter of holiday season sales are expected to occur online in 2020. Adobe Analytics predicts that U.S. online sales for November and December 2020 will reach $189 billion, representing a 33% year-over-year increase and setting a new record.

The global lockdowns have driven some industries down but have been drivers in growth for others.

Top-performing verticals during this COVID affected holiday season

The pandemic has affected some verticals badly while it has certainly uplifted some of the verticals. Here are some of the top-performing verticals during this COVID affected holiday season:

1. E-Commerce

E-commerce is massive. This vertical is related to the promotion and sale of retail products and various services online. It has a wide range of products and offers to choose from, ranging from consumer electronics, clothing, and home equipment to the entertainment sector, and many others. Different sub-niches tend to spike at different times of the year, but the biggest spike is always for the holiday seasons. The shopping season, including Black Friday, Cyber Monday, holiday, and post-holiday sales, is the prime time for e-commerce campaigns. But with the spike spending brings increased competition.  If you are just starting we recommend avoiding this vertical this time of year.

2. Sweepstakes, surveys, and lotteries

Being an affiliate, adding sweepstakes into your marketing strategy can work wonders for you. The holidays provide great angles for sweepstakes campaigns and to add to it, the global pandemic has pushed a lot of people towards dreams of winning. Sweepstakes are also a great vertical to start with because of their simplicity and profitability.

3. Dating

Emotional and physical needs will always be primal necessities for people and the global lockdown has just intensified that. Additionally, the holiday seasons always increase people’s drive to find love. We can look at all the commercials, marketing materials, brand communication, and messaging, they’re all telling us that Q4 is the time of love and romance. Affiliates are able to use that to their advantage by getting subscriptions and sales of dating websites and apps.

4. Mobile apps and games

The holiday seasons always give people some extra free time between traveling, time off. This often leads to more time on our phones and increased downloads for mobile apps and games.  This has been more true with the Covid pandemic because people are further stuck inside during this time.  Launch campaigns like these can help you quickly turn a profit this time of year.

Tips for running Ad campaigns this holiday season

The pandemic scenario has made the 2020 holiday season a big opportunity for affiliates and e-commerce players. The advertisers and sellers need to be spot on with their marketing strategies and ad execution for winning this holiday season. We have listed down some very helpful tips and tricks for cashing in big this holiday season.

1. Plan ahead of time

With all the events and holidays this time of year, it’s important to get everything organized ahead of time. Have angles prepared ahead of time and be on top of the current trends.

2. Add a sense of urgency

Adding a sense of urgency on your landing pages is a highly effective way to push hesitant potential customers over the line and convert them into successful sales or signups. This can be effectively done with things like countdown times or limited available stock indicators.

3. Keep your designs simple

Simple designs and creatives often convert better than more complex ones. Select easy-to-read fonts for important information, use visible colors but don’t overdo with texts in your icon image.

4. Use FOMO to your advantage.

The fear people have of missing out on things can be a powerful incentive.  FOMO, or the fear of missing out, is often used in marketing to urge people to buy. Showing that the sale or discount won’t last forever will help drive more conversions.

5. Play with the holiday themes

Using the holiday themes can help you better engage your audience.  Shaping your campaign angles to reflect the different holidays we have scattered throughout this quarter will help you bring higher conversion rates and CTRs.

6. Mobile optimization is essential

Mobile is quickly becoming the standard for online purchasing. A 2019 study estimated that 73% of online sales in 2020 would be made on a mobile device. For marketers, this means your websites and offer pages must be optimized for mobile at a minimum. For even greater impact, these assets should not only be optimized, but created with a mobile-first approach.

Final thoughts

Although 2020 has been a crazy year, we can still expect this season to be a record-breaker. As this quarter unfolds, make sure you are making the most of it by being on top of all the trends and promoting uplifted Verticals. Don’t forget to account for all the emerging trends and habits caused by the pandemic.

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