If there’s one thing we know, it’s that this Black Friday/Cyber Monday (BF/CM) is going to be like no other. If 2020 has taught us anything, it is to be prepared for anything. There’s no time to lose when it comes to priming your partnerships to bring in holiday traffic and sales for the BF/CM shopping peaks as smoothly as possible.
Here’s your ten-point pre-holiday checklist to ensure you and your partners have everything needed to fulfill your holiday wishes and sales goals on BF/CM and beyond!
- Review pending partner applications. Get those new partners on board for BF/CM and see what they’ve got.
- Prep your ads + deals. Send ads directly to your partners using the “Send to Media” option. If partners ask how to pull ads, you can direct them to this article.
- Communication is key! Sending your partners messages regularly is always good practice, and even more so when prepping for BF/CM. Let partners know your ads are coming.
- Review partner contracts. Are commission and fallback terms being applied correctly on intended dates? Make sure terms are exactly the way you want them. Reach out to your CSM if you need help.
- Set up fallback ads. When your big BF/CM deal is over, you don’t want expired ads still circulating. When you create your ad, select a date range and choose “fallback to another ad on expiration” to select a replacement ad to display.
- Double-check your technical set-up:
- Check your technical integration plan to make sure everything is set up as it should. For example, do you need to be passing the clickId with the conversion data? Does your UTT and identify function fire on all pages and under three seconds? We want to capture every click to keep your tracking ultra-accurate. If you have any doubts or questions, now is the time to ask your CSM for help.
- Run a test conversion with a test partner link for all user flows, with and without promo codes, single and multiple item quantities, and compare those tests to what you see in your Pending Action details. This can help you spot and resolve problems before the big rush. Reach out to your CSM if you have questions on how to run a test or are unsure if the order was tracked properly.
- Check in with your internal tech/engineering team and make sure they are not planning to make any updates to your website or mobile apps that could affect tracking as we approach Black Friday. If they must make changes between now and BF/CM, it is a good idea to do a test conversion. Better safe than lose tracking!
- Review landing page query string parameters. Do your tracking templates match what you need for your internal reporting, third-party analytics, and partners?
- Schedule reports. It’s important to know what reports you’ll need to run during and after BF/CM and how you’ll pull that data. Make things easier on yourself and your team by scheduling these reports now.
- Don’t forget to relax, take time for self care, and wash your hands!
Your partnerships will help you stand out and sell big during the 2020 holiday season, and getting the technical details buttoned up beforehand will keep anything from getting in the way.
Need Help?
If you are an existing customer, please reach out to our Support team for assistance with any of the points above to ensure you and your partners are set and ready to roll this peak season. Simply log into your Impact account and where you see a blue “Need Help?” button at the bottom right-hand corner of your screen. Click it! You can either engage in a live chat with a product expert or create a support ticket.
For more help with your end-of-year partnership strategy, reach out to an Impact growth technologist at grow@impact.com.
