Performics Releases Holiday Marketing Best Practices for Affiliate Publishers

November 21, 2006

New York, In collaboration with the e-tailing group, Performics, the performance-based marketing division of DoubleClick, today released ten tips for Web publishers seeking to maximize commerce during the holiday season.

“Affiliate publishers are often on the cutting edge of online marketing techniques, but we can all learn lessons from advertiser best practices in maximizing holiday traffic,” said Chris Henger, vice president, affiliate marketing for Performics. “Building off the study Performics and the e-tailing group released this past August, we continue our commitment to the publisher side of our business. The more effective our publishers perform, the more our advertisers benefit.”

Web Publisher Checklist: Ten Ideas to Better Reach and Convert Holiday Shoppers:

1. Centralize and prominently position free shipping offers: shoppers flock to these

2. Create a sense of urgency: remind shoppers of the number of days until Christmas

3. Create a suggestions page: provide gift recommendations segmented by price/recipient 4. Inspire impulse holiday purchasing: showcase top sellers, editor’s favorites, etc.

5. Make finding merchants and merchant offers simple: visibility leads to conversion

6. Aggressively promote sale offers: segment deals by percentage/dollar off, just added sales, soon to expire sales, etc.

7. Remember last minute shoppers: highlight gift certificates during final shopping days 8. Ensure timely delivery: note stock status/shipping availability at merchant/product level

9. Support the brand: provide shoppers with comprehensive contact information, including FAQ locations and store-based information

10. Think long term: collect email opt-ins for future alerts, newsletters, etc.

This checklist is based on the e-commerce merchandising expertise of the e-tailing group and a review of 25 Web publisher sites through a Performics’ sponsored study. It provides an updated view of best practices for Web publishers seeking to leverage the holiday season to incite business growth.

Performics also recommends that any affiliate publishers not already signed up for OrangeLinks sign up for the service before the official kick off of the holiday season. Launched in June 2006, OrangeLinks is a powerful new way for affiliate publishers to access, receive and activate advertiser links. With OrangeLinks, Performics delivers pre-generated, live links directly to affiliates via FTP or email. More than 1,000 publishers have already subscribed, and OrangeLinks, updated nightly, provides them with a simple way to stay current with all merchant special offers and promotions.