Orbitkey’s three-pronged approach to Afterpay Day
How design company Orbitkey landed on the perfect approach to Afterpay Day – and quadrupled its revenue as a result.
Announcing when a brand is having a sale is a fine art: do it too early, and you won’t be able to meet daily sales targets as people wait for the sale to begin; but do it too late, and you’ll miss out on a slew of new customers.
For Orbitkey e-commerce and marketing lead Hans Suhartanto, there’s a magic number, which he figured out in the third year of participating in Afterpay Day.
“Three to four days is a good time to announce that we’ve joined the event,” he says. “If we promote earlier, people will hold back. Three to four days strikes a balance between the customer knowing about Afterpay Day and also maintaining consistent daily sales.”
Preparation and clear communication are key. Suhartanto says his team prepares for Afterpay Day two months before the event, collecting assets and creating stories, videos, email content and posts that will be unleashed a few days before the event.
“We do it mostly through our social channels, such as Instagram and Facebook, and we try different things each year,” he says.
Afterpay gives brands a banner to use during the promotion, but Suhartanto believes companies must use their own style in order to differentiate themselves.
“There are a lot of brands that participate in the event, so while useful, that makes the Afterpay asset similar. What works best for us is to combine the look and feel of Afterpay Day branding with our own style, such as our images and videos, so that the customer can understand our products and recognise them straight away.”
Suhartanto recommends promoting a brand’s distinct offerings clearly and prominently. “Make it easy for the customer to know which product is discounted. What works for us is a site-wide promotion using a single discount value of 15 per cent for most stock, except the newest releases.”
"What works best for us is to combine the look and feel of Afterpay Day branding with our own style..."
Because the event is short (four days), Suhartanto says it’s important to have a varied strategy, which includes paid advertising on social media alongside a brand’s own unique content.
“There’s no room to test and learn on the day – you have to have it all organised beforehand to get the most value out of the event.”
The company also stands by email marketing: converting a person who’s already signed up to the brand’s emails is much easier than someone who just “stumbles” on Orbitkey, Suhartanto advises.
“Brand awareness means a potential pool of new customers, and we tend to target that group during Afterpay Day.”
Afterpay Day has not only increased awareness of the brand, with referrals from the Afterpay Shop Directory increasing by 7000 per cent, but quadrupled Orbitkey’s total revenue.
“Afterpay is widely recognised by Australian consumers: it’s a trusted brand, and helps drive awareness online and offline,” Suhartanto says. "It's also similar in nature to Black Friday. It gives us a lot of impact.”
All references to any registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Afterpay does not endorse or recommend any one particular supplier and the information provided is for educational purposes only.
