How to get started with affiliate email marketing: a complete guide

Personalized messages

Creating personalized email messages is a lot easier compared to social media because you have a direct line to your contact’s inbox and that lets you communicate with a prospect individually.

That’s simply not the case with social media platforms. If you try to personalize a social media post, it will not scale, and if you address everybody in general terms, it will lose the personal touch which leads to less engagement.

In fact, a study found that Facebook organic engagement falls down to less than 1% (RivalQ).

Compare that number to the engagement rate you get from email.

The average newsletter open rate is 21.50%. (campaign monitor).

Email newsletter open rate is 20x higher than Facebook post engagement. (Mailchimp)

You own your email list

You do not own Facebook, Twitter, or Google. Your social media campaigns and SEO efforts can go to waste when these platforms change their policies.

For example, IOS 14 changes had a massive impact on businesses advertising on Facebook. Small businesses saw a cut of over 60% of their sales when they weren’t able to use their own data to find customers (Facebook).

On the other hand, you own your email list, and it is not influenced by the decisions of other businesses.

To showcase the stability of email marketing, We found this data from Statista that suggests the global revenue from email marketing will reach $17.9 billion by 2027, up from $10.8 billion in 2023. 

people want promotional messages through email

People don’t go on social media to see ads.

In fact, 74% of consumers report that they are tired of social media ads (SurveyMonkey)

On the other hand, people don’t mind marketing messages in their inboxes. In fact, they expect them.

According to Hubspot, 86% of consumers would like to receive promotional emails from companies they do business with at least monthly (with 15% preferring daily emails).

These stats are nice and all. But you’re probably wondering:

“How do I get started with affiliate email marketing?”.

Well, that’s what our next chapter is all about…

Identify personal interests and expertise

Choose topics that you are passionate about and have some knowledge of.

It’s easier to create engaging and high-quality content when you’re genuinely interested in the subject matter.

Analyze market demand

Use tools like Google Trends, Keyword Planner, and social media platforms to gauge the demand for your chosen topics.

Look for consistent interest over time or emerging trends that signal potential growth. This will help you determine if there’s a sufficient audience for your newsletter.

Check the competition

Analyze existing newsletters, blogs, and publications within your chosen niche.

Assess the quality of their content, their subscriber base, and how well they engage with their audience. Ideally, you want to find a niche with room for growth and an opportunity for you to stand out with your unique perspective.

Consider commerciality

Think about the potential revenue streams within your chosen niche.

For example, are there affiliate marketing opportunities, sponsored content, or relevant products or services you could eventually promote?

Solve an issue

In the last chapter, you have identified your audience and chosen a niche.

Now, find out if there is any problem within your niche that you can solve with a lead magnet.

Find important industry needs that you can address in an ebook, video, etc.

Provide unique information

Once you have identified a specific challenge your prospects are facing, it’s time to craft a lead magnet with enough information that is worth trading their emails for.

Offer unique and specific information that your prospects can not find elsewhere.

Make them want more

Your goal is to have your leads become customers.

So you have to find the right balance between giving your audience the information they want and not giving away too much in the first email to the point that they no longer need your emails.

In other words:

Your lead magnet should be helpful but incomplete.

That way, you create a desire for more emails from you, and if your prospects get positive results from the lead magnet, they will expect to hear from you again, and that turns them into customers.

Get started with Visme

1. Navigate to the Visme sign-up page.

2. Click sign up free and Create a Visme account

3. Go to Projects and click Create New

4. Hover over Projects and click More

5. Search lead magnets and choose one of the templates

Design your lead magnet

1. On the right-hand sidebar, you will have every tool you need to change colors, add text, images, etc

2. On the right-hand sidebar, you will be able to scroll between pages and view them.

3. When done creating your lead magnet, click Share

4. And There, you can either choose to share your lead magnet via a link or to your social media account.

You can even schedule it for later.

Click here to view an example of a lead magnet created with Visme.

turn social media audience to email subscribers

The cheapest and easiest way to build an email list organically is to grow a social media audience first.

If you already have an engaging audience on social media, then great!

Even if it’s a few thousand, turning only a few hundred of them into email subscribers will make you a fortune.

Think about it like this:

An email address can make you anywhere from $1/month up to $5/month, and if you really know what you are doing, you can make up to $20/month from one email address only.

So even with a few hundred email subscribers, you can make a lot of money, and remember, it will only get better from there.

You can simply tell your audience about your lead magnet and its values. The problem it’s solving and instructions on how to download it.

And if you have done a good job with the lead magnet and actually solved a common need of your audience, they will surely opt-in to get the lead magnet and subscribe to your newsletter.

But what if you do not have an audience?

Do not worry, In the next section, we share some of our proven tactics to generate leads without an audience.

Here is a full guide on how to grow your audience on social media by Sean Cannel.

How to generate leads without an audience

When I first started, I used to join Facebook groups that had the same audience as mine and post conversation starters.

And once I gained authority in the group, I offered them a link to my landing page where they could download my lead magnet.

This would get me around 100 emails per week. An email address is worth $48.87 (DMA).

And if you do the math, that is approximately $4900 a week from only Facebook groups.

Not bad, right?

You can use the same technique with other platforms, like Quora and Reddit.

Answer popular questions and get them to download your lead magnet. Even if it’s a few per week, they will add up over time.

How to generate leads with paid Ads

If you don’t have the time to build an audience on social media or want to save the hassle and have a budget of at least $500, then paid Ads is for you.

Choosing the right platform is important, so ask yourself the question:

Where can I find my audience?

In our opinion, it’s best to start with Facebook.

Because Facebook has the best Ad targeting compared to other platforms.

Some of the ways you can target your ads on Facebook:

• Location
• Connections
• Custom audiences
• Behaviors 
• Interests 
• Gender 

A high-level guide on how to create a Facebook ad.

1. Create a Facebook page.

2. Create an Ad account.

3. Navigate the Ads Manager.

4. Click Create and choose your objective

5. Set your campaign budget.

6. Customize your target audience.

7. Choose your ad placements.

8. Create your advertisement.

9. Click Publish to publish your Ad.

If you need a more detailed guide, I found a well-crafted Facebook Ads guide by buffer.com.

Full guide on how to create Facebook Ads

The From Line

The from line is made out of two things:

• The “from” name people see in their inbox.

• The email address you send the newsletter from.

It is essential that you choose the from line wisely before sending out your newsletter and stay consistent with it.

This will create a sense of connection and familiarity.

You can also add your own image, logo, or avatar that shows up in the reader’s inboxes.

The subject Line

If you want to sell through email, People need to open the email first.

So the subject line is used like a hook.

It should:

• grab attention

• Start a story that the reader needs to know the ending to

• Let the reader know what’s in it for them

The eyebrow

The eyebrow is the information included above the first healine.

The goal of the eyebrow is to draw readers in.

You can use this space to display your branding or sum up the content with a few words.

The body copy

The text that makes most of the email is called “body copy” and it is importatn that you make it easy to read

A few ways to do this:

• Short sentences and paragraphs
• Strategic bolding and bulleting
• Good use of tone to keep people moving

And remember, most people read emails on their smart phones, so make sure to optimize your text for all devices.

The image

Images are imprtant in emails, they do a few important things inside your newsletter:

• Grab attention
• Break up text
• Inspire people to share

Linked text or call to action

Avoid using too many links or several buttons.

they make your emails chaotic and distract readers.

Only link to things that are super important.

Pick a theme

First of all you need to pick a theme fro your newsletter.

you have a lot of options when choosing a theme

You can provide tips and advices to help your audience achieve a gaol, share latest trends in your industry, a list of valubale articles publsihed and the list goes on…

Here is 130 newsletter content ideas by mailerLite

How to structure your newsletter

The structure of the newsletter really depends on the theme you have chosen but let’s say that you have chosen to share valubale industry articles.

You would then create a list of valubale articles and shortly explain what the articles are about and the problems they are solving.

Just like this newsletter by Trends

remeber, it is important to choose articles that are well crafted and actually solve issues your audience are facing.

How often should you send emails

Most newsletters send one email weekly, but there are newsletter that send emails every day and there are newsletters that send only one a month, so the frequency of the emails depends on your personal preferences.

We recommend that you start with one email a week and as the engagement increases and you start generating revenue, you can invest more time and increase the frequency of your emails.

But no matter how many emails you send, it is essential to be consistent with your schedule.

how to set up a newsletter with a mailerlite

Now that you have got an idea on how to write and what to include in your email newsletter, there is only one thing remaining, setting up your newsletter and sending it, and we have a step-by-step guide on How to create and send your newsletter with Mailerlite.

Research your target audience

Think about the audience you want to target. Who are they? What are their interests, pain points, and challenges?

Understanding your target audience will help you find products according to their needs and interests.

Solve issues

Is there any product that solves a challenge your audience are facing?

Is there any product that can help your customer reach a goal quicker?

Your job is to find those products.

For example, if you create a weight loss newsletter, it’s your job to find supplements, resources, diets, calorie counter apps, recipes, etc to help your contacts

Analyze profitability

Make sure that the products you choose give you a real chance to make money.

Think about your marketing costs and compare them to the payouts and conversions of the product.

Choose products with long Cookie lifetime

Cookies on the internet are text files that contain small bits of data.

When a shopper clicks on your affiliate link, a cookie will be stored on the merchant’s website.

The amount of time the cookie is stored on the website is the cookie lifetime.

Suppose you choose a product with a cookie lifetime of 7 days. If the shopper does not buy the product right away but returns to the shop within the cookie duration and makes a purchase, you will still get the commission.

Selling through P.S

P.S. is an abbreviation for postscript (written after).

After the rest of the letter is done, you can add a PS at the bottom of the email to indicate that there is more information that is not directly related to the rest of the letter you have sent.

You can use PS in different ways, you can tell your contacts about the next email you are going to send to them or as a transition to the next email, or…offer help.

Yet again, try not to sell but help your subscribers.

For instance, you tell your subscribers about a marketing strategy, you share data, valuable tips, or some articles, and right at the end, after you signed your name, you write:

P.S: If you need any help with this strategy, click here to contact me, I’ll be happy to walk you through it.

And once they contact you, you can then offer some help(not completely) and make them an offer about the service or product you are selling.

Selling through promotional emails

Promotional emails are crafted and sent to sell something. Once you have provided enough value, your contacts are going to be invested so much to the point where they want to give you something in return.

That is exactly the time you send promotional emails, a good rule of thumb is to send 1/5, so you provide free value four times and then send a promotional email.

So how do you wright a good promotional email?

1. Right at the beginning, answer these questions:

Why should your prospects read your email and what’s in it for them?

If you want to sell a course, for example, you can start with:

Earn your first $2000 in 3 months with these simple 3 steps.

2. Now that you have their attention, tell a story to create relatability.

Let’s say that your target audience is people who work 9-5 but want to start a business.

How do you create relatability if you want to sell a course?

Tell them a story about yourself or a friend and point out at that you were in the same position as your target audience.

Build the hardship and pain and tell them the journey you went through to get where you are, and right at the end, when they are thinking that it’s too hard for them, introduce the solution, aka the course that helps them cut through the pain and get to where they want quicker.

3. They now believe that there is something for them, and they are excited about the product.

It’s time to provide proof that the product actually works. You can simply share some results, it could be from you or reviews from other people.

4. After proving to them that it actually works, it’s time to tell them why it costs money and tell them about some key benefits of the product and the results they will get.

You have to prove to them that they are getting a deal.