One of the most effective ways to promote affiliate offers is through email marketing. Most people use the exact same process to promote affiliate offers in their emails. But today, I’m going to share three new ways to use email marketing to promote affiliate offers. Using these new ways will take your affiliate marketing (and income) to the next level!
This post is a part of my ‘Ultimate Guide to Monetizing a Small Email List.’ Click here to access the entire guide for FREE.
This post is a part of my ‘Ultimate Guide to Monetizing a Small Email List.’ Click here to access the entire guide for FREE.
When people typically promote affiliate offers through email, the process typically looks something like this: There is an affiliate offer — you like said affiliate offer — you send an email to your list promoting affiliate offer — maybe you send a follow up to unopens — you move onto the next offer.
Then you rinse and repeat the same process somewhere between 4 and 10 times in the course of a year.
RELATED POST: How Many Affiliate Launches Can You Promote Each Year?
That is a great way to promote affiliate offers and it works extremely well – I use that process myself multiple times every year.
But, if that is all you’re doing, you’re missing out on some really great ways to utilize the power of email marketing to promote affiliate products!
Before we get into the 3 out-of-the-box ways to use email for affiliate marketing, if you’re looking for an email service program, I highly recommend ConvertKit. If you’re just starting out and you’re looking for a more affordable option, you can get started for free with MailChimp.
Now onto the 3 out-of-the-box ways to use email for your affiliate marketing.
1. Use Your Auto Responder
Most affiliate promotion is done using email broadcast or blasts. Basically, an email that is sent on a specific day and time.
Your autoresponder sequence, however, starts essentially the minute someone joins your list, and then emails are sent on a predetermined schedule based on when they joined your list.
For example, when you join my email list, you get autoresponder emails on days 1, 4, 9, 14, 17, etc. all the way up to day 117.
These automated emails are the perfect place to introduce your audience to affiliate products that you highly recommend.
For example, I talk a lot about building and monetizing your email list, a great email in my autoresponder sequence would be to highlight and recommend ConvertKit or MailChimp and give an overview of how the program works and why it’s a good option for my audience.
You can also use it to recommend programs that your audience is looking for, but you don’t necessarily specialize in. For instance, many people who join my list are just starting to build their business and are looking for help creating a successful blog, so I could recommend my friend Jonathan Milligan’s Blogging Your Passion University.
By adding these emails to your autoresponder sequence you will begin to condition your audience to expect you to sell products to them and you’ll generate ongoing affiliate income.
2. Follow Up Emails
Often when you write a blog post or record a video or podcast, you will mention various affiliate products or services that you promote, as I did above with ConvertKit, MailChimp and Blogging Your Passion University.
A day or two after you release a piece of content, you can send a follow-up email letting people know that you mentioned the product or service in your recent piece of content and received several questions regarding it.
Then you can go share some FAQs, tell about how you use the product and, as we’ll talk about in the next point, even share an exclusive offer or discount if you have one.
The reason this is so effective is because when you mention the product in the content, you’ve introduced it to them in a casual way, and now, a couple of days later you’re coming back with an email that is all about it.
FREE EMAIL SWIPE COPY: Get a sample follow up email that you can use to promote an affiliate product.
3. Promote a Special Promo or Flash Sale
Anytime there is a special promotion or flash sale for a product that you like, send a dedicated email about it.
You can also do this if you have a special discount or offer that you can offer them.
The great part about this strategy is that you can tie it in with the other two that I’ve shared in this post.
For example, I have a special promotion that ConvertKit has offered me – it’s a 30-day free trial instead of the standard 14 days. I could easily mention that in an email as part of my autoresponder sequence.
I could also mention special longer free trial in a follow-up email that I send a few days after I mention ConvertKit in a new video that I post on my blog.
The best part of special promos or flash sales is, unlike an all-out promotion, you can get away with sending just a single email for a flash sale.
RELATED VIDEO: How To Promote A Flash Sale As An Affiliate
If you will use these three out-of-the-box ways to promote affiliate offers through email, not only will you increase your affiliate income, you will also increase the number and variety of affiliate products and programs that you can share with your audience.
What other ways have you used email to promote affiliate products and programs?
