Email is one of the best ways to connect with customers, and it is also the best way to communicate with affiliates.
Email is the only source of communication that doesn’t wait for affiliates to log in to their platform, visit social media, or come to your website. Email goes directly to their inbox, and most people spend a lot of time checking their emails.
That means if you want to reach out to affiliates and keep your brand and products on their minds, you need to use email to keep them motivated.
Here are some of the best ways to use email to keep your affiliates motivated:
System / Automated Emails
These are emails that should be built into your affiliate marketing software that trigger automatically. You never have to think about these emails once they are set up, unless you need to update them from time to time.
What kind of system emails should your web manager set up?
Welcome emails.
A welcome email should trigger for each new affiliate. A great welcome email should be personable, and give any relevant information an affiliate needs to get started. Tell them the address of their personal replicated site. Remind them to of how and where they can get links to bestselling products. Share some quick tips to success. Thank them for representing your brand to their audience.
The welcome email is the most opened email of any kind of email. It is important because it solidifies the relationship between your brand and the affiliate. It will also help in the future with deliverability of your emails to the affiliate if they have opened the welcome email. (And the more emails in general that are opened from your brand helps your overall deliverability, to both affiliate and clients.)
Notification emails
These emails should be created as a way to get the affiliate excited about your brand, selling more, and logging back into their platform.
Notification emails could include:
The affiliate has reached a certain goal in sales, clicks, or commissions earned.
For brands using referral programs, notifications that someone has acted upon a referral / claimed an invite / etc.
Referral Program / Invite Emails
Your affiliates might be just customers participating in a referral program. If that is the case, you want to make referring other people as easy as possible.
Our Invite System lets you create personalized system emails for your members to send to their friends and contacts. Members are notified when their codes or email are claimed, and can cancel invites and reissue codes. This is a great way to foster a sense of exclusivity to your program, and more codes can be issued to top referrers as a reward.
Drip Emails
These are system emails set up to send at certain intervals, and are triggered by a specific action or event.
For affiliates, a great time to start a drip campaign is when they first sign up. An email chain can be previously set up to send weekly or every two weeks encouraging the affiliate to return to the platform or keep selling.
What can you include in these drip emails?
- Tell them about some of your bestselling products
- Give them a quick history of your business
- Share success stories of top affiliates
- Give them tips and how-to’s, and share the link to specific training sessions in your virtual training system (yes, I recommend using this feature of the TitanAFFILIATE software!)
The best thing about setting these up ahead of time is you can be sure everyone is seeing the same content, and you don’t have to worry about getting out of touch with your affiliates.
But what about when the drip email chain ends?
You still need to keep in touch with your affiliates.
Broadcast / marketing emails
Don’t overwhelm your affiliates with too many emails. But you also don’t want too much time in between emails from your brand, either. One email a week is a good rule of thumb, although notification emails can send as often as actions are occurring.
Build a brand persona
Broadcast emails are a great way to give your brand a personal face. Highlight to stories of your successful affiliates. The CEO / Founder / Brand Rep can share personal thoughts or send encouragement.
You can also share experiences at events your brand attends or hosts. Our client Lili Clarke does a great job creating content at events that they use on the their website, and that can be shared with affiliates through email.
The more you can use email to personalize your brand, the more affiliates will feel like part of a family, rather than just selling for some faceless logo. This will help them invest more emotionally in your brand, making them better, more passionate advocates.
Send out promotions.
Let your affiliates know by email when you’re having special promotions or sales. Encourage them to grab their personal links to the sales or their replicated landing pages, and give them some quick tips on how to best promote the sale.
You can also create exclusive deals for your affiliates and share them via email. Create a sale only your affiliates can share with their audience, or even a sale for your affiliates. After all, a true fan is the best salesperson.
Company Announcements
General company announcements are good ways to stay top of mind for affiliates, show them your company is active and growing, and keep them informed on important things going on.
Conclusion
Use a variety of email types to keep your affiliates excited about your brand.
System emails. Emails like welcome emails and system notifications will be an easy way to get them opening your emails and returning to their website.
Drip emails. Set up regular emails that send to tips, product and company info, and encouragement for affiliates.
Broadcast emails. Keep in touch and help affiliates get to know your brand by sending regular updates from business leaders, promotional information, and tips.
Do you use email to connect with your affiliates? Share your stories with us!
