How To Build An Email List For Affiliate Marketing

Attention all affiliate marketers! Are you tired of poor sales and low conversion rates?

Don’t worry! Every affiliate marketer passes through this phase.

While affiliate marketing isn’t as easy as YouTubers and marketing “gurus” tell you, there are a few things you can do to ensure your success. One such thing you can do is build a strong and engaged email list.

Yes, an email list can be extremely beneficial for affiliate marketing. Having an email list allows you to directly reach out to potential customers and promote your affiliate products or services.

Additionally, email marketing has a higher conversion rate compared to other marketing channels, making it an effective way to drive sales and generate income as an affiliate marketer.

But where do you start? Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered.

In this blog post, you’ll learn the step-by-step process of how to build an email list for affiliate marketing from scratch and how to effectively use it to boost your affiliate marketing efforts.

Get ready to take your business to the next level!

Disclosure: Some links in this article are my affiliate links. If you buy any product through any of these links, It’ll give me a kickback at no extra cost to you. Such a commission helps me to stay motivated and produce more such content. Thanks in advance if you buy anything from my affiliate links.

Let’s go!

Here’s How To Build An Email List For Affiliate Marketing

1. Define Your Target Audience

Defining your target audience is a crucial step in the process of “how to build an email list for affiliate marketing”.

By defining your target audience, you gain a better understanding of their needs, interests, and behaviors.

This information allows you to tailor your content and promotions to their specific needs, making it more effective and increasing their engagement and likelihood of making a purchase through your affiliate links.

You don’t want to send YouTube tips and tricks to people who want to start a blog.

2. Set Up Opt-In Forms For Your Email List

The basic requirement for building an email list for affiliate marketing is to give an opportunity to your audience to sign up for your list. That’s where opt-in forms come into play.

An opt-in form is simply a form that your audience can fill out with their name and email address to subscribe to your email list. You can find an opt-in form in my sidebar to subscribe to my mailing list and never miss out on new amazing blog posts.

It is very easy to set up opt-in forms for collecting the email addresses of your audience. There are several email marketing services available in the market that let you do it for free.

I use MailerLite for my email marketing needs and it has never let me down once. MailerLite has a free account that will be sufficient for beginners. The free account lets you store up to 1000 contacts (which is more than required).

3. Create Lead Magnets

Consider lead magnets as bait for your email list-building. They entice your audience with something irresistible and make them want to sign up for your list through your opt-in forms.

It’s like offering free pizza at a restaurant – everyone wants a slice!

Lead magnets help break the ice with your audience and start the conversation. They give you an opportunity to show your value and build trust with your audience, making it easier to promote your products and services later on.

You too can offer free resources to your audience to incentivize them to sign up for your affiliate marketing email list.

Some good examples of lead magnets are:

• E-books: An ebook that provides valuable information on a specific topic is a popular type of lead magnet. Ebooks can be used to introduce your audience to your brand, educate them on a specific subject, or provide them with a solution to a problem.

• Checklists: Checklists are a great way to provide your audience with a practical resource they can use. For example, you could create a checklist for organizing your home or planning a trip.

• Mini-courses: A mini-course is a great lead magnet used by many content creators today. The course gives an idea of what you can offer and let your subscribers dig deeper about you.

• Webinars: Hosting a webinar can be a great way to build your email list. Offer a free webinar on a topic of interest to your target audience, and use it as an opportunity to build rapport and promote your products.

• Discounts: This one is interesting and often used by affiliate marketers. You basically tell people that if they sign up, they get a special discount coupon code for a product that you are promoting. Works wonders, this one!

I too am working on an E-book. It will be out soon or probably out by the time you read this post (in case I forget to edit it).

For your opt-in forms and lead magnets to be accessible, a landing page will be your best bet.

A landing page is a page on your website that is designed to convert your visitors into leads or customers. You can place your opt-in forms on this landing page.

Related: How to easily create a landing page.

4. Design Your Email Marketing Campaigns

Email marketing campaigns are simply emails that you choose to send to your subscribers.

Start your email marketing campaigns with a simple onboarding or welcome email telling your subscribers what they could expect from you and your website.

Then you could set up subsequent emails to be sent to your subscribers.

Here’s what you could send to your subscribers over a period of time.

• A welcome email on the first day

• A second email about the resources you use on the second day

• The third email regarding a book that has taught you blogging, on the third day

• And so on…

The best part is that you can automate all this. You can create a completely automated flow of emails to be sent to your subscribers over a period of time.

Related: The Best Autoresponders For Affiliate Marketing

I am currently subscribed to a mailing list of a blogger who has automated 21 emails to be sent over a period of two months to whoever subscribes to his email list.

What’s more, you can segment your subscribers on the basis of actions they take upon receiving your emails.

For example: If a subscriber clicks on a specific link in your email, then he is sent the next email. But, if he doesn’t click on the link, then he is sent a different email than the one sent to the ones who clicked.

5. Nurture Your Subscribers

After you are done building an email list for affiliate marketing, the next step is to engage with your audience.

If you are thinking you can put affiliate links in Facebook groups and get clicks and conversions, then you are on the wrong track.

The first and foremost thing in affiliate marketing is content. Yes, Content is Always The King!

You need to be a content creator if you want to be an affiliate marketer.

Moreover, your content needs to be amazing for subscribers to keep reading your emails. Keep your audience entertained and informed and they will keep opening your messages. 

Stay ahead of the curve by researching emerging trends in your field and sharing fascinating insights with your readers. Cater to their preferences, not just your own interests.

And always keep in mind, affiliate marketing isn’t about simply promoting your products like a salesperson. You need to offer value to your audience by educating them, solving their pain points, and explaining to them how your recommended products can help them.

While doing this, you will find that you were able to generate a lot of sales indirectly.

6. Promote Your Lead Magnets

This is a really important step in building an email list for affiliate marketing.

For people to subscribe to your email list and send automated emails to them, you need to make sure that your lead magnets are discoverable.

People aren’t gonna know about your website or offer until you promote it.

Here are some effective ways to promote your lead magnets:

• Social media: Use social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to promote your lead magnet. Share a post that provides a preview of what the lead magnet is about, and include a link to the landing page.

• Paid advertising: Use platforms such as Google AdWords or Facebook Ads to reach a wider audience with your lead magnet. Target people who have shown an interest in your niche or who have visited your website in the past.

• Collaborations: Partner with other businesses or influencers in your niche to promote your lead magnet to their audience. This can help you reach a new audience and increase your visibility.

• Use pop-ups and slide-ins: Display a pop-up or slide-in on your website to promote your lead magnet to visitors.

What do I do to promote my content and lead magnets?

My best advice to you is to create an account on Twitter and start engaging and building meaningful relationships with fellow content creators in your industry.

Twitter fosters a community of individuals who are eager to establish professional connections for mutual gain.

In fact, the majority of my blog traffic comes from Twitter.

Email Marketing Tips for Affiliate Marketing

As we have already seen that email marketing is a profitable way to do affiliate marketing, you might as well take with you some email marketing tips for affiliate marketing.

1. Choose your email marketing service wisely

There are a lot of email marketing services out there that provide awesome services. But you need to select the one that suits you the best.

Further, not all email marketing services allow affiliate marketing directly through emails. It’s fine to recommend some products alongside educational content but if you are planning to link affiliate products in each one of your emails, then most services wouldn’t allow it.

If you want to do a lot of affiliate marketing through emails, then MailerLite isn’t for you. It doesn’t allow affiliate marketing through emails. Occasionally including affiliate links along with informational content is fine, but full-fledged affiliate marketing isn’t allowed.

You can go for GetResponse. It doesn’t have any such limits. The free plan allows you to store up to 500 contacts. But you need to pay for automation.

It is recommended you start a blog where you can link as many products as you want. It is your private property. Use your email marketing campaigns to drive traffic to your blog where your readers can buy through your affiliate links.

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2. Do not sound too salesy

As an affiliate marketer, it’s important to maintain a balance between promoting the products you’re affiliated with and providing valuable information to your audience.

Avoid sounding overly promotional or pushy, and focus on creating content that educates and helps your audience make informed purchasing decisions.

This can help build trust and credibility, which can ultimately lead to more sales over time.

Use your emails to educate your audience, not sell to them.

Other than that, do not attempt to sell in the very first email. Build a relationship and win your audience’s trust first. Only then will they decide to buy from you.

3. Guide your audience to your other properties

It is not feasible to rely totally on email marketing for your affiliate marketing efforts.

You can’t send 4000-word pieces of information through emails. No one reads long emails.

Your emails should only act as the bridge between your audience and your content.

That is why it is advisable to start a blog where you can publish loads of helpful content for your audience.

Here’s my detailed guide to starting a blog today!

4. Choose your affiliate products wisely

Never promote a product just because it pays high commission rates. The product needs to be worth the money that your audience pays.

I have made it a habit on my blog to promote only those products which I personally use or have used in the past and liked.

You should promote only those products which you firmly believe in.

If you recommend a bad product to your readers, there are bright chances they won’t return to read your content ever again and hence never buy from you again.

5. Call-to-action

Make it clear what you want your subscribers to do next. Use a prominent CTA button that stands out from the rest of the email.

Leaving your subscribers confused about what to do next leaves a bad impression. Design an optimized funnel guiding your buyer’s journey from subscribing to your list to buying from your affiliate links.

An Example Of An Effective Affiliate Marketing Email Sequence

As stated above, after building an email list for affiliate marketing, you need to design your email marketing campaigns. For that, you need to design an effective affiliate marketing email sequence.

An affiliate marketing email sequence is a series of pre-written emails that are sent to a subscriber list in order to promote an affiliate product or service.

The purpose of the email sequence is to educate subscribers about the product or service, build trust, and convince them to purchase it using the affiliate link provided.

The sequence usually includes several emails, each with a specific goal, such as introducing the product, highlighting its features and benefits, sharing customer testimonials, providing value-added content, addressing common objections, and ultimately, making a sale.

The goal of an affiliate marketing email sequence is to convert subscribers into customers by providing them with valuable information and guiding them through the buying process.

Here’s an example of an effective affiliate marketing email sequence:

Email 1: Welcome and Introduction

Subject: Welcome to the [Product/Service Name] Community

Hi [Name],

Thank you for subscribing to our mailing list! I’m [Your Name], and I’m excited to share with you some valuable information that will help you achieve your goals.

In this email, I want to introduce you to [Product/Service Name]. [Product/Service Name] is an excellent tool that can help you [describe the benefits].

I’ve been using [Product/Service Name] for some time now, and it has made a significant impact on my business. So, I’m confident that you’ll find it useful too.

In the next few emails, I’ll be sharing some tips on how to make the most of [Product/Service Name]. So, keep an eye out for my next email!

Best regards,

[Your Name]

Email 2: Share Value and Build Trust

Subject: How [Product/Service Name] Can Help You [Benefit]

Hi [Name],

In my last email, I introduced you to [Product/Service Name]. Now, I want to dive deeper and talk about how [Product/Service Name] can help you [benefit].

[Product/Service Name] can [describe the benefits] and can save you time, money, and effort. It’s a fantastic tool that can make a significant difference in your business.

Don’t take my word for it. Many people have had great success with [Product/Service Name]. Here are some testimonials:

[Include 1-2 testimonials from satisfied customers]

If you have any questions about [Product/Service Name], please feel free to reach out to me. I’m here to help!

Best regards,

[Your Name]

Email 3: Show How to Use Product/Service

Subject: [Product/Service Name]: Getting Started Guide

Hi [Name],

I hope you’re enjoying the tips I’ve been sharing about [Product/Service Name]. Today, I want to share a getting-started guide that will help you get the most out of [Product/Service Name].

Here are the steps to get started:

[Step 1 – Describe how to get started with the product/service]

[Step 2 – Describe the first key feature of the product/service]

[Step 3 – Describe the second key feature of the product/service]

[Step 4 – Describe the third key feature of the product/service]

By following these steps, you’ll be able to use [Product/Service Name] to its full potential.

If you have any questions about any of the steps, feel free to reach out to me. I’m here to help you!

Best regards,

[Your Name]

Email 4: Overcoming Objections

Subject: Overcoming [Product/Service Name] Objections

Hi [Name],

Are you hesitant about using [Product/Service Name]? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Many people have reservations about using new products or services.

In this email, I want to address some common objections people have about [Product/Service Name] and explain why these objections are not valid.

[Objection 1 and Response]

[Objection 2 and Response]

[Objection 3 and Response]

I hope this clears up any doubts you might have had about [Product/Service Name]. If you have any additional objections or questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me.

Best regards,

[Your Name]

Email 5: Closing the Sale

Subject: Final Reminder: Get [Product/Service Name] Now

Hi [Name],

This is the last chance for you to get [Product/Service Name]. If you’ve been on the fence about trying it, now is the time to take action.

[Product/Service Name] is an excellent tool that can help you [describe the benefits]. It’s an investment that will pay off in the long run.

If you purchase [Product/Service Name] now, you’ll receive [list any special offers or bonuses]. This is a limited-time offer, so don’t miss out!

To get [Product/Service Name], click on the link below:

[Insert Affiliate Link]

Thank you for considering [Product/Service Name], and if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’m here to help.

Best regards,

[Your Name]

Which Email Marketing Service Is Best For You?

In order to build an email list for affiliate marketing, you need to pick an email marketing service that is worth your money and suitable to your needs.

I will recommend only two email marketing services to you:

(a) MailerLite and (b) GetResponse

MailerLite

Currently, I use MailerLite for building and managing my email list. It provides a free plan that has the following features:

• Store up to 1000 contacts on your email list

• Lets you send 12000 monthly emails

• Email automation

• Opt-in forms and pop-ups

It is a beginner’s best bet as it provides so much for free. Not many email marketing services provide email automation for free.

The paid plans start from as low as $9 a month and increase with the number of contacts you need to store in your list.

But remember, MailerLite doesn’t allow a lot of affiliate links in emails.

If you have a blog like me, then you don’t need to worry as emails will just act as a bridge between your audience and your content. All the affiliate links will be there on your blog.

GetResponse

I have used GetResponse in the past and it is a wonderful service but doesn’t provide automation with the free plan. It lets you store up to 500 contacts with the free plan.

MailerLite was a better alternative for me as it allowed automation with the free plan, so I switched to it.

But if money isn’t an issue for you, then GetResponse is the way to go, as apart from conventional email marketing services, it also lets you build landing pages, create and host webinars, SMS marketing, send web push notifications, and design conversion funnels. It also has a website builder.

What more could you ask for?

Final Thoughts

If you’re serious about your affiliate business, building an email list for affiliate marketing should be at the top of your to-do list. An email list allows you to connect with your target audience on a personal level and build a long-term relationship with them.

By capturing the contact information of engaged leads who have already shown interest in your niche, you can provide them with valuable information and resources, and earn their trust over time.

As your subscribers become more engaged with your content, they are more likely to purchase the products or services you promote, resulting in higher conversion rates and greater revenue for your affiliate marketing business.

So if you haven’t started an email list yet, you’re missing out on a powerful tool that can help you grow your affiliate marketing business to the next level.

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