This post has been updated for 2024.
Content creation is taken seriously at JEBCommerce. Our team ensures that everything our partners see is engaging and informative, drawing from years of collective experience in writing, editing, and following time-tested processes. We believe so strongly in good communication being a key to success, that we wanted to share what we’ve discovered about creating the perfect affiliate recruitment email. It occurred to us that this could be a really useful blog post for affiliate managers just starting out and a good refresher for the experienced among us. So here it goes.
Think About the Recipient First
Think about the person you are contacting first. We tend to think only of ourselves, our pressures, and our needs when doing nearly anything, but there is inherent danger in that. We serve a function as affiliate managers, and if you aren’t thinking of those you are serving, you are going to miss their needs and how you can help fulfill them.
By missing this you may spend time contacting affiliates that you really don’t need to, ones that won’t work with you and who can tell you aren’t thinking of their interests. Your communications will fall flat, feel inauthentic, and won’t get a response. To counter this, spend time looking at the affiliates’ web properties and try to identify what they need, then determine how you can help them satisfy that need. Focus on them. It sounds simple, but it isn’t always easy.
Keep it Short and Sweet
Have you ever read that long email that rambles on and on? Yeah, we haven’t either. Get to the point, say what you need to say and no more.
Provide All the Essentials
Provide the affiliate with everything they need to take the desired action. In fact, you should have a desired action in mind before writing your email. Be sure to tell them what it is. Most likely you want them to join your affiliate program. Great, make sure they have all the pertinent information on your program including:
- Join link
- Commission payout and all terms
- Network name and a link to your program page
Personalize Your Message
Shouldn’t you have some idea of who the recipient is before you contact them? 90% of people believe that all email is SPAM. Well how do you get through all of that then? Make sure you know things about the affiliate. If you don’t, then spend time on their site, research them before you contact them. If you just want to get 1000 emails out today, you are going to achieve success according to the time you put in. No one wants to read a basic templated email that is the same as everything else. Take your time to get to know the publisher so you can write something specific to them.
Don’t Forget Contact Information
Who wants to reply to “Affiliate Team” or noreply@merchant.com? Don’t be afraid to let them know all the ways to get a hold of you. For some reason new affiliate managers don’t want to make it easy for affiliates and publishers to get a hold of them. In this age of hyper-connectivity, we’ve noticed quite a few people in our space afraid of including their phone number, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and others in their signature. As an affiliate manager you want to remove as much friction as you can from the join and optimization process. If you have an affiliate that wants to talk through FB messenger, well make that as easy as possible for them. It also goes a long way to building trust. It’s easier to trust people that are available and public.
Highlight the Benefits
Clearly identify the reasons why the affiliate should join or take your desired action. This goes hand in hand with being brief. With the fewest words possible you have to highlight why an affiliate should read your email and join your program. Tell them clearly what is in it for them, and if you don’t know what that is, spend some time reviewing your program terms and what you have been able to bring to your current partners. You can highlight your EPC (Earnings Per Click), commission rate or the top earnings of affiliates just like that.
Side note: if you want a deeper dive, our podcast episode on EPC explores how you can use it in the affiliate channel for recruiting, retention, and optimization.
Mind the Rules: CAN-SPAM Compliance
Don’t forget about CAN-SPAM and other email regulations. You can get yourself in a lot of trouble and financial penalties may apply if you don’t understand and comply with the law.
Follow Up Without Being Pushy
Follow up but don’t be intrusive or annoying. Recruiting affiliates is very much a sales function and the way we all read email, you have to follow up. You need more than one touch point to get a positive response. Couple your email with a follow up, friend them on Facebook, connect via LinkedIn etc.
Authenticity Matters
We were tempted to include a sample of our recruiting emails, but figured it would do more harm than good. The main point is to be authentic and research your partners to find why your message is important to them. There is no silver bullet. If we provided a template, many would be tempted to just use that, but that goes against the main point. There isn’t a simple fix here, you have to do the work to communicate efficiently.
Cadence and Putting it All Together
An effective email campaign includes developing partner personas and crafting templates that fit each one. Begin with a short, attention-grabbing message to pique interest, followed by a quick follow-up. Gradually introduce more details about your program while keeping the tone engaging. Be creative with your communication—consider adding animations or memes (sparingly) to stand out. Finally, don’t shy away from a direct approach in your last email to prompt a response. You don’t need to beg, but be willing to toe the line.
It sounds like a lot of work, and it may be up front, but all of this can be done within 4-5 emails carefully spaced out over roughly a two week period. Not only will this structure help ensure that your outreach is both engaging and effective, but it will give you a starting point for communicating with broader audiences, A/B testing, and more.
Wrapping Up
These aren’t the only characteristics of the perfect email, but they are a pretty good start. The first outreach to a potential partner is important, but it isn’t a silver bullet. If you aren’t committed to building a solid relationship and actually following through, your amazing email will only hurt you. It’s only a part. Get it right, but don’t lose sight of all the other important aspects of relationship building.
If you need help recruiting affiliates, check out our article on How to Find New Affiliates. Or if you need more direct assistance, please reach out to us at gethelp@jebcommerce.com or schedule time to discuss your needs with us.
