Affiliate Outreach: Build Better Newsletters

We often hear, “How can I keep my Affiliates engaged and active in the program?” Answer: Keep them in the loop! The old adage is true: communication is key.

Utilize the newsletter tool to maintain consistent communication with your Affiliates. The key is to keep your newsletter relevant, feeling fresh and concise. Your efforts will have an adverse effect if you begin spamming your Affiliate base with unnecessary or unrelated content. For this reason, it’s important to send targeted and personalized emails, so segment your list by Affiliate type or tag!

Your goal should be to send monthly newsletters that contain relevant information about what is new to your site and in your program. Think of the newsletter as your marketing toolkit for Affiliates. Include details, macros and clear call-to-actions that will motivate your Affiliates to better sell or market your product or service.

• Send At Least Monthly – For most programs, monthly will be a fitting schedule. If your program offers a huge inventory with lots of details changing on a regular basis, it may bode well for your program to send more frequent newsletters.
• Make Actionable– Include items that Affiliates can put right to use. “Actionable” as in useable. Utilize macros to include the Affiliate’s specific tracking code for tools and to personalize your email.
• Inject Personality– Let the newsletter reflect who you and your company are. Affiliates receive hundreds of emails so why not make yours interesting to read!
• Select Plain Text or HTML– In the newsletter tool, Merchants have the option to create either a plain text or HTML newsletter. Either can be very effective. Personally, I prefer HTML for the monthly newsletter so I can use a template and include images and general branding. Text can be great for quick short updates.
• Target Newsletter Using Filters– Utilize the filters to send specifically targeted communication to certain groups of Affiliates. For example, you could send keyword lists to your PPC affiliates, an activation newsletter to low performers with some tips on getting started, special incentives to your top performers, content tips to your bloggers…you get the picture!

• New Creatives – Highlight recently added or updated banners, text links, videos, and widgets.
• Products – Best Sellers & New Arrivals – Include a few sample products of what is new and hot in your inventory.
• Website Demographics and Stats – Let your Affiliates know who the audience is for your website. The more the Affiliate knows about who is shopping at your site and for your products, the better message they can send to their audience.
• Program Updates – Be sure to always communicate any changes within the program agreement, commission structure, cookie duration, program manager changes and any other item that pertains to the program setup.
• Bonus Campaigns – Include any Affiliate sales incentive or bonus campaign that is running. This can be a great opportunity to encourage Affiliates to generate sales or push a specific product.
• Educational Content – If you have product inventory, include content about your products or brands. Use this as an opportunity to educate people on what makes your products unique.
• Coupons/Deals/Special Offers – Communicate any coupons or deals that are currently available. Be sure to also upload these to the ShareASale Coupon & Deals database as well.