Earn Passive Income With Affiliate Email Marketing

Passive income. 

Are there any sweeter words? Possibly. I love you is pretty nice.

But there’s no denying the appeal of passive income, which means affiliate email marketing is pretty darn sugary, too. 

If executed well, the strategy can generate significant income. While the majority of affiliates (57.55%) earn less than ten thousand dollars from their efforts, that’s still not bad for what is often a secondary revenue stream. 

I’d rather dream big, though. A noteworthy 4% rake in over $150,000 a year. Let’s get you on the road to joining them.

Understanding Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is a business model where individuals or companies ("affiliates") promote a company's products for a commission. This tactic offers several benefits for both parties. 

For Affiliates:

• Ease of Entry: There are no specific qualifications required to become an affiliate marketer. If you have a solid online presence and know how to market products effectively, you can become an affiliate marketer.

• No Need for Product Creation: As an affiliate, you don't need to create or manufacture any products. You simply promote the products of others and earn a commission on any sales made through your referral.

• Passive Income: The magic words. Once your promotional content is set up and generating traffic, it can bring in income while you sleep.

For Merchants

• Cost-Effective: With affiliate marketing, merchants only pay for results. This means they don't risk investing money in marketing that doesn't generate sales.

• Increased Brand Visibility: Affiliates help spread the word about a merchant's products, leading to increased brand visibility and potentially more sales.

• Access to Various Markets: Affiliates can help merchants reach markets that they may not have had access to otherwise.

Your audience should also benefit. Only promote the products that you truly believe in and fit your niche.

The Power of Email Affiliate Marketing

In email affiliate marketing, all of this activity happens through the channel of email, which offers a direct line of communication with potential customers.

You can also segment your email list more easily than other audiences. Personalized emails can build relationships with your audience, provide valuable content, and subtly promote affiliate products that are specific to a target group.

Getting Started with Email Affiliate Marketing

Enough drum roll. It's time to get that money rolling in.

Choosing the Right Affiliate Products or Services

As with any content creation, you’ll need a strong understanding of your audience. Who are they? What do they look for? What are their needs? Clear answers to these questions will enable you to tailor your content as well as pick your product.

You should always provide value to your subscribers even as you earn your commissions. Don’t fall into the most common mistakes for newsletter ads and affiliate programs: irrelevant brands and promotion overload.

Then start brainstorming. Cast a wide net — your niche may span multiple audiences or sectors, some more promising than others.

The most popular sectors are retail, telecom and media, and travel and leisure; these generate the most affiliate revenue worldwide. That doesn’t mean that they generate a significant amount of income per marketer. In fact, retail commissions tend to be low.

SaaS affiliate marketing can be one of the most lucrative options but has a wide range of payouts, and the finance sector offers consistently high commissions. 

Choosing the Right Affiliate Program

Not all programs are created equal. When choosing an email marketing affiliate program, consider three key factors:

1. Reputation: Look for programs that are well-regarded in the industry. A good reputation typically indicates reliability and trustworthiness.

2. Commission Structure: Examine the program's commission structure. Some programs offer higher commission rates than others.

3. Support: Good affiliate programs offer excellent support to their affiliates, providing them with the necessary resources to succeed.

Affiliate marketing networks are also an option. While some brands prefer to collaborate directly with their marketers, others outsource this task. Affiliate hubs such as Amazon Associates and the eBay Partner Network collect products from multiple brands, giving creators a choice of what to promote. 

You should note that payouts from these mega marketplaces tend to be low, but some willingly sacrifice higher commissions for a wider range of products.

Choosing the Right Email Service 

If you don’t already have a newsletter and want to move your audience to this channel, you’ll need to create a publication. 

Ideally, you should find a service that supports multiple methods of monetization. Why limit yourself to affiliate marketing when you can also investigate sponsorship options and paid content?

Even better, become an affiliate of your favorite newsletter service. “Affiliate email marketing” also refers to the programs run by services such as this one. That’s right — we’ll pay you for the clients you bring us.

When you sign up as an affiliate, most services ask you to provide some basic information about your marketing strategies and audience. Once approved, you can start promoting and earning commissions.

The beehiiv partner program offers a pretty incredible payout. You’ll earn 50% of all revenue generated through your referral for an entire year. It’s worked out well for passive income guru Victoria Kurichenko of Self Made Millennials. Her early review of beehiiv pops up in search results and brings her a steady flow of referral prospects.

Best Practices for Affiliate Email Marketing

These best practices can help maximize your potential as an affiliate marketer. Here are some tips to speed you on your way to successful campaigns and effective content.

Running Successful Affiliate Email Marketing Campaigns

Get the most out of your campaigns with a deliberate, targeted strategy. You want to deliver the right content to the right people at the right time.

Segment Your Audience and Personalize Your Emails

Personalized emails can increase engagement rates by building a connection with your audience. Tailor your content based on the subscriber's interests or past purchases.

Use A/B Testing

Experiment with various elements of your emails, such as subject lines, design, content, and call-to-actions. Identify what resonates with your audience to improve engagement and click-through rates.

Pay Attention to Holidays and Special Events.

Promote relevant products during holidays and special events when shopping activity often increases. By seizing the moment, you can capitalize on heightened consumer interest to drive sales.

Share Content on Other Channels

Sharing valuable content on multiple channels allows you to connect with a wider audience, increase brand visibility, and attract more potential customers to your affiliate products or services. 

beehiiv partner Omid G. from Marketer Milk suggests taking advantage of social media platforms, particularly those popular for long-form content such as LinkedIn (articles) and YouTube (videos), to boost revenue. 

Leverage Analytics

Optimize your performance with powerful tools like Google Analytics or beehiiv. These tools monitor click rates and track conversions, providing valuable insights to optimize future newsletters. Use these analytics platforms and dive into the data. Then you can identify trends and make data-driven decisions to improve your campaigns. 

Continue To Build Your List

A publication isn’t much use for affiliate email marketing if there’s no one to read it. The more subscribers you have, the more prospects you bring to an affiliate program. 

Try growing your list with some of these options:

• Optimize your sign-up page

• Display a pop-up or welcome gate 

• Develop lead magnets such as free content for new subscribers

• Create a referral program 

• Guest post on relevant sites

• Promote via social media

Before you know it, you’ll have a robust audience to whom you can recommend products.

Creating Effective Affiliate Content 

The content of your emails ultimately determines whether subscribers click on your affiliate links and potentially earn you money. 

Provide Value

Make sure your content informs, entertains, and inspires your subscribers, resonating with their needs. Consistently delivering valuable content helps you build credibility as a trusted source of recommendations. 

Don't Oversell

While it's important to promote your affiliate products, maintain a balance between promotional and non-promotional content. Resist the temptation to constantly bombard your subscribers with product pitches. Instead, focus on providing useful resources that naturally include allusions to the product. 

Include a Clear Call-to-Action

A clear and compelling call-to-action guides subscribers on what to do next, increasing the chances of them clicking on your affiliate links.  

When adding affiliate links, make sure they’re plainly labeled and strategically placed, preferably near the top of the newsletter for maximum visibility. 

You should also avoid overwhelming readers with too many options. It will hurt your conversion rate and may even harm deliverability if anything looks spammy.

Disclose Affiliate Links

Be transparent about your participation in affiliate programs. Disclose all affiliate links in compliance with relevant company terms of service and legal requirements. 

Besides, you should trust your audience to understand what email affiliate marketing does — and does not — mean. Your readers won’t dismiss your recommendations simply because you included a link.

66% of American consumers trust influencers more when they disclose their relationship with a brand. 

How To Drive Conversions With Affiliate Email Marketing

Nice fat affiliate checks depend on content that engages your audience and incentives that lead them to click through and convert.

Engaging Your Audience With Storytelling

Whether sharing a personal anecdote or crafting a narrative around a product or service, storytelling can differentiate your brand and build emotional connections with your audience. 

The human brain is hardwired to respond to stories. Mirror neurons equally light up when we witness an experience and when we recreate it for ourselves. You can essentially pre-convert your subscribers, providing them with a taste of an experience they’ll want to claim for themselves.

Storytelling also helps the conversion process by increasing perceived value and improving retention. We find it easier to remember trivia in a narrative context and attach greater weight to objects that have stories behind them.

Share Customer Success Stories

Build trust while deepening your relationship with subscribers. Real-life examples of how your affiliate products have helped others are incredibly persuasive. These stories provide social proof and allow your audience to envision how they could benefit equally.

Craft Stories Around Your Products

Weave a narrative around the products you're promoting. This could be a story about how the product solved a problem or improved someone's life. You can even return to popular stories in future publications, using them as a point of reference for sharing updates.

Instead of choosing a random example to illustrate a point, you could develop ongoing narratives around customer personas. For maximum effect, give these characters consistent foibles and relationships. The more human you make them, the better.

Tell Personal and Brand Stories

Let your audience get to know you, too. Tell personal anecdotes and brand origin stories. Share insights within the context of your average day or a memorable learning experience. 

Trial-and-error experiences can be extremely effective. Present your failures as well as your triumphs. By establishing success as a journey rather than an automatic state, you build credibility and create a more compelling narrative.

Switch It Up

Use a variety of formats and tell multiple complementary stories. Experiment with explainer videos, evocative images, and different points of view. By giving your audience more than one potential narrative or medium, you allow more people to connect with your content.

Incentivizing Clicks and Conversions

Once you’ve reeled in your audience, you need to convince them to take action. These strategies reward subscribers and increase the chances that they’ll convert.

Provide Exclusive Content or Giveaways

Offer up ebooks, behind-the-scenes access, raffled gift cards, videos, webinars, etc. Limited-time freebies are a great tactic for getting fence-sitters to commit.

Matt McGarry hasn’t just earned substantial commissions through beehiiv’s partner program. He’s the first winner of beehiiv’s quarterly contest for affiliates and the recipient of its prize: an all-expense-paid vacation. 

McGarry maximized his referrals with a giveaway bonus. When his subscribers signed up using his referral link, they gained valuable bonus content and a personal phone call in which they could discuss their newsletter strategy with McGarry.

Negotiate Special Discounts

Some brands will let affiliates offer their followers exclusive deals. Talk to them about the products you're promoting, and ask about the possibility of a one-time discount code. Not only does this incentivize your subscribers to purchase, but it also makes them feel valued.

Leverage Your Loyalty or Rewards Program

If your newsletter has a rewards program, you can direct it toward your email affiliate marketing. Perhaps, give readers points for every purchase made through your affiliate links, which can then be redeemed for exclusive content, special discounts, or other rewards. 

Start Making Money While You Sleep 

…eventually. 

There’s some work you’ll have to do upfront, but you’re ready to get started with affiliate email marketing. 

For your convenience, I’ve provided a checklist to help you remember the important things.

Affiliate Email Marketing Checklist

• Launch and start to grow your publication.

• Identify the right products or services to market. 

  • Are they beneficial to your target audience?

  • Are they relevant to your niche? 

• Choose the right affiliate marketing program.

  • Do you want to work with a brand directly or through an affiliate marketing network?

  • Is the program reputable? What do other affiliates say about the experience?

  • Does it offer enough value to compensate for the labor you’ll put into marketing?

  • Are there support services or available assets to make promotion easier?

• Start running affiliate marketing campaigns.

  • Should you send this content to your full list or only a segment?

  • Have you proofed and tested different versions of content?

  • What can you offer to incentivize conversions? 

    • Can you give something away? 

    • Have you investigated the possibility of special discounts? 

    • Do you have a rewards program you could integrate into the campaign?

• Create amazing content.

  • Does your content provide the reader with something they value?

  • Does your copy come off as overtly promotional or does it sound natural in context?

  • Have you disclosed your participation in an affiliate program?

  • Have you included a clear call to action?

  • Have you provided your readers with a story to engage them?

  • Is your email well-designed and optimized for all devices?

• Promote content on other channels.

  • Where else can you share this content to maximize its reach?

• Leverage analytics to tweak the campaign.

  • What do the numbers tell you? Where are people clicking in your email? 

  • Can you adjust this campaign or tailor the next one accordingly?

And one last question for all of you will-be email marketing affiliates:

• Have you investigated the incredibly lucrative beehiiv partner program?

Why Trust Us?

beehiiv is an expert at affiliate email marketing with ample experience on both sides of the relationship. As for me, I’m a digital marketer and content creator who frequently publishes on the latest trends and established best practices in the field.