When Affiliate Marketers aren’t busy searching for the next hot product to promote or the next cool traffic source to target, they should be analyzing their choices for marketing channels: blog, display advertising, social networks, PPC ads, content… and so many more.
Not long ago, we told you about “The Surprising Channel That is Revolutionizing Affiliate Marketing” and how super affiliates are tracking considerable ROI gains by monetizing email marketing.
Today, we have some bad news: some affiliates are flat-out doing email marketing wrong.
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Email marketing mistakes and solutions
Below, we have highlighted mistakes we have monitored – please use them to make sure you do not repeat these emailing mistakes made by affiliate marketers:
1. Promotions are not value
Affiliate marketers email a lot of promotions. They offer discounts, specials, coupon codes, referral bonuses, holiday promotions, and every other trick in the book. However, they often mistake their promotions for actual value offered to their subscribers.
Instead of emailing your subscribers offer after offer and coupon after coupon, aim to provide them real value. Seek to understand the pains of the people you target and offer them solutions to their pains – free solutions, valuable ones – the kind that do not make you a dime!
Only by offering subscribers true value can Affiliate Marketers earn the trust of their subscribers. Once your targets view your messages as a welcome resolution for their pains and frustrations, they will anxiously open your messages and take you up on the promotional offers you do send sporadically.
By sending 80% valuable content and 20% promotional content, you can avoid making the mistake of thinking your promotions are the value.
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2. Working alone
Affiliate marketers sometimes talk about the grind of doing it all on their own. While the independence is hard to argue, the feeling that it is all riding on your shoulders may be a heavy burden to bear. This is actually a fallacy. One is not dependent on the other. You can maintain your independence and have an army working for you.
When you’re providing real value to your subscribers (see above), there is no sense in keeping it a secret. You will create fans, followers, and evangelists based on the quality of content you send them. Give your social media army the weapons they need – include social sharing icons so that they can easily tweet, like, and share your content (and offers) with their networks.
Some would call that a growth hack…we just call it common sense.
3. Blanketing subscribers
Some affiliate marketers gauge their success by the size of their subscriber list. The bigger their list, they assume, the more people they can send every message to. This is a huge mistake.
By blanketing everyone on their list with every message, these affiliate marketers are effectively suffocating their subscribers.
While a large list may be commendable, a properly segmented list may be worth its weight in gold. Segments to consider include profile information, behavioral data, preferences, and more.
Then, send content and offers that are relevant for each segment. This will increase CTR, decrease unsub rate, and improve sales.
4. Knowing it all
Even the super-est of all superaffiliates does not know it all. Don’t make assumptions about your emails. Think you have a winning formula for subject lines? Already tested the best color schemes for your messages? Certain of the right time to send your messages?
Think again.
Test again.
What may have worked for one segment/product/message does not necessarily work for them all. Take every opportunity you have to carefully test elements of your email marketing strategy. Every message is an opportunity to learn, fine-tune, and optimize your message and your results.
Never stop testing.
These four mistakes are often (understandably) made by newbie affiliates, but we are also seeing the most experienced performance marketers forgetting these important points. Whether you are new to affiliate marketing or want to renew your email strategy, consider these four costly mistakes and take precautions to avoid them!
Want more email marketing tips for affiliates? Read this post.
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