9 Steps to Build an Email List For Affiliate Marketing

Email marketing is an effective way to promote your affiliate marketing business. It helps you create a list of loyal customers you can reach out to again and again.

Research shows that email marketing can give you a return on investment (ROI) of $38 to $40 for every $1 you spend. That’s like having your very own gold mine where you put in $1 and get back $40.

Successful affiliate marketers use email marketing to boost their earnings. It’s not just about selling stuff; it’s about building strong connections with the people who visit your website.

Email campaigns let you build relationships and trust before you try to sell anything. This increases your chances of making more sales. But first, you need to build an email list for your affiliate marketing.

In this article, we’ll show you nine easy steps to do just that.

Why Should You Build an Email List For Affiliate Marketing?

Here’re some reasons why you should still spend time building an email list:

1. Your Valuable Asset: An email list is something you own, giving you control over communication with your audience. You can send newsletters, address issues, and build trust, which leads to more purchases.

2. Control Over Communication: Unlike social media, where platforms control communication rules and algorithms, with email, you have full control over how often and what you send to your list. Social media changes can greatly impact your marketing efforts, but email remains consistent.

3. Personalization: Personalized emails tailored to your audience’s interests and actions are crucial for successful affiliate marketing. This personal touch sets you apart from generic social media messages, making your communication more effective.

4. Privacy: Email is perceived as more private and trustworthy compared to social media, especially with ongoing privacy concerns. Building your email list directly from your website helps maintain trust and privacy, avoiding the issues associated with social media platforms.

How to Build an Affiliate Marketing Email List: 9 Steps

Now that you understand why every affiliate marketer should have an email marketing list, let’s explain how to create one.

Step 1: Choose the Right Email Service Provider

Selecting the right email service provider is essential for your affiliate email marketing campaign’s success. Here’s why it matters:

1. Capture and Manage Email Addresses: Your chosen provider should help you easily collect and organize email addresses.

2. Segment Your Subscribers: To send personalized messages, you should be able to group your subscribers based on their interests and actions.

3. Automate Your Email Campaigns: Automation simplifies your email marketing by sending messages at optimal times, triggered by specific subscriber actions.

When picking an email marketing tool, consider these factors:

• Automation Tools: Seek features like automated workflows and autoresponders to streamline your campaigns.

• List Segmentation: This feature lets you send tailored content to specific subscriber groups, perfect for affiliates with diverse products.

• Affiliate Marketing Experience: Check if the provider has experience with affiliate marketers, as they should offer features and support aligned with your unique needs.

For instance, GetResponse provides a user-friendly tool called “GetResponse Email Creator” for creating newsletters. With features like automated workflows and list segmentation, GetResponse automates your email marketing. This means you can send personalized emails based on subscriber behavior.

Imagine you’re running an affiliate site promoting both weight loss and bodybuilding products. GetResponse’s list segmentation feature helps you sort subscribers by their interests. So, if someone likes weight loss products, they join one group; if they prefer bodybuilding supplements, they join another. This segmentation allows you to send personalized emails promoting the right products to the right people. The result? Increased engagement and conversion rates in your affiliate marketing efforts.

Step 2: Create Captivating Landing Pages

Now, let’s talk about the next step in building your affiliate marketing email list: making eye-catching landing pages. These specialized pages can significantly boost your email sign-up rates.

A landing page is a standalone web page that visitors “land” on after clicking links from search results, social media, emails, ads, or other online sources.

Landing pages aim to convince visitors to take action, like clicking a button, filling out a form, or making a purchase.

Here’re some tips for an effective landing page:

1. Use Action-Oriented Language: Instead of just saying “newsletter,” use active words like “join.” This encourages people to sign up. Many successful affiliates, such as The Fearless Nomad group, use this approach on their email sign-up pages.

2. Keep It Simple and Focused: Your landing page should be neat and straightforward. It should prominently feature a clear Call to Action (CTA) and a sign-up form.

3. Highlight the Benefits: Explain to visitors why they should join your newsletter. Clearly communicate the value they’ll get from it.

4. Minimize Visual Distractions: Avoid too many visuals and distractions to keep visitors focused on the CTA.

Step 3: Boost Your List with Website Popups

The next step in growing your email list for affiliate marketing is to use website popups. These handy popups help you collect email addresses from your site visitors as they explore your pages.

Here’re some types of popups to consider:

1. Exit-Intent Popups: These appear just when a visitor is about to leave your site, offering a last chance to capture their email.

2. Timed Popups: These pop up after a specific amount of time has passed while a visitor is on your site.

3. Scroll-Based Popups: These trigger when a visitor shows interest in your content by scrolling down a certain percentage of the page.

We suggest starting with a popup that appears as soon as visitors land on your page, especially if your website is still building its reputation. It’s crucial to be proactive in gathering emails before users leave your site. As your site gains more authority in your niche, you can experiment with exit-intent popups and other popup styles.

The key is to try out different popup styles on your website to see which one works best for your audience. When used effectively, popups can be a powerful tool for affiliate marketers to collect emails and expand their lists.

Step 4: Offer an Irresistible Lead Magnet

A lead magnet can significantly boost your email sign-up rates. Studies by Statista have shown that 60% of small to medium-sized businesses find lead magnets to be an effective marketing strategy. People are more likely to share their email addresses when they believe they’ll get something valuable in exchange.

Almost any type of content can work, as long as it’s valuable and relevant to your niche and audience. It could be exclusive email content, a free ebook, a helpful checklist, or an engaging quiz.

Ryan Robinson, a successful affiliate marketer, generates half of his revenue by promoting affiliate products like website setup courses, business books, web hosting providers, and website builders. This highlights the power of lead magnets in affiliate marketing.

Here’s how to create an effective lead magnet:

1. Understand Your Audience: To create a compelling lead magnet, you need to know your audience’s needs and interests. Think about the content that would be most valuable to them.

2. Experiment: Try different types of lead magnets and place them in various spots on your website. Test popups, landing pages, or sticky sidebars to find what works best for your audience.

By crafting irresistible lead magnets that match your audience’s preferences, you can significantly grow your email list and boost your success in affiliate marketing.

Step 5: Boost Your Lead Magnet with Paid Ads

After creating your appealing lead magnet, it’s time to bring in more people to see it. The more visitors you attract to your magnet, the more email addresses you can gather, making your lead magnet even more effective. Paid advertising can be a valuable tool for this.

You have various platforms to choose from for paid promotion, including Google Ads, Facebook Ads, LinkedIn Ads, and others.

Once you’ve picked your advertising platform, create a focused ad campaign. Your ad should showcase the benefits of your lead magnet and persuade users to join your email list.

Consider using retargeting ads to reconnect with people who have previously visited your website or engaged with your brand in some way.

For example, NerdWallet, an affiliate website, runs a Facebook ad campaign to promote a quiz that helps users determine their eligibility for personal loans.

Establish a budget for your campaign and closely monitor its performance. Analytics tools can help you keep track of important metrics such as click-through rate, conversion rate, and cost per lead.

Step 6: Improve Your Signup Forms

A well-designed signup form can make a big difference in getting more people to join your email list. Here’s how to do it:

1. Simplicity is Key: Keep your forms organized and straightforward. Only ask for essential information – the user’s email address and first name. Requesting too much can overwhelm visitors and reduce signups.

2. Use Clear Language: Describe what subscribers will get in plain, easy-to-understand terms. Be upfront about the value they’ll receive.

3. Visibility Matters: Ensure your signup forms are easy to find on your website. Consider using popups or slide-ins to catch visitors’ attention and increase your signup rates.

Step 7: Create Valuable Content

To build trust and establish yourself as an expert in your niche, you need top-notch content that resonates with your audience. This content will also encourage visitors to subscribe to your email list. Here’s how to do it effectively:

1. Know Your Audience: When you create new content, think about what your website visitors would genuinely find helpful. This can come in various forms like educational blog posts, practical how-to guides, or engaging videos.

2. Clear and Compelling: Make sure your content is well-written, easy to understand, and captivating. Focus on addressing the needs and interests of your target audience to make your content truly valuable to them.

3. Stay Consistent: Keep up a regular schedule of producing great content. This consistency pays off by attracting more visitors to your website and increasing your chances of getting people to sign up for your email list.

By consistently delivering valuable content that speaks to your audience, you’ll position yourself as an authority in your niche. This will not only build trust but also boost the number of visitors who choose to join your email list, ultimately improving your success in affiliate marketing.

Step 8: Spread the Word on Social Media

Using social media to promote your newsletter is a great way to reach more people and get new subscribers. Here’s how to get started:

1. Pick the Right Platforms: Start by figuring out which social media platforms your target audience uses the most. This could be popular ones like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, or even specialized platforms like Reddit or Quora.

2. Create Engaging Content: Once you’ve identified your platforms, craft engaging content that suits each one. This could be posts, tweets, images, or videos designed to catch people’s attention.

3. Include a Clear Call to Action (CTA): Don’t forget to tell your audience what to do. Encourage them to subscribe to your newsletter and provide a direct link to your signup page or form. Make it super easy for people to join your email list.

Step 9: Create Email Funnels

To turn leads into loyal subscribers for your affiliate marketing email list, you’ll need to set up email funnels. These funnels act as a roadmap, guiding your leads through various stages to build trust and encourage action.

The first two stages are all about getting a lead to become a subscriber.

To make this process smoother, prepare specific email content for each stage of the funnel. Here are some simple email examples for these stages:

1. Welcome Email for the Awareness/Consideration Stage
2. Educational Email for the Desire Stage
3. Sales Email with a Limited-Time Offer Code to Encourage Purchases

By creating and using these funnels, you can take potential customers on a journey from when they first land on your website to when they become engaged email subscribers and enthusiastic customers for your affiliate products.

Final Words

An email list is a valuable asset that can increase your passive income. If you want to expand your list and form a strong connection with your audience, remember to follow the steps outlined in this post. It makes you easier promote your affiliate products and services.

Once you’ve completed these steps, you can move on to learn about how to write an effect affiliate email. Make sure your emails are mobile-friendly and sent at the best times. Also, make use of automated workflows to target your offers to the most relevant audience.

Always keep in mind that building trust with your audience is the cornerstone of a successful email list. This trust can lead to more clicks on your affiliate links and increased conversions for your business. 

If you need more guidance, sign up for my online business coaching.