Affiliate Disclosure: Some of the links on this blog are affiliate links. If you click on such an affiliate product link and make a purchase, I’ll earn a commission at no additional cost to you. These affiliate commissions help me to keep running this blog.
Table of Contents
Email marketing vs Affiliate marketing
What is Email Marketing?
Email marketing is a way of communication via email. Earlier email uses for fulfilling professional needs. Later, as people get familiar with it they started using it for personal.
But nowadays it is a part of life. According to “review42.com“, across the world 5.59 billion, active email accounts are there.
Email marketing is one of the most effective marketing channels nowadays. It is used for promoting businesses, Branding, Surveys, taking Feedback, and for transactional emails like security alerts, order confirmation, password reset, etc.
It is the process of sending promotional messages or newsletters to a list of subscribers who have opted-in to receive communications from your business. This can include special offers, discounts, new product announcements, and other information that your subscribers may find useful or interesting.
The goal of email marketing is to build a relationship with your subscribers, keep them engaged with your brand, and ultimately drive sales. To be successful with email marketing, you need to create compelling content, segment your email lists based on customer behaviour and preferences, and use personalization to make your messages more relevant.
Email marketing is also highly measurable, which allows you to track open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates. By analyzing this data, you can make informed decisions about your email marketing strategy and make adjustments to optimize your campaigns for maximum impact.
Whereas Affiliates use email marketing or social media platforms for promoting products. Learn in detail about affiliate marketing below.
Learn Email Marketing: A Step-By-Step Guide
What is Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate marketing is a kind of marketing where an affiliate(a person) recommends other’s products to their audience. When anybody purchases the affiliate’s recommended product then the respective affiliate person earns a part of the commission as per the agreed terms & commission percentage.
Affiliate marketing is a performance-based marketing strategy where you partner with other businesses or individuals to promote your products or services. Affiliates earn a commission for every sale or conversion they generate through their unique affiliate link.
Affiliate marketing allows you to reach a wider audience and leverage the influence of others to promote your brand. Affiliates can include bloggers, influencers, social media marketers, and other businesses that have a relevant audience.
To be successful with affiliate marketing, you need to identify the right affiliates to partner with, provide them with high-quality marketing materials and support, and track their performance to ensure they are meeting your goals. You also need to establish clear terms and conditions for your affiliates to ensure they are promoting your brand ethically and in compliance with any applicable laws or regulations.
In simple terms, When somebody promotes third-party products and makes sales then, both the Product owner and the affiliate shares a profit between them.
For example – If I enrol for an amazon affiliate program and promote amazon products and someone purchases the product by clicking on my link then whatever the commission decided for the respective product I received that percentage of commission. Amazon’s commission percentage varies as the categories change.
Types of Affiliate Commissions
Every product has different affiliate policies, it varies based on many factors such as their policies, Commission percentage, and the type of commission you may earn for example- One time, lifetime or on signup etc.
Affiliates may earn commission in any of the patterns –
- One time.
- For a limited time period.
- For a lifetime.
Also, affiliates can earn as per the policies mentioned for the respective product. It can be anything –
- For Collecting leads by signing up – When anyone signup for the recommended product or services then affiliates earn a commission.
- Converting leads to paid customers – When only signup is not enough, the lead should become a paid customer in order to receive a commission.
- For both signup and conversion – Some companies pay for both things signing up and converting the lead.
- Or For clicking on an affiliate link – Some products pay commission without signup or paid customer instead when anybody clicks on the affiliate links one can earn a commission percentage.
- On selling products – After a successful purchase via an affiliate link you will receive a commission.
So, before joining any affiliate program read carefully all the terms & conditions and the type of affiliate commission.
Affiliate Marketing vs Email Marketing – How to start with both
How to start with email marketing?
For getting started with email marketing you need leads. Genuine users who want emails from you. Don’t purchase an email list from anywhere. If you have a blogging website or any other social media platform from there start email list building. Only genuine and interested subscribers can only be real customers.
How do generate valuable leads?
This is not easy, before getting valuable leads you have to add some value to their life. Nowadays people are giving giveaways, and attractive offers so subscribers attract and get added to their email list. You can give any kind of offer such as ebooks, special discounts, free subscriptions, etc.
How do I manage leads and start sending emails?
There are many email marketing tools available in the market that offer sign-up and pop-up forms. This is so easy to add forms to our website or share those forms manually. These forms are designed for all sizes of devices. If you want to add their forms to your website you need to copy their code and paste it into your website.
So, When users submit the form via your website or by your sharing link directly that lead came into the email marketing tool. From there you can manage your email list.
Email marketing software provides many rich features using which you can grow your business and promote your branding.
You can create stunning email templates or customize templates using an easy drag-and-drop builder. They also provide professional pre-built templates you can use those templates as well.
A few popular email marketing tools are Getresponse, Moosend, Mailchimp, etc. Here you can check the list of best email marketing tools.
How to start with affiliate marketing?
To start with affiliate marketing first you need to join any affiliate network or Any product or software individually.
Signup for the affiliate program as per your interest. Now few companies have some criteria for approving you as an affiliate. and, a few are just required to signup which allows you to start promoting their products among your audience.
Before joining any affiliate program carefully read all their rules and policies. Once you agreed with their policies and commission percentage then go ahead.
Company or product of your interest find out and then check whether they provide affiliate programs or not. You can check this in the footer section or in the header menu. Generally, this is mentioned in the footer section as “Become an Affiliate” or “Become a partner”. When you see this option then click on this and go through their terms & conditions and commission policies and follow the steps accordingly.
Below is the example of Amazon, you can see in the footer it has mentioned an affiliate program-
Best email marketing tools – Email Marketing vs Affiliate Marketing
There are tons of tools available in the market to grow your business. But to find the best pick among them is quite difficult and time-consuming. I have picked up the list of best email tools and mentioned their features and ratings received from the top-rated websites provided by real users who are already using email marketing software. Also, a forever free plan was also given by many popular email tools check out the list of free email marketing tools here.
Popular affiliate networks to Join – Email Marketing vs Affiliate Marketing
Clickbank, Amazon affiliate partner program, and eBay partner are popular affiliate networks. Still, there is a lot of affiliate network you can go through. For example, joining individual affiliate programs like jotform, and Mailchimp (Email affiliate marketing programs) gives you a commission once users are converted into paid customers they pay you till the user is an active customer. The following are just examples you can find out the niche of your interest and recommend to audiences accordingly. For selling physical products join the eCommerce affiliate network. Like Amazon, eBay, Shopify etc.
It’s totally up to you what niche you want to pick and make your audience encourage to buy a product going through your link.
Platform to promote affiliate products
Wherever you have a huge network start promoting there. Using email marketing or social media Platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Quora etc is the best way to promote products. Users can easily engage with you. Before starting to promote affiliate products make sure you have read the terms & conditions of the respective platform so your account won’t get banned in future. Spoiling the platform’s policies can end up with suspending your account.
Email Marketing vs Affiliate Marketing – Quick Overview
| Email Marketing | Affiliate Marketing |
|---|---|
| It is a channel used for communicating and marketing via email. | One can promote third-party products to earn a commission. |
| Email marketing is for brand awareness, promoting products, infographics, newsletters, sending transactional emails etc. | The motive of affiliate marketing is for making sales and reach the audience at every corner |
| For email marketing, users must opt-in to the email list. | For affiliate marketing email address is not mandatory, Promoting products can be done on any social network like Facebook, Instagram, Quora, etc and also on the website. |
| To start email marketing one must have an email list to whom they send email campaigns. | To start affiliate marketing need to signup with an affiliate partner and have your own network to start promoting. |
| Best Email marketing tools – Getresponse, Moosend, Mailchimp etc. | Popular Affiliate partners – Clickbank, Jvzoo, Amazon affiliate program, etc. |
Combining Email Marketing and Affiliate Marketing:
Email marketing and affiliate marketing can be a powerful combination, as they allow you to leverage the strengths of each strategy to drive more sales and revenue. By promoting your affiliate program through your email marketing campaigns, you can reach a wider audience and encourage your subscribers to become affiliates themselves.
You can also use email marketing to communicate with your affiliates and provide them with updates on new products, promotions, and other marketing materials they can use to promote your brand. By keeping your affiliates informed and engaged, you can build a strong relationship with them and ensure they are motivated to continue promoting your brand.
In addition, you can use email marketing to segment your audience and target specific groups with affiliate offers that are relevant to their interests and behaviour. By personalizing your affiliate offers based on customer data, you can increase the likelihood of conversions and drive more revenue for your business.
Differences and Similarities between Email Marketing and Affiliate Marketing
Similarities between email marketing and affiliate marketing
Email marketing and affiliate marketing are two different marketing strategies with their own unique characteristics, but there are also some similarities between the two. Here are some common similarities between email marketing and affiliate marketing:
Relationship Building: Both email marketing and affiliate marketing require relationship building with your audience. With email marketing, you need to build a relationship with your subscribers by providing them with relevant and valuable content. With affiliate marketing, you need to build a relationship with your affiliates to ensure they are motivated to promote your products or services.
Segmentation: Both email marketing and affiliate marketing involve the segmentation of your target audience. With email marketing, you segment your subscribers based on their interests, behaviour, and preferences. With affiliate marketing, you segment your affiliates based on their audience, niche, and promotional methods.
Measurable Results: Both email marketing and affiliate marketing offer measurable results that can be tracked and analyzed. With email marketing, you can track open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates. With affiliate marketing, you can track sales, leads, and other performance metrics.
Personalization: Both email marketing and affiliate marketing involve personalization to make your message more relevant and appealing to your audience. With email marketing, you can personalize your message with the recipient’s name, location, and other demographic data. With affiliate marketing, you can personalize your message based on the affiliate’s audience and interests.
Cost-Effective: Both email marketing and affiliate marketing are cost-effective marketing strategies compared to traditional advertising. With email marketing, you can reach a large audience with a single message without incurring additional costs. With affiliate marketing, you only pay for performance, meaning you only pay when an affiliate generates a sale or conversion.
Overall, while there are differences between email marketing and affiliate marketing, they share many similarities. Both require relationship building, segmentation, and personalization, and offer measurable results, making them effective marketing strategies for businesses looking to reach a wider audience and drive sales.
Difference between email marketing and affiliate marketing
Email marketing and affiliate marketing are two different marketing strategies that businesses can use to promote their products or services. Here are some key differences between email marketing and affiliate marketing:
Audience: The audience for email marketing is typically a business’s own subscribers who have opted-in to receive communications from them. With affiliate marketing, the audience is typically the affiliates’ own audience or followers.
Purpose: The purpose of email marketing is to build a relationship with subscribers and keep them engaged with a business’s brand, ultimately driving sales. The purpose of affiliate marketing is to leverage the reach and influence of affiliates to promote a business’s products or services and generate sales or leads.
Control: A business has full control over its email marketing campaigns, including the message, timing, and segmentation. With affiliate marketing, a business relies on affiliates to promote its products or services and does not have control over the affiliate’s messaging or promotional methods.
Cost: Email marketing is typically a fixed cost for a business, meaning the cost is incurred regardless of the number of sales or conversions generated. Affiliate marketing is a variable cost, as the business pays the affiliates a commission only for the sales or conversions they generate.
Stats: Email marketing is highly measurable, allowing businesses to track open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates. With affiliate marketing, businesses can track sales, leads, and other performance metrics, but may not have access to as much data on the affiliates’ promotional methods or audience.
Overall, while both email marketing and affiliate marketing can be effective marketing strategies, they have different purposes, audiences, control, costs, and metrics. Businesses should consider their goals and target audience when choosing which strategy to implement.
Conclusion
Email marketing and affiliate marketing are both powerful marketing strategies that can help you grow your business and increase revenue. By combining these strategies, you can leverage the strengths of each to reach a wider audience, build stronger relationships with your customers and affiliates, and ultimately drive more sales and revenue for your business. With careful planning and execution, email marketing and affiliate marketing can be a winning combination for any business looking to expand its marketing efforts.
Affiliate Disclosure: Some of the links on this blog are affiliate links. If you click on such an affiliate product link and make a purchase, I’ll earn a commission at no additional cost to you. These affiliate commissions help me to keep running this blog.
You may also like
Marketing emails vs Transactional emails
10 Best transactional email tools
Popular and best free email marketing tools