Affiliate marketing email templates - Motivate Inactive Affiliates

The efficient and successful recruitment of promoters is only one element of starting a successful affiliate program. It’s a common misconception among affiliate program owners that most affiliates will become active on the very same day they join a program, generating sales right from the start and remaining active as long as the program runs for.

Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. Affiliate program managers must constantly monitor the way promoters work, their behavior, and the results they bring in order to respond promptly in case of a lack of activity and minimize its negative consequences.

Obviously, the same applies to new promoters – those responsible for the operations of an affiliate program should observe whether or not new joiners start taking action. Although a well-planned and properly executed onboarding process should be enough to ensure active participation in the program from the beginning, it’s not so straightforward when it comes to affiliates who become inactive after some initial period of constant and efficient work.

Before we move onto how to motivate inactive affiliates, let’s define the difference between them and active ones.

Difference between active and inactive affiliates

Inactive promoters are those who have stopped delivering any results for your program, i.e. they haven’t generated any impressions, clicks, or sales in a certain period of time. Conversely, active affiliates are those who are currently promoting your products or services effectively and engaging with their target audience. Sometimes active affiliates might not yield the expected results, but you may still be able to see that they are doing their best to spread the word about your offering.

Even though a lack of affiliate activity might keep you up at night, remember that having inactive affiliates is better than having none at all.

After all, inactive promoters have at least previously expressed an interest in promoting your products or services and joining your program. Perhaps they just need some additional support, guidance, or incentives to encourage them to continue participating in your program.

Affiliates can become inactive for several reasons:

• They don’t have the right tools to promote your offering.
• You don’t provide them with enough support, neither technical nor content-related.
• They don’t properly understand your brand, product, or service.
• Other merchants offered them more attractive incentives.

It’s difficult to know what causes affiliates to become inactive if you haven’t heard from them. That’s why it’s best to get in touch with affiliates who have stopped participating in your program and try to determine the reasons for their inactivity, map out what is happening, and from there look for solutions that will enable you to move forward and solve the issue.

To help you motivate inactive affiliates, we have created five email templates that you can use to reach out to them and remind them about your program and the opportunities that are waiting for them.

Email motivating inactive affiliates – subject line examples

• We haven’t seen you for a while…
• [product/service] is waiting for your promotion
• It’s been a month since we heard from you
• Make your first sale within [X] days to receive [Y]
• [affiliate program name] is waiting for you
• How can we help you start selling [product/service] again?
• Did we do something wrong…?

Motivating inactive affiliates – email template ideas

Motivating inactive affiliates – email 1

Hi [name]!

You joined [affiliate program name] [X] days ago and completed the onboarding process, but you haven’t generated any [clicks/impressions/sales] yet.

Is there anything we can do to help you start promoting [product/service]?

Let us know!

Best,
The [product/service name] Product Team

Motivating inactive affiliates – email 2

Hello [name],

You were one of our most active affiliates for the last [X] months, but we recently noticed that you have stopped actively participating in [affiliate program name].

We at the [affiliate program name] Team are wondering what the reason for that is?

We really care about all of our affiliates, which means we want you all to make considerable financial gains and be satisfied with our cooperation.

So if you would like to share any feedback with us, you can be sure that we will act upon it.

Waiting for your response,
The [affiliate program name] Team

Motivating inactive affiliates – email 3

Dear [name],

We’re reaching out because you haven’t logged in to our [affiliate dashboard name] for quite some time and you haven’t generated any sales in the last [X] days.

Would you mind telling us what is stopping you from promoting [products/services]?

Do you have all of the materials you need? Does the [affiliate dashboard name] work properly? Perhaps you have some issues with your workload?

Please be sure that we can help you with any of these or other issues, so if you need our support then please don’t wait any longer and contact us by answering this email.

We look forward to working alongside you again!

Cheers,
[email sender’s name and position]

Motivating inactive affiliates – email 4

Hey [name],

It’s been [X] days since you actively promoted [products/services].

We don’t know what made you stop participating in [affiliate program name], but we are sure the following offer will motivate you to do the right thing and become an active part of our family again.

Let’s get straight to the point.

We’re giving you [X amount of money] to spend on [travel/your products or services/Amazon/etc.] if you generate [Y sales/clicks/impressions] by [date].

Cheers,
The [affiliate program name] Team

Motivating inactive affiliates – email 5

Hey [name],

Do you remember us? It’s been a while since you generated your last [sales/click/impression] for [affiliate marketing program].

We are sure that something important has kept you busy and prevented you from promoting [products/services] recently.

At the same time, we believe that our program is one of the best on the market and that we can offer you something which will convince you to join us again.

What would you say to the following deal?

You will earn a [X]% bonus if you make your first sale within [Y] days from receiving this email.

All you have to do is login to the [affiliate dashboard name] again, download our branded materials, and start promoting [product/service] like you used to.

If, by any chance, there’s something else that is making it difficult for you to carry on participating in [affiliate program name] then please let us know and we will do everything possible to help you!

Best,
[sender’s name and position]