Motivating 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

Motivating inactive affiliates – email 2

Motivating inactive affiliates – email 3

Motivating inactive affiliates – email 4

Motivating inactive affiliates – email 5