Most affiliate recruiting emails get ignored. Not because the program is bad, not because the commission is low. Because the email leads with the wrong thing. I’ve sent recruiting emails to thousands of potential affiliates. I’ve also been on the receiving end of hundreds of them as someone with an audience. And I can tell you: the difference between an email that gets a “yes” and one that gets deleted in four seconds is almost always the same thing. The ones that bomb are all about the sender. The ones that work are about the recipient. Here’s how to write an affiliate recruiting email that actually gets replies, step by step.
Why most affiliate recruiting emails fail
Think about the last unsolicited email you got asking for something. Probably started with “I’ve been following your work for a while” or “I have an amazing opportunity for you.” Maybe it was two paragraphs long before it got to the actual ask.
You skimmed it, didn’t you? Or deleted it without reading past the first line.
That’s what happens to most affiliate recruiting emails. The person on the other end gets dozens of these. They’re busy. They’ve heard every opener. And if your email feels like a template blast, it gets treated like one.
The three biggest mistakes I see consistently:
- Leading with “I.” The first word of your email should almost never be “I.” Starting with yourself signals immediately that this is about you, not them.
- Burying the offer. Some people write three paragraphs of setup before explaining what they’re actually asking. Don’t make someone hunt for the point.
- No specific connection. Generic emails read as generic. If you could send the same email to 500 people without changing a word, it’s not going to convert well.
You can fix all three of these. Let me show you how.
If you want to go deeper on what NOT to do first, read 5 Affiliate Recruiting Mistakes That Are Costing You BIG Time. It covers several pitfalls that quietly tank recruiting efforts even when the rest of the program is solid.
The structure of a recruiting email that works
A good affiliate recruiting email has five parts. None of them are long. Here’s the structure:
1. A subject line that doesn’t oversell
Curiosity beats hype every time. “Quick question” and “Partnership idea for ” outperform “AMAZING opportunity you don’t want to miss.” Keep it short. Keep it honest. Don’t write subject lines you’d roll your eyes at yourself.
2. An opener that’s about them
One sentence, specific. Reference something real about their work. Their podcast. A post they wrote. The product they sell. Not “I love your content” (too vague), but “I listened to your episode on building an email list from scratch last month” or “I’ve been using your course with my team.” Specific beats general every single time.
3. One clear, relevant reason why this fits them
This is the “why you” sentence. Tell them why their audience is a good match for what you’re offering. Not a feature list of your program. Just one sentence connecting their audience to your product. If you can’t write that sentence, that person might not be the right affiliate anyway.
4. The actual ask
Ask to have a conversation, not to sign up on the spot. “Would you be open to a quick call to see if this could be a good fit?” is way less intimidating than “Here’s the link to join our affiliate program.” You’re starting a relationship, not closing a sale on the first contact.
5. A clean close with your contact info
Keep it simple. Name, title if relevant, and one way to reach you besides email. No five-sentence signatures with seventeen icons.
Here’s what this looks like all together. This is a close version of the email I’ve used to recruit affiliates across multiple industries, and the affiliates recruited using this approach have generated over $1 billion in sales for me and my clients:
Subject: Quick question for you
Hey ,
I just ] and had a thought.
I run an affiliate program for , and your audience of seems like a really natural fit. Our affiliates typically earn per sale, and .
Would you be open to a quick 15-minute call to see if this makes sense?
That’s it. Short, specific, and about them. If you want the exact version of this email that I’ve refined over years of real recruiting work, you can download my #1 affiliate recruiting email here. It’s free and it’s the same template I use with clients today.
The subject line is half the battle
If your email doesn’t get opened, none of the rest of it matters. Here’s what actually works for subject lines in affiliate recruiting:
Short wins. Three to five words almost always outperforms eight to twelve. “Quick question” has been one of the most effective subject lines in my own outreach, and it literally has nothing in it except intrigue.
Personalization beats polish. “, quick question about ” outperforms anything that sounds like a broadcast. People open emails that feel like they were written for them specifically.
Don’t oversell the opportunity. The moment a subject line sounds like an ad, it gets treated like one. Avoid “AMAZING affiliate opportunity” or “Make money with us” as openers. Those trigger the same mental filter as a spam folder.
A few subject lines that have worked well for me over the years:
- “Quick question”
- “Potential partnership?”
- “, thought of you”
- “, had an idea”
- “Promotion idea for your audience”
None of these are flashy. That’s the point. They feel like something a real person sent.
How long should your affiliate recruiting email be
Shorter than you think.
The goal of the recruiting email is NOT to close them on the spot. The goal is to get a reply. A response. Enough interest to have a real conversation. Everything else belongs on your affiliate sales page or in the call.
The best affiliate recruiting emails I’ve written and seen are three to five short paragraphs. Some of the best are four sentences. If you’re writing more than 200 words, you’re probably trying to answer objections before they’ve even had a chance to have them. That reads as desperate.
Here’s a useful test: read your email out loud. If you find yourself rushing through it or getting bored, it’s too long. If you can read it in 30 seconds and feel like you got the point, you’re in good shape.
If a potential affiliate needs more detail before they’ll respond, they can ask. That’s a good sign. It means they’re interested enough to engage.
Personalizing at scale: the real secret to higher reply rates
I know what you’re thinking: “I don’t have time to research every single person before I email them.”
You’re right. And I’m not saying do a 45-minute deep dive on everyone. But five minutes of real research per prospect changes everything.
Here’s how I do it efficiently. Before I send a recruiting email to anyone, I spend about five minutes answering three questions:
- What does this person sell or create?
- Who is their audience, and does that audience have a real reason to want what I’m offering?
- Is there one specific thing I can reference that shows I actually know who they are?
That third one is the key. It could be a podcast episode title. A book they wrote. A product they sell. A post that got a lot of engagement. Something specific. This one detail, dropped into your opener, signals immediately that you’re not just blasting a list. It changes how the email feels from the first sentence.
You don’t need to write a different email for every person. You need a solid template and three to five minutes of research to customize the opener and the “why you” sentence. That’s enough to get your reply rates up significantly.
If you’re still figuring out who to target in the first place, start with What Are The Best Places to Find Affiliates? so you’re building the right list before you start outreach.
What to do when they don’t reply
No reply doesn’t mean no. It usually means busy.
Most of the best affiliate relationships I’ve built came from a follow-up, not the first email. The key is doing it right. One follow-up, sent three to five days after the original, is almost always appropriate. Keep it even shorter than the first email. Reference your earlier message and make it easy to say yes.
Something like this works:
Hey , just wanted to bump this up in case it got buried. Would love to connect if you think there might be a fit. Happy to send more details or hop on a quick call whenever works for you.
That’s it. No guilt trip. No “I emailed you last week and haven’t heard back.” Just a short, friendly nudge that makes it easy for them to engage.
If you still don’t hear back after two attempts, move on. Not every prospect is the right fit, and not every person checks email regularly. The best programs have a steady pipeline of new prospects coming in so that no single non-reply feels like a loss.
For a deeper look at who you should be reaching out to and why, 3 Keys to Recruiting Affiliates You Don’t Know is worth reading before you build your outreach list.
When you get a “yes”
When someone responds with interest, the ball is back in your court. Move fast. A warm lead gets cold quickly, and the affiliate who says “sounds interesting” today will forget about you by next week if you sit on it.
Reply the same day. Send them the details they need: commission structure, the audience fit, any key dates if there’s a launch involved, and a link to your affiliate page where they can get the full picture. Then ask for the next step, whether that’s a call or just getting them signed up.
One thing I’ve learned from years of recruiting: I create their affiliate link in advance. Before they even apply. When someone expresses interest, I send them a personalized link already set up. That one move increases the number of people who actually become active affiliates by 21%. It removes friction. They don’t have to go find the signup page, fill out a form, wait for approval, and then figure out their link. It’s already there waiting for them.
The fastest way to turn interested affiliates into active ones is to make the path as easy as possible from the moment they say yes. If you want to see what an elite affiliate training experience looks like, check out the Sample Affiliate Training to see exactly how we bring new affiliates up to speed and get them promoting quickly.
Put your recruiting email system to work
One good email sent once isn’t a recruiting strategy. A system is.
The programs that consistently grow are the ones where someone is doing outreach every single week. Not just during launches. Not just when things are slow. Every week. New prospects going into the top of the funnel, emails going out, follow-ups happening on schedule, and new affiliates getting onboarded when they say yes.
Matt spends 15 to 20 minutes a week in the first year of a new program on recruiting outreach. That’s it. The key is doing it every week without skipping, not spending hours on it occasionally.
If you want a full framework for getting your first affiliates signed up and promoting, start with How to Find Affiliates: The Ultimate Guide. It covers exactly where to look, how to prioritize, and how to build a pipeline that keeps growing over time.
And if you want to skip the learning curve entirely and just get the template that has generated over $1 billion in affiliate sales, grab the #1 affiliate recruiting email here for free.
For the complete playbook on building a program from zero to seven figures, including everything that goes beyond just the email, The Book on Affiliate Management walks through every phase of the process. It’s the same system used with Tony Robbins, Michael Hyatt, Stu McLaren, and hundreds of other programs.
The email is the starting point. Get that right, and everything else gets easier.
