My sister has an amazing sense of style and with almost no effort can toss a few pieces together, add an accessory and wind up looking straight off the pages of a fashion magazine. I’ve been out with her when she is really dressed to the nines and overheard people trying to figure out “who” she is; what television show she’s on or what movie she’s acted in.  My sister knows how to express herself to get positive results.

Since we are pretty close to the same size there is a great temptation to borrow outfits from her in an attempt of getting the same or at least a similar result, but guess what? Her clothes don’t work for me the way they work for her. Same clothes, similar bodies but vastly different results.

Why? Because my sister’s clothes are not me. They don’t match my unique style, my personal energy or the way I move and express myself. Instead of fabulous and amazing, I look unnatural, contrived and phony.  I look like I’m trying too hard.  I look like I’m wearing my sister’s clothes!

The moral of the story:  authenticity of expression (think marketing) is the key to positive results (think conversions), every time!

What does this have to do with affiliate marketing? A lot actually. Consider that one of the most common ways an affiliate promotes a product or service is by sending an email to their list. Perhaps you have sent one of these pre-written emails, and I’m pretty sure that you’ve received them.  This morning in fact I got one that was a real stand out and the inspiration for this article. The email stood out because I know the sender personally, and I also know the company behind the product.  Both parties are solid citizens with the best interests of their customers at heart, but the combination was off – way off!

The email was written in a strongly masculine voice and the sender was a woman.  To make matters worse, the email was written in first person so there was immediate loss of authenticity and with it credibility – kind of like the results I might get if I wore my brother’s clothes to a meeting!   The effect was so awkward that not only did I not click through to learn more about the offer, but if I hadn’t known the sender, I might have left her list for good.

This lose/lose scenario could have been easily avoided had the sender spent just a few minutes softening the language to better match her authentic personality.

Another case of an affiliate email disaster showed up in my in box several months ago and in this case, I did get off the person’s list.  Like the first example, I knew the sender and I knew the company behind the launch and it’s products have a good reputation.  While the first email was simply a problem of a mismatch of voice, in this case sending the email as written resulted in a full blown lie on the part of the sender!  Do not let this happen to you!  If there is anything in an email that is not true for you then by all means, take it out!

So before you hit “send” on any affiliate email, pause.  Take an extra moment to match the style of the communication to your authentic self.  Change or eliminate anything that is not true for you, and for best results accessorize the email with a “P.S.” that includes something you know or have experienced personally about the product or the person behind it.   If you are serious about being an effective and successful affiliate, taking the time to dress your email for success is a something you will want to be sure to do.

Mary Kay Morgan is founder of AffiliateWealthPartners.com the only affiliate and joint venture resource exclusively serving the needs of the conscious business community.  Sign up now for our FREE membership into our Affiliate Community and gain access to our library of affiliate tutorials and to our approved list of high integrity, proven affiliate opportunities.

Tags: affiliate emails, affiliate marketing success, authentic communication, email copy, honest

This entry was posted on Monday, November 16th, 2009 at 9:16 pm and is filed under affiliate marketing success. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.