When 200 Clicks Are Better Than 500 Clicks

I recently sent an email to my list about a fantastic piece of video software that I personally use and recommend.

The link I shared was my JVZoo affiliate link for the product. Whenever I hit "send" on an email like that, I then try not to look at any analytics for several hours, just to keep myself from obsessing over results.

At the end of the first day, I'd received 500 click-throughs to the link and made 17 sales, earning $544.50 in commissions. Not bad.

At the end of day two, something peculiar happened. I received ony 200 click-throughs but made 19 sales and earned $561.50, slightly more than the day before.

If you're not familiar with how email marketing works, you need to know that isn't all profit. Marketers spend plenty of time and money on traffic and leads to build their lists, so I'm not headed out to the beach with this money. I'll give some, save some, cover my expenses, and pay taxes on the net profit. That's why we call these "raw commissions."

Still, it was a successful campaign and I got to provide something of value to my subscribers.

But what about the strange numbers? Why did 200 clicks earn me slightly more in commissions than 500 clicks from the day before?

It's the time factor.

See, I only sent one big email about the product. On day two, I mentioned it as an afterthought - an "in case you missed it" footnote - but it only got an exclusive blast one time.

But people open emails multiple times. A person gets the email I send and might open it immediately, but then leaves it sitting in their inbox. The next day, they open it again, click through and make a purchase.

This is important to remember in the affiliate marketing business. It takes multiple exposures to an offer before most people will make a purchase. So it's never just send and email and make a bunch of money.

Instead, it's serve your audience. Add value. Build a relationship. Establish trust. Repeatedly be helpful. And after trust is established and subscribers have had time to see that you're truly being helpful, they'll make purchases.

Keep at it. Keep on serving people.

"You'll have everything you ever want if you just help enough other people get what they want." - Zig Ziglar