Affiliate Onboarding: Everything to Send a New Affiliate in Week One

Your new affiliate does not need more photos.

They need something to say about your product, and they need it this week, because among affiliates who ever make a sale, nearly half make that first sale within seven days.

That's why I decided to create this page to hand the material over rather than describing it.

What's on this page:

• Three emails you can send as written
• Twenty content angles
• A one-page brief template
• Platform hooks, with the reason each one works
• An asset checklist
• A rules block short enough that someone reads it
• The day-by-day list of what you do while the sequence runs

If your affiliates have already gone quiet, start with why your affiliate program is not working to find out whether the problem is silence or broken tracking, then come back here.

The importance of good onboarding

Recruiting decides how many affiliates you have, and onboarding decides how many of them ever sell anything.

Both matter, and they are not interchangeable, but almost every program spends its effort on the first and improvises the second.

Across 1,178 Shopify affiliate programs in our data, 61.3% have never generated a single referred sale.

Part of that is programs with nobody in them, and recruiting is the fix for those.

The rest is programs full of people who signed up and then did nothing, and that is the failure this page is about.

Two things make onboarding the better place to spend an hour.

• It is the only part of the funnel you build once: an hour of recruiting buys you one affiliate, while a sequence you write this week runs on affiliate one and on affiliate two hundred without any further work from you.
• Your best affiliate is already somewhere in the batch: in programs with at least two selling affiliates, the top one takes a median 54.5% of referred orders, and nothing in an application tells you which of your recruits that will be, so a weak first week is how you lose them without ever learning you had them.

Why onboarding has to happen in week one

Among affiliates who ever make a sale, 46.5% make their first sale within seven days.

That figure needs its companion in the same breath to mean anything: only around 16% of affiliates ever make a sale at all, across 8,687 affiliates in Shopify programs in our data.

So the chart below is not the odds of an affiliate succeeding, it is the timing of the ones who do.

When affiliates who ever sell make their first sale

Time from joining	Share of eventual sellers
Within 1 day	28.9%
Within 7 days	46.5%
Within 30 days	69.8%
Within 90 days	89.8%

• Everything useful has to arrive immediately: a welcome email that goes out when you get round to it has missed the window that mattered.
• Three emails, not eight: a drip sequence that delivers its best material on day twelve delivers it after the decision has already been made.
• Week one is triage, not nurture: your job is to find out quickly who will move, which is why section 7 runs in parallel with the sequence rather than after it.

Assets versus content ideas

There are two completely different things people mean by "affiliate content", and merchants reliably supply one and not the other.

• Content you make and hand over: product photos, b-roll, the founder story, product facts, approved claims. The affiliate reuses your material. This is the asset folder in section 5, and almost every merchant does supply it.
• Content ideas the affiliate executes themselves: angles, hooks, formats, the specific thing to say. You supply the brief, they supply the work. This is sections 2, 3 and 4, and almost nobody supplies it.

Nobody quits a program because the photography was thin.

They quit because they cannot think of a twelfth way to mention the same product without repeating themselves, and the moment they run out is the moment the posts stop.

Build the second thing properly and the first thing gets used.

1. The three onboarding emails

Send these on day 0, day 2 and day 5.

Replace anything in square brackets.

Email 1, day 0, sent within minutes of approval

Subject: You're in. Here's everything you need.

Hi [name],

You're approved. Here is everything in one place so you're not waiting on me for anything.

Your link: [link]

Your code: [code] gives your audience [X]% off, and it's yours alone, so anything bought with it is credited to you.

You earn: [X]% of each order, paid [schedule], once your balance passes [threshold].

The three products that sell best through affiliates right now: [product 1], [product 2], [product 3]. If you're deciding what to feature first, start with [product 1], it converts best for people who are new to us.

Photos, video clips and product facts: [folder link]

Where you can post: anywhere you publish your own content. The only things we ask you not to do are in the three lines at the bottom of this email.

On Thursday I'll send you a list of angles you can use so you're never stuck for what to say about us. If you'd rather just get going now, [product 1] and the photos in the folder are enough to start.

Any question at all, reply to this. I read them.

[Your name]

What this email does: it removes every reason to delay, because the link, the code, the rate, the best products and the assets all arrive in one message, so there is no second step before they can post.

What to change: the three products. Name real ones, and say which converts best for a cold audience, because that is the decision the affiliate is stuck on.

Email 2, day 2

Subject: Twenty things you could post about us

Hi [name],

Most people get stuck not on how to post but on what to say, so here are twenty angles you can use. You don't need our permission for any of them and you don't need to use our wording.

[Paste ten to twenty of the angles from section 2 here, the ones that fit your product.]

The three that work best for us are [angle], [angle] and [angle].

If you'd like me to put together a short brief for any one of them, with the facts and the photos attached, just reply with the number and I'll send it the same day.

[Your name]

What this email does: it solves the actual blocker by handing over ideas rather than assets, and it offers to do the preparation work, which is a far smaller ask than "let me know if you need anything".

What to change: cut the list to the angles that suit your product, and name your best three, because twenty options with no recommendation is its own kind of paralysis.

Email 3, day 5

Subject: One specific ask

Hi [name],

I'll keep this short. Would you post one thing about [product 1] this week?

If it helps, angle [number] is the one I'd pick for your audience, and I've attached the photos and the three facts you'd need for it.

If this week is bad, tell me and I'll ask again later. And if you've decided we're not the right fit, that's completely fine, just say so and I'll stop emailing.

[Your name]

What this email does: it converts intent into a dated action, because one product, one angle and one week produces either a post or an honest no, and both of those are useful to you.

What to change: nothing structural. The permission to say no is what makes the ask work, so do not remove it.

2. Twenty content angles to send affiliates

These are angles, not formats.

An unboxing is a format, and every affiliate already knows how to do one, so what they run out of is a reason to bring your product up again.

If I had to choose three for a new program, I would send numbers 1, 4 and 8, because they are the ones that work without the affiliate having owned the product for months.

1. The three questions people ask before buying this: the exact content someone searches for at the moment of purchase, and the affiliate already knows the questions from their own comments.
2. What I got wrong about it in the first month: a mistake makes a recommendation credible in a way that praise cannot.
3. The thing it replaced, and what happened to the old one: this places the product inside a decision the audience has already made, rather than as a new thing to consider.
4. Who this is not for: the highest-trust angle available, and the one merchants are most nervous about. Tell your affiliates outright that they are allowed to use it, because it converts the people it does suit.
5. The cheaper option I tried first, and why I stopped: this lets the affiliate handle the price objection without you ever having to raise it.
6. What it works out to per use: this turns a price into a rate, which is the reframe that unlocks considered purchases.
7. The feature I ignored at first and now use every day: surfaces the thing your product page underplays, which is usually the thing that drives repeat purchase.
8. My honest complaint about it: one real criticism buys credibility for everything else in the post. Say in advance that you are fine with this, because affiliates assume they are not allowed.
9. What I wish I had known before ordering: sizing, spec, timing, compatibility. It prevents returns as a side effect.
10. The mistake people make when they order: adjacent to nine, but framed as a service to the audience rather than a regret.
11. A day where this shows up three times: it demonstrates frequency of use without a claim, and it is easy to film.
12. Answering the comment I keep getting: the affiliate already has the material, and the question itself is proof of demand.
13. Why I paid more for the bigger one: this justifies the upsell in the audience's own language.
14. What my [partner, flatmate, colleague] said about it: a second, sceptical voice persuades more than a second enthusiastic one.
15. The moment it paid for itself: a specific dated moment, not a calculation.
16. How I use it differently from the instructions: this signals real ownership better than almost anything else.
17. Two of your products compared, and who each suits: genuinely useful, and it keeps the audience inside your range. Send the second product if the affiliate only owns one.
18. What changed after ninety days: the angle nobody posts, because it requires you to have waited, which is exactly why it stands out.
19. The version I nearly returned, and what fixed it: this handles the strongest objection directly, and only a real owner can write it.
20. What I would buy if I were starting again: works for any product with a range, and it converts because it reads as advice rather than a recommendation.

Pick the ten that fit your product and put those in email 2, because sending all twenty to someone selling a single SKU is noise.

3. The content brief template

Send this when an affiliate asks what to post, or attach it to email 3.

One page, fill in the blanks, no prose.

• Product: [name and link]
• Angle: [the number and title from the list above]
• Who this is for: [one sentence, the specific person]
• The one thing to get across: [one sentence, not three]
• Three facts you can state: [fact], [fact], [fact]
• Things we cannot claim: [anything regulated, medical, comparative or unverified]
• Assets attached: [what is in the folder for this angle]
• Your link: [link]
• Your code: [code]
• Suggested hook: [one from section 4, as a starting point, not a script]
• Do not feel obliged to: use our wording, tag us in the first frame, or say anything you do not think is true.

That last line matters more than the rest of the template.

Affiliates over-correct into house style the moment they are handed a brief, and house style is the one register their audience will not respond to.

4. Hooks and captions, by platform

Send these as starting points, and I would say plainly in the same message that you want them rewritten in the affiliate's own voice.

Instagram

"I've used this every day for [six weeks] and here's the honest version."

Why it works: the timeframe is a credibility claim that costs nothing to verify, and it separates the post from a paid placement immediately.

"Don't buy this if you [specific situation]."

Why it works: it disqualifies, and disqualifying openers beat inviting ones for an audience that scrolls past recommendations all day.

"Three things nobody tells you about [category]."

Why it works: the promise is information rather than a product, so the audience stays for the payoff.

Story frame: "Answering the thing [five of you] DMed me about."

Why it works: it reads as a reply rather than a broadcast, which is the only register that reliably converts in stories.

TikTok

"I was sceptical about [specific claim] so I used it for [30 days]."

Why it works: scepticism is the audience's own position, so the video resolves a tension instead of making a pitch.

"Everyone's posting about [product]. Here's who it's actually wrong for."

Why it works: it takes the contrarian position on a trend, which is the cheapest way to earn attention in a saturated feed.

"Stop scrolling if you've ever [specific, slightly annoying experience]."

Why it works: only when the experience is specific. "Stop scrolling if you love coffee" is nothing, while "Stop scrolling if your cold brew always comes out cloudy" is a targeted advert for exactly one product.

YouTube

Title: "[Product] after 90 days: what I'd change."

Why it works: long-term reviews are the highest-intent affiliate content on the platform, and almost nobody makes them.

Title: "I compared [A] and [B] so you don't have to."

Why it works: a comparison is the last search someone makes before they buy.

Opening line: "I paid for this myself, and I'm going to tell you the part the reviews skip."

Why it works: it front-loads the disclosure and turns it into a credibility claim instead of a legal footnote.

Email and newsletter

Subject: "The thing I keep getting asked about."

Why it works: it implies existing demand and says nothing about a product.

Subject: "Not for everyone. Possibly not for you."

Why it works: it disqualifies in the same way the Instagram opener does, and it protects the sender's list from feeling sold to.

Opening: "Quick one, and there's a link at the bottom, so you know what this is."

Why it works: transparency about the link is what keeps a newsletter audience opening the next one.

5. The asset folder checklist

This is the order I would build it in, which is not the order most merchants do.

1. Vertical product photos on a plain background: the most used asset by a distance, because it drops into anything.
2. Ten to twenty seconds of vertical b-roll, with no text and no music: affiliates add their own, so a finished, branded, soundtracked video is the least usable thing you can supply.
3. Lifestyle photos with a person in them: used second most, and the ones with hands in frame beat the ones with faces.
4. The product fact sheet: materials, sizes, what is in the box, shipping times, returns window, price. This is what makes the brief in section 3 fillable in two minutes.
5. Three customer reviews you have written permission to quote: affiliates will use social proof when you hand it to them, but they will not go and find it.
6. The founder story in 150 words: short enough to read aloud, because the 800-word version does not get used.
7. Before and after or in-use comparison images: only if your product has a visible effect.
8. Logo files: last, because merchants put them first and affiliates use them least.
9. A named contact and a stated response time: inside the folder itself, not only in the email.

6. The program rules, in three lines

Put this at the bottom of email 1 and in the folder.

If your rules run to a page nobody reads them, and an unread rule is not a rule.

You can promote us anywhere you publish your own content: your feed, your stories, your videos, your newsletter, your blog.

Please don't run ads on our brand name, post your code to coupon or deal sites, or use your own code on your own orders.

Anything else is fine. If you're unsure, ask [name] at [email] and you'll get an answer the same day.

The middle line carries the whole block, and each of its three items earns its place:

• Brand bidding makes you pay for traffic you already had.
• Coupon sites turn a personal code into a public discount. We covered what that costs in affiliate coupon code leaks.
• Self-referral is the quickest route to a closed account.

Whatever you write here has to match what the affiliate agreed to at approval, which is a good reason to settle the underlying decisions before you recruit anyone, and our guide to affiliate program settings covers the six that matter.

7. Your own week-one checklist

The sequence above runs on its own, so this is what you do while it does.

• Day 0: approve within the hour if you can, send email 1, and confirm the folder link opens for someone outside your organisation.
• Day 1: click the affiliate's own link from your phone, on mobile data rather than your home network, and confirm the visit appears. Do this once per affiliate, because a tracking problem found in week six costs you the affiliate as well as the sales.
• Day 2: send email 2, trimmed to the angles that suit your product.
• Day 3: check whether anything has been posted, and if it has, reply to it personally the same day, because the first post is when an affiliate decides whether this relationship is worth anything.
• Day 5: send email 3 with one specific ask.
• Day 7: triage, which is the point of the whole week. Sort every new affiliate into three groups:
  • Made a sale: leave them alone and give them something better to sell.
  • Clicks but no sales: a conversion or tracking fault rather than an effort one, and the most valuable group you have.
  • No clicks at all: send one re-activation message and then move on.

If clicks are arriving and no orders are credited to anyone, that is a tracking failure rather than a quiet affiliate, and the two need completely different responses.

Conclusion

Send the assets, but understand that the assets were never the blocker.

The affiliate who goes quiet in week two has not lost your photos.

They have run out of things to say about your product, which is a problem you can solve in one email, and almost nobody does.

So:

• Send three emails on days 0, 2 and 5.
• Hand over a list of angles rather than a folder of files.
• Keep a brief that takes two minutes to fill in.
• Run a triage on day seven that tells you where the rest of your attention goes.

Everything on this page is yours to copy and change.

You can install Affilitrak free to issue the links and codes that email 1 depends on.