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While I share money-making strategies, nothing is “typical”, and outcomes are based on each individual. There are no guarantees.
I was staring at my affiliate dashboard—again. For what felt like the hundredth time that month, I was looking at a flat line. The number was stuck. Completely, utterly, frustratingly stagnant.
I was pouring hours, sometimes days, into crafting what I thought were perfect emails. I was promoting good, valuable products that I actually believed in. And yet, every time I hit ‘send’ to my entire list, it was like shouting into a void. A few clicks here, a sale there… but nothing that would actually move the needle.
It felt like I was failing, like my list was dead. And the worst part? I was this close to giving up on affiliate marketing altogether.
But then, I found a statistic that stopped me in my tracks: segmented emails can deliver up to 50% more click-throughs. And another, that segmented and personalized emails are responsible for 58% of all revenue. That was the tiny spark I needed. I didn’t need a bigger list; I needed a smarter list.
So, I threw out my entire old strategy and built a new one from scratch around a single idea: segmentation. The result? My affiliate clicks tripled. Not in a year. Not in six months. Within weeks. And my revenue? It exploded. And I did it all without getting a single new subscriber.
In this video, I’m going to show you exactly how.
Section 1: The Frustration of the “Batch and Blast”
Before we get into the strategy that changed everything, I need you to feel the pain I was in. Because I have a feeling it might sound a little familiar.
My old strategy was what the industry calls “batch and blast.” It’s simple, it’s easy, and it’s what most of us do when we start out. You write one email, and you blast it to everyone on your list. The problem is, it’s brutally ineffective.
My list wasn’t huge, but it was respectable—a few thousand people who willingly signed up to hear from me. I thought that was enough. I treated them all as one big, faceless group. The person who just subscribed yesterday? They got the same email as the loyal reader who’d been with me for two years. The total beginner in my niche got the same message as the advanced pro looking for high-level strategies.
See the problem? It’s like a stand-up comedian telling the exact same joke to a room full of college kids and then to a room full of retirees. The joke hasn’t changed, but the audience has. A few might politely chuckle, but most will just stare blankly. You’re not speaking their language.
That was my world. I’d promote a beginner-level product, and my advanced subscribers would ignore it—or worse, unsubscribe because it wasn’t relevant. Then I’d promote a high-ticket, advanced tool, and the beginners on my list would feel overwhelmed and alienated.
Every email was a compromise. In trying to speak to everyone, I was speaking to no one.
The metrics told the whole ugly story. My open rates were around the industry average, which felt like a passing grade, but it was a vanity metric. People were opening out of habit, not excitement. The number that really hurt was the click-through rate. It was abysmal. My affiliate links—the whole point of the emails—were being ignored.
I was pouring my heart into these emails, genuinely trying to help my audience by recommending products I used and loved. But because the message wasn’t tailored, it wasn’t landing. It’s a soul-crushing feeling to spend a day on an email you’re proud of, only to be met with digital silence. It makes you question everything: Is my writing bad? Is the product bad? Am I just not cut out for this?
The truth was, the problem wasn’t the writing or the product. It was the delivery system. The problem was that I hadn’t yet learned that my email list wasn’t a single entity; it was a collection of individuals with different needs, interests, and relationships with me. The moment I truly got that, everything started to change.
Section 2: The “Aha!” Moment – Discovering Behavioral Segmentation
My turning point wasn’t some flash of genius. It was born out of sheer desperation, late one night, surrounded by lukewarm coffee and a mountain of marketing articles. I was hunting for a silver bullet to fix my stagnant income. Instead, I found a fundamental principle I had been completely ignoring: segmentation.
Now, segmentation isn’t new. It’s just dividing your email list into smaller, more focused groups. For the longest time, I thought it meant dividing people by age or location. And for my business, that felt useless. What did it matter if a subscriber was a 25-year-old in California or a 45-year-old in London? It didn’t change what they needed from me.
But then I stumbled upon a different idea: behavioral segmentation.
This is the absolute key. Instead of focusing on who your subscribers are, you focus on what they do. Their actions are a direct signal of their interest and engagement. The person who clicks every link you send is telling you something very different from the person who hasn’t opened an email in 90 days. For affiliate marketing, behavior is the ultimate truth-teller.
The research was overwhelming and practically screamed at me from the screen. Some studies showed segmented campaigns could lead to a revenue increase of up to 760%. And here was the statistic that hit me like a ton of bricks: welcome emails, a type of automated, behavior-based message, can generate 320% more revenue than other promotional emails.
That was it. My “aha!” moment. I didn’t need more people; I needed to understand the people I already had. I was sitting on a goldmine of data and completely ignoring it. My email service provider wasn’t just a sending tool; it was a database of my audience’s behavior. It knew who was opening, who was clicking, what they were clicking on, and who was tuning me out.
The idea was so simple it was infuriating. Stop treating everyone the same. Listen to what their actions are telling you. Reward your most engaged subscribers with your best offers. Gently nudge the interested-but-hesitant ones with more value. And try to win back those who have gone quiet.
This shifted my entire mindset. My email list wasn’t a megaphone anymore; it was a conversation. And to have a good conversation, you have to listen before you speak. I decided to stop shouting at the crowd and start whispering to the right people at the right time. This was the foundation that would take my affiliate clicks from a trickle to a flood.
Section 3: The Core Strategy – My 3-Bucket Engagement System
This is the heart of it all—the exact strategy I used to triple my affiliate clicks. I call it the “3-Bucket Engagement System.” It’s a simple way to categorize your subscribers based on one thing: how interested are they in what I have to say right now?
Forget demographics. For affiliate conversions, their clicks are the only answer that matters.
So, I divided my entire list into three simple, dynamic buckets.
Bucket 1: The “Hyper-Engaged” (Your VIPs)
- Who they are: These are the superstars of your list. In my system, this is anyone who has clicked a link in any of my emails in the last 30 days.
- Why they’re valuable: These people are actively leaning in. They trust you enough to click on what you recommend. They are, by far, the group most likely to buy an affiliate offer.
- My Strategy for Them: This bucket gets the A-list treatment. When I have a new affiliate promotion, I don’t send it to my whole list anymore. I send it to this group first. The email copy is direct and assumes they’re already warm. I use subject lines like, “An exclusive for you” or “Thought you’d want to see this first.” I send them my best, highest-commission affiliate offers because they’ve proven they’re looking for solutions. You’re not “selling” to this group; you’re informing your most interested friends about something cool you found.
Bucket 2: The “Passive Observers” (The Window Shoppers)
- Who they are: This is the largest group for most people. These are subscribers who have opened an email in the last 90 days but have not clicked a link.
- Why they’re valuable: They’re still listening! They see your name in their inbox and think it’s worth a look, but nothing has been compelling enough to get them to act. They’re curious but cautious.
- My Strategy for Them: The goal here is not to sell, but to turn an open into a click. My entire focus is on rebuilding trust and proving my value. I send them emails with incredibly high-value, non-sales content—tutorials, free guides, personal stories. The call to action is usually a link to a blog post or a YouTube video, not an affiliate offer. I’m training them to see that clicking my links leads to good things. Only after I’ve warmed them up with a few value-only emails will I introduce a low-risk offer, something that’s free to try or inexpensive. I’m moving the relationship forward one small step at a time.
Bucket 3: The “Inactive” (The Sleepers)
- Who they are: This is everyone who has not opened or clicked an email in the last 90 days.
- Why they are valuable: They were interested once, and there’s a chance they could be again. But right now, they’re dead weight, hurting your deliverability and skewing your metrics.
- My Strategy for Them: This bucket goes into an automated “re-engagement campaign.” It’s a sequence of 3 to 4 emails designed to do one thing: get a response. The tone shifts dramatically.
- Email 1 Subject: “Are we breaking up?” – A humorous, pattern-interrupt email asking if they’re still interested.
- Email 2 Subject: “My most popular stuff” – A “best of” email linking to my most valuable content, giving them a reason to re-engage.
- Email 3 Subject: “A final goodbye?” – A transparent email explaining that I’m cleaning my list and if they don’t click a link to confirm their interest, I’ll be removing them.
The result? A small percentage clicks and moves back into the “Passive Observers” bucket. The vast majority do not, and I regularly and ruthlessly remove them. Yes, my subscriber count goes down. But my open rates, click rates, and deliverability shoot up, leaving me with a list of people who actually want to be there.
This 3-Bucket System is dynamic and self-managing. A Sleeper becomes a Passive Observer with one open. A Passive Observer becomes a VIP with one click. It’s a living system that reflects the real-time interest of my audience and ensures the right message always goes to the right person.
Section 4: The Nuts and Bolts – How to Implement the System
Alright, theory is great, but how do you actually build this? It’s probably less complicated than you think. Every major email service provider (ESP)—ActiveCampaign, ConvertKit, Mailchimp, you name it—has the tools you need. The specific clicks might differ, but the logic is universal. Here’s how to do it.
Step 1: Define Your Segments Clearly
You need to write down the rules for your ESP. Be precise.
- Hyper-Engaged: Has clicked a link in any email in the last 30 days.
- Passive Observers: Has not clicked a link in the last 30 days, BUT has opened any email in the last 90 days.
- Inactive: Has not opened or clicked any email in the last 90 days.
This is your blueprint. The “last X days” timeframe is what keeps these segments dynamic.
Step 2: Build the Segments in Your ESP
Now, go into your email tool and create these segments. You’re looking for a section called “Segments,” “Audiences,” or “Lists.” You’ll use conditional logic that mirrors your blueprint.
For the Hyper-Engaged, the rule is something like: Action > Has Clicked > Any Campaign > In the last 30 days
For the Passive Observers, you need two conditions: Action > Has Clicked > Any Campaign > Not in the last 30 days AND Action > Has Opened > Any Campaign > In the last 90 days
For the Inactive segment, it’s also two conditions: Action > Has Opened > Any Campaign > Not in the last 90 days AND Action > Has Clicked > Any Campaign > Not in the last 90 days
Build these once, and your ESP will automatically move subscribers between these groups 24/7. It’s a self-managing system.
Step 3: Develop Tailored Content for Each Bucket
This is where the strategy comes to life. You stop thinking “What should I write this week?” and start thinking “What does each bucket need from me this week?”
- For your Hyper-Engaged: Your calendar is filled with your best affiliate offers. When you find a great new tool, you write a personal, enthusiastic email and send it directly to them. Using their name and referencing their interests can significantly boost open and click rates.
- For your Passive Observers: Your calendar is focused on education. For every one affiliate email you might send them, you send three or four pure value emails—tutorials, myth-busting posts, how-to guides. The goal is to get them to click a non-threatening link to your own content.
- For your Inactive: Write that re-engagement campaign I mentioned and set it up as an automation. The trigger is “Subscriber is added to the Inactive segment.” The last step of that automation for those who don’t engage? Unsubscribe them. It’s essential for list health.
Step 4: Execute and Send
When it’s time to send an email, you no longer hit “Send to All.” You pause and ask, “Who is this for?”
- Is it a high-value affiliate offer? Select your “Hyper-Engaged” segment.
- Is it a value-packed blog post? Select your “Passive Observers” segment.
- You almost never send a manual broadcast to your “Inactive” segment; they’re handled by automation.
This simple act of choosing the right segment is the million-dollar move. It ensures relevance, which is the single most important factor in email success.
Step 5: Test and Optimize
Your work isn’t done. The final step is to test and refine.
- A/B Test Subject Lines: This is crucial. For your “Passive Observers,” test a value-driven subject line (“How to fix X”) against a curiosity-driven one (“You’re making this mistake”). See what works.
- Monitor Segment Movement: Are people moving from the “Passive” bucket to the “Engaged” bucket? Great, your value content is working!
- Track Clicks by Segment: Look at your affiliate reports. You will quickly see that nearly all of your income is coming from that one “Hyper-Engaged” bucket. This is the proof. It validates the whole strategy.
This process turns an idea into a revenue-generating machine. It takes a little work upfront, but it requires far less effort to maintain than “batch and blast,” and the results are infinitely better.
Section 5: The Results – From Stagnant to Explosive Growth
So, what actually happened when I stopped shouting at my list? The change was faster and more dramatic than I ever could have imagined.
First, the clicks. As I mentioned, my affiliate clicks tripled—a 300% increase. Affiliate links that used to get 20-30 clicks were now getting hundreds. Why? Because I was sending offers only to the people ready for them: the Hyper-Engaged. Instead of a 1% click-through rate from a list of 5,000, I was getting a 30% or 40% click-through rate from a targeted segment of 500. The math is simple, but the impact is profound. This lines up with reports showing segmented campaigns get dramatically more clicks.
Second, my revenue exploded. Clicks are great, but cash is king. Because the clicks were coming from the warmest, most trusting part of my audience, the conversion rate on those clicks went through the roof. These weren’t random clicks; they were high-intent clicks from people looking for solutions. My affiliate income went from a disappointing side-hustle to a significant, reliable revenue stream. This makes sense, as data consistently shows email marketing having one of the highest ROIs, often cited at $36 for every $1 spent, and sometimes much higher.
Third, my list health improved dramatically. By regularly cleaning out the “Inactive” subscribers, my overall open rates climbed from a mediocre 25% to a much healthier 40-50%. This sends powerful positive signals to providers like Gmail and Outlook, telling them people want my emails. This improves my sender reputation and ensures I land in the inbox, not the spam folder.
Finally, something happened that was just as important as the numbers. I felt more connected to my audience. I stopped getting angry replies about irrelevant promotions. Instead, I started getting “thank you” emails. By treating them like individuals, they started treating me like a trusted advisor. It made the whole process more fulfilling.
This transformation happened without a single new subscriber. It was all done by working smarter, not harder, and proving that the goal isn’t the biggest list, but the most engaged list.
Section 6: Taking It to the Next Level – Advanced Segmentation
Once you’ve mastered the 3-Bucket System, it becomes the foundation for even more powerful targeting. You can start layering other data on top of your engagement buckets to create “micro-segments.” This is how you go from a 3x increase in clicks to a 5x or even 10x increase.
Here are a few ways to build on top of the core system:
1. Interest-Based Segmentation (within your buckets):
Inside your “Hyper-Engaged” bucket, you know people are clicking. But what are they clicking on? Your email platform tracks this. You can start adding tags to subscribers based on the topics of the links they click.
For example, let’s say you talk about both “Productivity Software” and “Marketing Analytics.”
- If a subscriber clicks a link to a productivity tool, tag them with “Interest: Productivity.”
- If they click a link to an analytics tool, they get tagged with “Interest: Analytics.”
Now, you have micro-segments like “Hyper-Engaged subscribers interested in Productivity.” When you have a new affiliate offer for a productivity app, you send it to that laser-focused group. The relevance goes up, and the conversion rate follows.
2. Purchase History Segmentation:
This is another powerful layer. You can integrate your payment processor or affiliate platforms with your ESP to tag subscribers based on what they’ve bought.
- Segment: Customers. People who have bought your own products. They already trust you immensely.
- Segment: High-Value Customers. People who have spent over a certain amount, say $500. They can get exclusive access to high-ticket affiliate offers.
- Segment: Affiliate Product X Buyers. People who bought a specific product through your link. You can send them advanced tips on how to use it, or recommend complementary products.
When you layer this with engagement, you get hyper-specific segments like: “Hyper-Engaged subscribers who are also High-Value Customers and are interested in Analytics.” An email to that tiny group feels so personal it barely feels like marketing at all.
3. Lifecycle Stage Segmentation:
This acknowledges that a new subscriber needs a different experience than a veteran.
- New Subscribers (First 14 Days): Put all new subscribers into a dedicated “Welcome Sequence.” This automated series of 5-7 emails introduces you, tells your story, and delivers your best foundational content. The goal is to make an amazing first impression. After the sequence, they get sorted into the 3-Bucket System based on their engagement.
- Loyal Advocates: Create a special segment for people who have been on your list for over a year and are still in your “Hyper-Engaged” bucket. You can reward them with surprise bonuses or personal notes to make them feel appreciated.
The key takeaway is that segmentation isn’t a one-time setup. It’s an evolving strategy. You start with the simple 3-Bucket system. Once that’s running, you begin layering in more data points—interests, purchase history, and lifecycle stage—to make your targeting even more precise. Each layer boosts relevance, which boosts your clicks, conversions, and trust.
Conclusion
If there’s one thing I want you to take away from all this, it’s this: the money is not just “in the list.” The money is in the relationship with the list. And you can’t build a relationship with a crowd.
For years, I treated my email list like a monolithic block. I sent the same message to everyone and was consistently disappointed. My affiliate income was flat because my communication was flat.
The shift happened when I stopped focusing on the size of my list and started focusing on the signals within it. The 3-Bucket Engagement System was my way of finally listening to what my subscribers were telling me with their actions.
By separating my audience into the “Hyper-Engaged,” the “Passive Observers,” and the “Inactive,” I was able to:
- Serve my most loyal fans with the best affiliate offers, which tripled my clicks and revenue.
- Nurture my curious subscribers with high-value content, warming them up for future recommendations.
- Systematically clean my list, which boosted my deliverability and made my real audience even more responsive.
This isn’t about complex algorithms. It’s about a change in perspective. It’s about understanding that relevance is the new currency in the inbox. Your job is to meet people where they are. Stop batching and blasting. Start listening, segmenting, and personalizing.
You don’t need a single new subscriber to see explosive growth. The potential is already sitting right there in your email list. You just need to unlock it. Start with this simple, 3-bucket system. Implement it, be consistent, and watch what happens. You’ll not only see your metrics transform, but you’ll build a stronger, healthier, and more profitable business.
