Email marketing is one of the most effective tools in an affiliate marketer’s arsenal, but standing out in crowded inboxes requires more than flashy subject lines.
In this second part of our interview with Jonathan Bouchard, we dive deeper into the strategies that drive real email marketing success.
Jonathan shares his insider tips on building trust, crafting personalized content, and leveraging email marketing success to grow a sustainable business.
Whether you’re new to email campaigns or a seasoned pro, his insights will transform how you approach email marketing and audience relationships.
Check the interview on Spotify:
Q: What makes an email have high engagement? How do you get people to open and interact with your emails, leading to strong conversion rates? Do you have any tips on making emails more attractive, ensuring they land in the inbox, and are actually opened?
Jonathan: Absolutely. There are easily a hundred tips on this topic, but one of my favorites is using a personal name as the sender. People naturally buy from people, not companies. People buy CPV Lab” or “CPV One,” partly because of you and Radu.
Because if you put the company name as a sender, it comes across more like an advertisement—and people tend to dislike advertising.
As affiliates, we recommend products, and recommendations from a real person are always more effective than those from an anonymous company. For instance, if I send an email signed as “Jonathan” and I include a story, it feels personal.
Let’s say I write: “Yesterday, I had a Zoom call with Julia, and she told me about a doctor who discovered this unique weight-loss method.” It feels like Jonathan is writing directly to you. It’s a one-on-one conversation, and people trust that much more.
And then, if I invite them to watch the video by saying, “If you’d also like to see it, click here,” it’s authentic. People are more likely to trust that approach.
Here’s another tip: when people reply to your emails, make sure you respond. Build a real relationship with them.
Test this out yourself—if you’re subscribed to a newsletter and you reply, but they don’t respond, how does that feel?
Julia: Actually, I’ve had that exact experience! I was subscribed to a newsletter, and I replied to ask a question. They never answered. It felt very awkward. I unsubscribed.
That’s my point. You were genuinely interested, but their lack of response made you feel ignored. It’s so crazy, because they lost you even though you were actively engaging with them.
On the flip side, if a newsletter does reply to your messages, you’re much more likely to stay subscribed and keep following them. I even have a virtual assistant whose sole job is to reply to emails from subscribers.
Q: Wow, so you get that many replies? That must mean your emails are interesting to your audience, and they want to learn more.

Jonathan: Absolutely. And the benefits are immense.
When people feel appreciated, when I write to them, and they respond, and I reply back, they feel seen. If you ignore them, they’ll feel bad. But if they feel appreciated, they will trust you and open your future emails.
So, when I send my next newsletter, they’re happy to open it and follow my recommendations, whether it’s to watch a video or make a purchase. At the end of the day, people buy from people they like and trust.
It doesn’t even have to be about making a sale.
If someone signs up and asks a question, they deserve an answer. That level of interaction builds a strong relationship.
And here’s something unique, you can’t replicate trust through spy tools.
Some affiliates think they can simply copy and paste what others are doing, but that won’t work anymore. It’s becoming harder to succeed with that approach because thousands of people run the same ads to the same audience.
However, if you build your email list or audience, whether it’s through email or WhatsApp, and foster trust with them, it’s a game-changer.
People can copy your landing pages, but they can’t copy the trust you’ve built with your audience. Trust is what makes all the difference.
Q: It makes sense. I wanted to ask you about campaign performance. What metrics do you monitor when checking your campaigns? What are the most important things you evaluate beyond ROI?
Jonathan: There are two sides to this.
The first is the acquisition side, where I collect email addresses and generate leads. The second is the email marketing side, where I monetize.
On the acquisition side, the key performance indicators (KPIs) I monitor include the amount of traffic we’re getting, the cost per lead (CPL), how many people sign up daily, and how much we’re paying per lead. These are essential metrics.
On the email marketing side, I look at how many emails we’re sending each day and how much revenue those emails generate. I also assess which offers perform better during rotations. That’s pretty much it.
Q: Do you track unsubscribers on your list?

Jonathan: No, and I learned this while working in the agency world.
Many people are terrified of unsubscribing because they think they need to keep everyone on their list. They want to be liked by everyone and avoid annoying anyone. But in reality, unsubscribing is actually a good thing.
If someone unsubscribes, they likely would never have purchased anything anyway.
Beyond that, keeping disengaged subscribers can negatively affect delivery rates.
The more emails you send to people who never open them, the higher the chances your emails will land in the spam folder.
Sending emails to unengaged recipients is essentially spam.
Q: And once your emails are marked as spam, your future emails are more likely to end up in the spam folder, right?
Jonathan: Exactly.
For instance, let’s say you have a list of 10,000 people, but 1,000 of them never open your emails.
Gmail might flag your activity if you send daily newsletters to those 1,000 inactive subscribers. From Gmail’s perspective, it’s like: “Why are you still emailing these people? They’re clearly not interested.”
That’s why it’s better to exclude or remove inactive subscribers. When they unsubscribe, it’s actually a win.
Sure, your list will shrink from 10,000 to 9,000 people, but the people left on the list are more likely to open your emails.
Q: That makes sense. A smaller, more engaged list would have better open rates and overall performance, right?

Jonathan: Exactly.
Gmail, or any email provider, is more likely to favor your emails when you have higher engagement rates.
Another factor to consider is spam traps. These are old email addresses that haven’t been used in years. If you’re still sending emails to them, it signals to providers that you’re not maintaining your list properly. Keeping your list clean by removing inactive or outdated subscribers is crucial.
It’s important to treat your email marketing success like real business. The size of your list matters because a larger, relevant list will generate more traffic and revenue. For example, a relevant list of 100,000 people will always outperform a relevant list of just 1,000 people because of the volume of traffic.
But if 20,000 people on your 100,000 subscriber list never open emails, that’s a problem. Their inactivity will hurt your open rates, traffic, and even your sender’s reputation. If your domain gets flagged, you must make significant changes to fix it.
So, maintaining a clean, engaged list is essential.
Q: Do you have any additional strategies or advice for optimizing email campaigns?
Jonathan: For someone just starting with email marketing, I’d emphasize the importance of understanding the building phase.
During this stage, you shouldn’t expect to turn a profit immediately. Your focus should be on building a high-quality email list.
It’s like a curve: you invest time and money upfront, which may initially seem like a loss. But as your list grows, you’ll reach a tipping point. So, at some point, you have a tipping point where now you’re breaking even.
You’re spending a hundred, and you’re making a hundred, and then the email list keeps growing, growing, growing, growing.
And let’s say you still spend only a hundred dollars a day. Your email list will make 500 already because you have a thousand subscribers, for example.
Approaching it with this mindset [like a business] makes a huge difference.
While affiliate marketing is often associated with “get-rich-quick” schemes, real success comes from building assets like your email list. If you don’t build something sustainable, your revenue will drop to zero as soon as a campaign ends.
Having an email list provides stability. If one offer goes offline, I can redirect my traffic to another.
Here’s a tip I learned from online casinos: the concept of a “value break”. Let’s say you have a €5,000 monthly budget. In the first month, you spend it all on building your email list. Once you start earning commissions, you can pause your ad spending for a month or two and focus solely on monetizing your list.
It’s not ideal for scaling quickly, as starting and stopping campaigns can affect performance. But it’s a great way to master email marketing success and manage cash flow in the early stages. Once you’ve built a solid list, you can reduce or pause your ad spending for a while and make profits.
If you’re patient and focus on building for the long term, you’ll see greater success.
Q: Tell me about your book. Tell me what it is about. How did you come up with the idea for it?

Jonathan: A lot of people ask me how I do things. I love networking and meeting people, and I noticed that I explain a lot of the same concepts repeatedly. I enjoy doing that, but I also had the desire to put everything in one place.
I’m not a big fan of online courses. I never wanted to be the kind of online guru that people look to for all the answers. Honestly, I don’t like that image. I decided instead to write a book that includes all the concepts I frequently talk about. It’s something I can give people when they ask me these questions.
The book is completed. I’ve finished the writing process and worked with an editor to simplify the more complicated sentences, making them easier to understand. That was a fascinating experience.
Right now, the book is only in German. The next stage will be to translate it into English. I hope we can release the English version by the end of the year or early next year.
Q: You’re at a masterclass now, talking about trends in affiliate marketing and beyond. What’s a trend that has impressed you? Where do you see the affiliate marketing heading?
Jonathan: It’s not just affiliate marketing; it’s marketing in general.
AI is a big trend, and while it’s fascinating and powerful, I’m more drawn to performance and data-driven trends.
With the amount of data available from traffic sources, email ads, and automation tools, there are endless opportunities. For example, yesterday, I listened to someone who manages data-driven marketing campaigns for Porsche. The type of data they collect is incredible.
They categorize drivers, like hobby drivers who only drive on Sundays, versus those who race. They even call one group “curve lovers” because they enjoy driving on winding roads. Using this data, they send highly personalized emails.
Another fascinating example is their ability to measure the weight of a passenger in the car. If the weight matches that of a child, they know the driver is likely a parent. Combining this data with driver profiles, they can send targeted emails promoting child seats or strollers for Porsche.
While affiliates don’t have access to this level of data, we can still collect and segment subscriber information to create personalized content.
Personalization here goes beyond adding someone’s first and last name; it’s about understanding their life stage.
For instance, if you could determine that someone on your keto diet list is pregnant or has just had a baby, you could send them tailored content. Your email could address questions like how the keto diet affects breastfeeding or how it can be adapted for new mothers.
Q: Data is crucial now, especially when figuring out how to use it effectively. Companies used to collect data without knowing how to leverage it, but that’s changing.

Jonathan: Absolutely.
For example, I’ve seen this with a hiking app I use. When I log in from northern Germany, the app detects my location. On weekends, they send me newsletters recommending hiking spots nearby. It’s relevant because I’m in that area. It would be irrelevant and frustrating if they sent me hiking trails in Dubai. That’s the power of relevance.
Combining data with AI can be game-changing. For example, if you know someone in your audience has a child, you can use AI to create automated content tailored to their situation.
But remember, the data point itself is more important than the email content.
If the email isn’t relevant to someone’s current situation, it doesn’t matter whether it’s written by hand or generated by AI. Relevance is what drives sales.
That’s why relevance must always come first.
Q: One last question: Is there something about affiliate marketing that you would change or a problem you’d like solved?
Jonathan: That’s a great question. I think expectations are the biggest challenge. Many people enter affiliate marketing thinking it’s a get-rich-quick scheme. While it’s true that you can make a lot of money fast, it doesn’t happen overnight.
It’s like Jeff Bezos—he’s incredibly wealthy now, but he wasn’t when he started. You have to learn the skills, whether it’s media buying, email marketing success, or something else.
Focus on one vertical instead of trying to do everything. Once you’ve mastered that, you can scale your campaigns and grow your income.
Another thing I’d love to see is more access to data for affiliates. Right now, we get basic metrics like conversion rates, but we don’t get detailed buyer information.
Even with postback data, we don’t get the full picture. Still, the affiliate model is amazing. Everyone has their own approach, and even if you copy someone’s business, it doesn’t guarantee the same success.
It’s better to focus on building a business within a vertical you like.
For example, I’m committed to growing my iGaming business. If I get distracted by shiny new trends that might only last six months, I’d waste valuable time that could have gone into building long-term success.
Staying focused on what you’re good at is key. And there’s freedom in knowing your direction. When something shiny comes along, I know it’s exciting, but I stick to what I’m building.
Q: That’s a great mindset. So, Jonathan, where can people reach you if they want to follow your work or learn about your book?
Jonathan: Instagram is probably the best way. You can also connect with me on Facebook or Linkedin. I’d be happy to meet anyone who wants to reach out.
Here you can get in contact with Jonathan on Linkedin or Instagram!
Here is the full interview on Spotify so you can easily listen to it.
Here you can find the full interview with Jonathan, it is worth listening to! 🙂
Conclusion
Jonathan’s advice highlights the power of personalization and trust in email marketing success.
From responding to emails to maintaining a clean subscriber list, his strategies emphasize long-term relationships over short-term gains.
As email marketers, the challenge lies in making every interaction count, because relevance and trust, as Jonathan puts it, are the true drivers of success.
Whether you’re refining your campaigns or starting from scratch, his practical wisdom is a roadmap for building meaningful, high-performing email marketing success.
Stay tuned for the next episode and meanwhile check the other episodes of Champions of Performance Marketing!

Author: Julia Draghici
Julia is the CEO of CPV Lab and CPV One ad trackers. She has 15+ years experience in the software industry, from development to management. For more than 6 years she is helping marketers get the best out of their marketing campaigns by using a performant ad tracker. Passionate about entrepreneurship, business and performance marketing, Julia loves helping people!