Today, I received a spam email from a manager of a theme shop asking me to consider joining the company’s affiliate program. I’ve received these types of offers and, normally, I don’t ever mind because I know what it’s like to try to sell a product. However, this one was really annoying. Take a look (I’ve removed personal details of the sender and his company).

My name is [name] and I’m part of the managerial team for [company] – A premium WP themes developer.

I came across engagewp and wanted to reach out as I’m seeking out additional partners to promote our established premium WordPress themes.

We now offer 50% commissions for our partners. Plus, we offer recurring commission and boast a superb conversion rate !

Our WordPress themes are as of the highest quality and professional as it gets, and we’ve been helping website owners build great sites for over 5 years. If you get a moment, feel free to check out our site and see for yourself.

You won’t find commissions as high as ours from any other WP theme provider. If you have any questions, please feel free to send them my way – I’d be happy to help!

Sign up NOW at the link below and put the power of [company] Affiliate Program to work for you!

[link to sign up]

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask I can be reached via this email [email] or Skype : [Skype ID].

Looking forward to having you on the team

[name]

[company] – Premium Business WordPress Themes

First, Mr. [name], I will not be joining your company’s affiliate program and I have a few reasons for this.

1. When you emailed me, you didn’t even take the time to see WHO you were emailing. Failing to refer to me by my name at any point in your email shows me that you showed up on my site, found the contact page, inserted your sales pitch and pressed Send. You took no interest in me or my website, other than demonstrating that you only seek access to my readers.
2. You have not told or shown me anything about your themes. Since I have never heard of your company, I don’t know who you are and what you do. All I know is that you make WordPress themes. There are a ton of people who create themes so this doesn’t mean anything to me. You didn’t explain what types of themes you create (such as if they are niche themes) and you didn’t share anything that makes you unique. All you basically said was that you sell themes, have a high commission rate, and you want me to join. To learn anything about you, I’d have to go out of my way to visit your website and read whatever information you have posted. I have important things to do so I am not going to visit your website just to figure out who you are.
3. You are not giving me any incentive to promote your product other than your commission rates. You have not offered a free copy to test your theme and provide feedback. You have not shown any interest in me or my blog. You have not given me any good reason for why your themes would benefit my readers. You presume that I’m a self-centered blogger who’s only interested in making money and that I will jump at the opportunity to make 50% of any sale I generate for you. This assumption is very wrong. How do I benefit from promoting your themes, other than from a potential commission?
4. Finally, when you say that I won’t find another WP theme provider with commissions as high as yours, that is not true. There are other providers who offer excellent rates, including 50%. This comment is not just factually incorrect (or just disingenuous), but it also comes off as pompous.

Before you go sending unsolicited emails to members of the WordPress community asking them to promote your product(s), you should seriously consider watching this video from Chris Lema and learning his take on exactly what you are doing. I would never blindly ask someone to promote my product and I suggest you take a different approach in the future (at least learn my name).