Making that first follow-up e-mail to your list can seem like a daunting thing to do. You've gotten people to sign up, and now it's time to warm them up. In some ways, this first e-mail is the most difficult because first impressions really do count for a lot.
Thankfully, in many cases, the first e-mail will contain a free gift they have signed up for. Nothing works better than enticing people with a gift! Actually, this has a lot of basis in psychology. It is called the Law of reciprocity. After these people have received their free gift, they are a lot more likely to think favorably of you and to want to return the favor in the future. In your case, you hope this comes in the form of them making a purchase through your affiliate link, or of your own product.
Whether they get a free gift or not, you want to take this opportunity to start building a relationship. Perhaps share with them what they can expect from these e-mails, or even some valuable information they would want to know.
There is no one right way to craft your first follow-up e-mail. The important thing is that you are yourself. One thing you can do to make sure your e-mail is as good as it can be is put yourself in your customer's shoes. If you are a person randomly searching in the net and you signed up for the free product, what would you expect to receive in the form of contact from the person you signed up for with?
If you're really stuck for ideas, it's a great thing to go through some follow-up e-mails that you have received yourself. Pay particularly close attention to those marketers who you have grown to respect. By using them as a model, you can easily create your first follow-up e-mail, and it will be likely to be something that well entice your list members.
Remember that these e-mails will be set up in an autoresponder. For that reason, there is no reason to expect perfection right away. You can always tweak this first follow-up message down the road as you get more information about how your list members react and what they expect to receive. Basically, do not stress yourself out, but do spend some time making sure this first e-mail makes the right impression.