From views to sales: Mastering eSIM affiliate marketing

The greatest superpower in the world is the ability to tell a compelling story. Stories inspire, connect people across the globe, and drive action.

As an affiliate partner, you refine the craft of storytelling — sharing valuable information, engaging your audience, and building thriving communities.

eSIMs are transforming the way we stay connected while traveling. For affiliates, this shift presents a unique opportunity to tap into a fast-growing market and earn substantial revenue. But success goes beyond simply promoting eSIMs. It requires a strategic approach, a deep understanding of your audience, and a commitment to delivering meaningful content.

To help you turn views into conversions, we've gathered expert insights from our experienced affiliate team. Read on to uncover their tips.

1. Become a niche expert: Speak directly to your audience

As an affiliate, you understand your audience and what resonates with them. Engagement happens when content speaks to their needs and pain points. In turn, your audience follows and interacts with your content because they trust your opinions and feel inspired by your insights.

Understanding your audience's pain points allows you to address their challenges directly and position eSIMs as the perfect solution for connectivity abroad. If you know what resonates with your audience, focus on that common ground and leverage your expertise.

For example, are you targeting families? Tailor your messaging to their needs by highlighting the benefits of eSIMs for family travel – such as staying connected with kids, avoiding roaming fees, and easily sharing travel experiences.

How to implement this tip

Tell your own story. Always be honest and use an authentic voice. Explain why Airalo is your choice, share personal experiences, and describe how eSIMs have simplified your travels. Authenticity builds trust and credibility, leading to higher engagement and conversions.

2. Educate and empower: Demystify eSIM technology

eSIM technology is relatively new, meaning users need clear explanations, guidance, and confidence to adopt it. The best way to overcome that barrier is to share informative content that can drive sales by removing uncertainties.

Riley Pearce, Affiliate Manager for North America, suggests:

"If you are a content or blog affiliate, the best thing you can do is create multiple pieces of content around eSIMs. Since this is a relatively new technology, your audience likely needs guidance to understand what an eSIM is and how to download it to their phone."

And when it comes to organic traffic. Riley shares:

"The more content you create around the keyword 'eSIM,' the more search engines will see you as an expert in that topic, helping you rank organically, drive more traffic, and ultimately generate more affiliate sales."

How to implement this tip

We encourage you to get inspired by our Airalo Help Center to help you create content. We recommend the following approach:

• Use the Airalo Help Center as a resource for content creation.
• Introduce what eSIMs are in any content featuring your affiliate link.
• Explain how to install and activate eSIMs (visual aids are helpful).
• Highlight the benefits of Airalo (cost savings, global and regional plans, convenience).
• Provide installation guides on your website and link out to help center articles.
• Use Instagram Highlights to explain eSIMs and give clear instructions
• Add clear descriptions and instructions to the next steps under any video content.

Yuting Wu, Affiliate Manager for APAC, emphasizes:

"The main challenge for many partners is user education, especially in markets where Airalo may not be well known. Content creators and influencers should refer to our resources and create comprehensive guides to educate their audience."

3. Maximize your reach: Use multiple traffic sources

Don't rely on a single platform to drive traffic. Diversify your approach to reach a wider audience and target different stages of the buying journey.

Every social media platform plays a role in the user journey — whether for building awareness, trust, or conversions. Understanding how each platform is used can help you guide users down the funnel effectively.

For example, users might browse Pinterest for destination inspiration but use TikTok for travel tips. Don't miss out on potential prospects by misallocating content.

Understand the strengths of each platform:

• Pinterest for travel inspiration
• Instagram for visual storytelling
• TikTok for engaging travel tips
• X (formerly Twitter) for quick updates and promotions

Riley recommends,

"I recommend having a few different sources to drive traffic to your affiliate site. Pinterest, an owned newsletter, and being active in relevant Reddit threads can all help drive traffic."

Make it easy for your audience to find you everywhere. Link your social platforms to each other using links in your bios and descriptions. This helps guide your audience across your content instead of letting them scroll away.

How to implement this tip

We recommend the following approach to help maximize your approach across platforms. 

• Repurpose content: Convert a travel blog into short TikTok videos, Instagram posts, and email newsletter links.
• Use cross-platform promotion: Link related content across different channels.
• Leverage user intent: Share the right content on the right platforms to meet audience expectations.

4. Stay updated: Share the latest eSIM news and offers

Travel trends and eSIM technology constantly evolve. Become the go-to resource for your audience to stay updated on the latest connectivity offers and exclusive insights.

Riley recommends,

"Our affiliate newsletter provides up-to-date insights on trending eSIMs, product changes, and new eSIM packages. We also have a dedicated section that allows affiliates to learn about our newest offerings, ensuring their users always get the best deals."

How to add this tip:

• Share discounts and shoutouts to popular eSIM products.
• Announce giveaways and exclusive deals.
• Position yourself as the go-to source for the latest updates.

5. Consistent content creation: Build momentum

Consistent content is key to building a loyal audience and driving steady sales. Travel trends shift with the seasons, events, and emerging destinations — staying active helps you stay relevant and capture demand.

Yuting underlines the importance of consistent content creation:

"For content publishers and influencers, the key is to regularly post new content or refresh existing content. One-off promotions with one or two posts may not generate strong numbers."

We recommend using a content calendar to plan ahead, connect your content strategically, and build effective campaigns. It helps you stay organized, maintain a steady flow of valuable posts, and keep your audience engaged.

Although some content can be evergreen, continuously creating new content will keep you top of mind and serve as a reminder of what you have to offer.  

How to implement this tip

Create a content calendar and plan your content. It's a good idea to take one large piece of content and repurpose it into additional bite-sized content pieces.

For example, a blog about your travels to Japan can be repurposed into a short TikTok video, Instagram Reel, or Pinterest post. In the end, it's the same content, just repurposed for different mediums. 

6. Analyze your insights: Optimize for success

Regularly check your insights to ensure your eSIM marketing aligns with your audience. Use data to refine your strategy and create content that truly resonates.

Some key metrics to track:

• Sales performance: Which eSIM packages are selling the most?
• Traffic sources: Where are conversions coming from?
• Audience behavior: What type of content resonates most?
• Engagement metrics: How often are users clicking, sharing, or interacting with your content?
• Conversion rates: How many clicks turn into purchases?
• Revenue insights: How much are you earning per sale, per click, or per campaign?

Yuting shares an example: 

"Recently, I noticed a successful partner with rather targeted content for their well-engaged audience, Australians looking to travel to Bali. The majority of the eSIM transactions attributed to this partner were for Indonesia eSIM, probably just for Bali. So, if affiliates have a clear idea about their target audience, and use the relevant content to promote eSIMs, the results are usually more promising than general broad targeting."

This highlights the need to keep an eye on the content that resonates most with your audience. When you know which topics, destinations, and formats perform best, you can lean into content that will continue to drive engagement and conversions.

How to implement this tip

Start by identifying your best-selling eSIM packages and analyzing where your highest conversions come from. Then, dig deeper to understand why those packages perform well — determine whether it’s due to a trending travel destination, a specific content format, or an engaged audience segment.

Once you’ve identified the key success factors, double down on them by creating more content around those topics and advertising eSIM packages in demand. By using insights from analytics, you can refine your approach, build a loyal customer base, and maximize your affiliate earnings.

FAQs 

How can I leverage social proof and build trust with my audience when promoting eSIMs?

You can share that Airalo is the world's leading eSIM provider, trusted by over 10 million users worldwide. It boasts a 4.8/5 rating on the App Store. 

How often does Airalo update its eSIM plans? How can I stay informed about these changes?

Airalo continuously updates its eSIM packages, destinations, and adds voice and text options to data plans. eSIM package updates are communicated through our monthly Affiliate newsletter.

Who can I contact for questions regarding the Airalo Affiliate Program?

You can learn more at Airalo Partners, or contact affiliates@airalo.com for any further questions. 

How are Airalo and Airalo Partners connected?

Airalo Partners is the B2B/B2B2C extension of Airalo, the world’s leading eSIM provider. It offers tailored partnership solutions for businesses of all sizes to deliver unrivaled connectivity to their users. Trusted by 5,000+ partners, Airalo Partners is the go-to eSIM collaborator for global brands, resellers, corporates, airlines, MVNOs, and more.