What if you could build a newsletter that finds the best deals, formats them into an email, and sends itself to subscribers - every day, with no manual work? That's exactly what we're building in this guide, and you can have it running in about 20 minutes.
We'll use Browse AI to scrape deals from the web, Zapier to automate the pipeline, and MailChimp to design and deliver the emails. No coding required. The entire workflow runs on no-code tools, and once it's set up, it generates affiliate revenue on autopilot.
How the automated affiliate newsletter works
Here's the workflow at a high level:
- Browse AI scrapes deals - A robot extracts the latest product deals (names, descriptions, prices, affiliate links) from a deals site like AppSumo, Product Hunt, or any source you choose.
- Data flows to Airtable - The scraped deals are automatically saved to an Airtable base via Browse AI's native integration.
- Zapier creates an RSS feed - Zapier watches Airtable for new records and generates an RSS feed from them.
- MailChimp sends the newsletter - An RSS-driven email campaign in MailChimp automatically pulls the latest deals from the feed and sends a formatted newsletter to your subscribers at your chosen schedule.
Once this pipeline is built, the only thing you need to do is occasionally check that everything is running smoothly. The system handles the rest.
What is web scraping? (A quick refresher)
Web scraping is the automated extraction of data from websites. Instead of manually copying product names, prices, and links, a web scraping tool visits the page, reads the HTML, and pulls out the data you specify - then saves it in a structured format like a spreadsheet or database.
Browse AI makes this process no-code: you point and click on the data you want, and the AI-powered robot handles the rest, including adapting when the website changes its layout.
Step 1: Set up your Browse AI robot
- Sign up at browse.ai (free plan available - 50 credits/month).
- Go to Prebuilt Robots and search for your deal source. For example, there's a prebuilt robot for scraping AppSumo product deals.
- If there's no prebuilt robot for your source, create a custom robot using the Chrome extension - just navigate to the deals page and click on the data fields you want to extract (product name, price, description, deal URL).
- Run the robot once to verify it extracts the right data.
- Set up monitoring to run the robot automatically - daily works well for most deal sites.
Step 2: Connect Browse AI to Airtable
- In your Browse AI dashboard, go to your robot's settings and enable the Airtable integration.
- Connect your Airtable account and select (or create) the base and table where deals should be saved.
- Map the extracted fields to Airtable columns: Product Name, Price, Description, Deal URL, Date Scraped.
- Run the robot again to verify deals appear in Airtable.
Now every time your robot runs, fresh deals flow into Airtable automatically.
Step 3: Create an RSS feed with Zapier
MailChimp's automated campaigns work best with RSS feeds. Zapier can turn your Airtable records into an RSS-compatible format:
- In Zapier, create a new Zap with Airtable → New Record as the trigger.
- Add an action step to create an RSS entry (you can use Zapier's RSS by Zapier app, or route to a simple RSS generator service).
- Map the Airtable fields (product name, description, URL, price) to the RSS item fields.
- Test to make sure new Airtable records produce valid RSS entries.
Alternative approach: If you'd prefer a simpler setup, skip the RSS feed and use Zapier to trigger the MailChimp campaign directly. Create a Zap with Browse AI as the trigger and MailChimp "Send Campaign" as the action. This gives you more control over timing but requires a Zapier premium plan for multi-step Zaps.
Step 4: Design your newsletter in MailChimp
- In MailChimp, create a new RSS campaign.
- Paste your RSS feed URL.
- Set the send frequency (daily, weekly - match your Browse AI monitoring schedule).
- Design the email template. Include:
- A catchy subject line (e.g., "Today's Best Software Deals")
- Product name and brief description from the RSS fields
- Price and discount percentage
- A clear CTA button with your affiliate link
- Add your affiliate tracking parameters to the deal URLs.
- Send a test email to yourself to verify formatting.
- Activate the campaign.
Scaling beyond AppSumo: other deal sources
The same workflow works with any deal source - you just train a new Browse AI robot for each one:
- Product Hunt - Daily top products and launches
- Amazon deal pages - Lightning deals and daily deals
- SaaS review sites - New tool launches and special offers
- Niche deal aggregators - Whatever vertical your audience cares about
You can run multiple robots and feed them all into the same Airtable base, creating a multi-source deal newsletter that would take hours to compile manually.
What to expect: revenue potential
Affiliate newsletter revenue depends on your list size, niche, and deal quality, but here are some benchmarks:
- Small list (500–2,000 subscribers) - $50–$300/month from affiliate commissions
- Medium list (2,000–10,000) - $300–$2,000/month
- Large list (10,000+) - $2,000+/month, especially in high-commission niches like SaaS (AppSumo pays up to 40% commission)
The key advantage of automation: your time investment is essentially zero after setup. The newsletter generates revenue while you focus on growing your subscriber list.
Troubleshooting common issues
- Deals aren't appearing in Airtable - Check that your Browse AI monitoring is active and the Airtable integration is connected. Run the robot manually to test.
- RSS feed isn't updating - Verify that new Airtable records trigger the Zapier Zap. Check Zapier's task history for errors.
- MailChimp campaign isn't sending - Confirm the RSS feed URL is valid and contains entries. Check MailChimp's RSS campaign settings for schedule and audience selection.
- Affiliate links aren't tracking - Make sure your tracking parameters are appended to the deal URLs before they enter the pipeline (add them in the Browse AI robot's data output or in the Zapier field mapping).
→ Get started with Browse AI free - build your automated newsletter today
Frequently asked questions
Can I automate an affiliate newsletter?
Yes. By combining a web scraper (Browse AI) with an automation tool (Zapier) and an email platform (MailChimp), you can build a fully automated pipeline that scrapes deals, formats them, and sends newsletters on a schedule - with no manual work after initial setup.
What tools do I need for an automated newsletter?
You need three tools: Browse AI for scraping deals (free plan available), Zapier for automation (free tier works for simple Zaps), and an email platform like MailChimp (free up to 500 contacts). Total cost can be $0 to start.
How long does it take to set up an automated newsletter?
About 20 minutes for the basic pipeline. Setting up the Browse AI robot takes 2–5 minutes, connecting Airtable and Zapier takes 5–10 minutes, and designing the MailChimp template takes 5–10 minutes.
How much money can an automated affiliate newsletter make?
Revenue varies by list size and niche. SaaS deal newsletters (like AppSumo) can earn $50–$300/month with a small list and $2,000+/month with 10,000+ subscribers, thanks to high commission rates (up to 40%).
