Email is one of the most powerful methods of increasing your affiliate commissions, but not all services allow affiliate marketing. In this article, we’re answering the question, which email marketing services can you use for affiliate marketing?
I’ve taken a look at the most popular email marketing tools, as well as their acceptable use policies/terms of use, to see which ones accept affiliate marketing. And which ones have wording that could be considered open for interpretation (i.e. rather not risk it and avoid these for affiliate marketing).
Let’s get straight to it and start with probably the most well-known email service out there, MailChimp.
Can You Use MailChimp For Affiliate Marketing?
You can use MailChimp for linking to affiliated products and services (when disclosing your relationship in the email) in your MailChimp campaigns. Mailchimp, however, does not allow Affiliate marketing on their platform according to their Terms of use.
The difference here is that you are allowed to link to products and services that you recommend, are built around your content, and are relevant to your audience. You cannot promote companies solely to earn a commission. Mainly the difference here lies in relevancy for your audience and how you present the affiliate links.
You can use MailChimp for affiliate marketing, as long as you’re doing it under your own brand, in your own voice, if it’s relevant to your audience, and if the domain/IP of the company is not denylisted/blacklisted (here’s a tool to check if a domain is blacklisted).
If you are unsure about using MailChimp for affiliate marketing, many alternatives are more clear about what you can share below.
Does ConvertKit Allow Affiliate Marketing?
ConvertKit allows affiliate marketing on their service. They do have some limitations on what you can promote, however, with affiliate links related to education, loans, online pharmacies, and “get rich quick” types of software all banned.
These types of emails are often associated with spam emails and can affect deliverability, so stay away from these types of affiliate links in your ConvertKit emails.
Additionally, you should have a business, website, or social presence outside of your affiliate marketing. If you have a blog for example and you include (and disclose) an affiliate link to a camera you recently purchased, and the email is about your purchase decision, what you’ve been using it for, etc. This is fine.
If you however only share promotions of various products to an email list you’ve somehow acquired, this is against the ConvertKits acceptable use policy.
You can use ConvertKit for affiliate marketing, as long as you avoid the above spammy practices. If it seems spammy, then just don’t do it.
Does Sendinblue Allow Affiliate Marketing?
Sendinblue does allow affiliate marketing and sharing affiliate links in your emails when they abide by CAN-SPAM and other anti-spam laws.
There are some general limitations as to what you cannot send in emails, such as promoting gambling, adult content, hatred, violence, racism, or religious intolerance. You also cannot use the service under a false or 3rd party name.
Generally speaking, if you promote affiliate links in your emails with relevance to your audience, under your own brand, and within your content, then you should have no problems using Sendinblue for affiliate marketing.
Does Aweber Allow Affiliate Marketing?
You can use Aweber for affiliate marketing and promoting your affiliate links without any real problems. Like all of the other alternatives listed here though, you do need to abide by anti-spam regulations. This in general is just a good practice to increase your email deliverability and conversions.
You are also not allowed to share unlawful, obscene, threatening, abusive, libelous, hateful, or encourage conduct which would constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability, or otherwise violate any local, state, national or international laws. Again, this is something you shouldn’t be doing in the first place.
All-in-all, Aweber is quite open with the types of affiliate marketing you can do using their service and you can definitely use it to promote your affiliate links and offers.
Can You Use GetResponse For Affiliate Marketing?
GetResponse is very affiliate marketer-friendly and allows you to promote and share affiliate offers and links in your email campaigns. GetResponse is the most advanced affiliate marketing email service with several features that help it stand out from the competition that is particularly useful for affiliate marketers (and business owners).
Some of the most notable features are:
- Countdown timer landing pages
- Live Webinars
- Online Surveys
Like the rest of these email marketing services, you should avoid spammy behaviors, promote harmful content, and avoid using deceptive subject lines and misleading content.
You can use GetResponse for affiliate marketing, many features are even ideal for it, however, the email service can be quite pricey in comparison to some of the other options on this list.
If you are new to affiliate marketing, I would suggest a GetResponse alternative with a free plan to get started.
Does MailerLite Allow Affiliate Marketing?
MailerLite does NOT allow affiliate marketing, however, they do allow affiliate links.
You are not allowed to send unrelated offers to your subscribers or pretend to be another brand, but you can promote affiliate links as long as they appear under your own branding and are clearly presented as an offer from another company. These affiliate links also need to be relevant to your audience and your content.
MailerLite and MailChimp have similar Terms of Use, so much so, that you may even be confused as to think they were the same company (they are not).
The limitations of MailerLite are the same as MailChimp, but you can promote affiliate links in your emails as long as they are under your own brand, relevant to your audience, match your content, do not go against anti-spam regulations, do not promote harmful content, are not deceptive, etc. And all affiliate links are disclosed in your email activities clearly.
Again though, if you are unsure as to any of these regulations, you can contact the MailerLite team, or use one of the alternative email marketing services in this post.
Can You Use Constant Contact For Affiliate Marketing?
Constant Contact has not been designed for affiliate marketing and having looked through their various terms of service letters, it does not seem like they allow affiliate marketing or the use of affiliate links, unless it is the promotion of their own affiliate program.
Their terms of use policy are not exactly clear or easy to read, and unlike the other email marketing services listed here, they do not provide much information for affiliate marketers.
Constant Contact is a good tool for creating and managing an eCommerce store with an email list, but I would recommend affiliate marketers look at the other options on this list for a more affiliate-friendly platform. Most of these tools have more powerful email-specific features, with some having a much more affordable price structure.
Final Thoughts: Which Email Marketing Service Should Affiliate Marketers Use?
The best email marketing services for affiliate marketing are ConvertKit, Aweber, GetResponse, and Sendinblue. These tools are clear about what you can do with them, and have general limitations on spam, but do not have specific wording in their terms of use that is largely open to interpretation which can cause your account to be suspended unexpectedly.
For new affiliate marketers, Sendinblue is one of the most affordable options, where you pay based on the number of monthly emails you send (Both ConvertKit and Aweber also have free plans for up to 1,000 and 500 subscribers respectively).
If you are looking for more elaborate affiliate marketing tools, like built-in webinars and countdown timer landing pages, then GetResponse will be your best option. They do not have any free plans (they have a free 30-day trial) but once your list exceeds 5,000 users, their pricing falls in a similar range to their competitors.
Please read through the terms of use policies of any of these services yourself before using them, as this article is based on opinion and not legal advice. If you are unsure of anything, please consult an expert.
