As Barry points out in the comments below, affiliate marketers can use Mailchimp, they just cannot send affiliate links through Mailchimp generated emails. But links back to a site that contains affiliate links should be OK.
Affiliate marketers rely on email as a portion of their marketing mix just as much (if not more so than) all other marketers. One thing affiliates should be cautious of is who they are sending their email content through.
I never would have thought there may be terms of service issues – until I came across this post on MailChimp’s TOS for Affiliates from artofblog –
Turns out MailChimp doesn’t allow affiliate marketers to use their service. At all. In fact, get caught sending affiliate links through MailChimp and your account just might get closed down leaving you with no access to your own list.
Affiliate marketers using MailChimp should initiate their migration process NOW to an email platform that embraces and loves affiliate marketers. Or at least one that won’t give them the boot and lock up their list.
I am a little disappointed to find this out for 2 reasons.
1. I really like MailChimp and have used their service for years (among many others)
2. Their stance against affiliates leads me to believe that they’ve been burned on several accounts by irresponsible affiliate marketers who have abused their lists. I guess a few bad apples really can spoil the whole bunch.
Are you an affiliate using MailChimp or just looking for a new email marketing platform? This post on choosing an email platform may help – or just drop us a line and we’ll help you through the process.
Prohibited Content and Industries
Don’t use MailChimp to send anything offensive, to promote anything illegal, or to harass anyone. You may not send:
- Pornography or other sexually explicit Emails
- Emails offering to sell illegal substances
- Emails that violate the CAN-SPAM Law
Also, there are some industries that send certain types of content that result in higher than normal bounce rates and abuse complaints, which in turn jeopardize the deliverability of our entire system. No offense intended, but because we must ensure the highest delivery rates possible for all our customers, we do not allow businesses that offer these types of services, products, or content:
- Illegal goods or services
- Escort and dating services
- Pharmaceutical products
- Work from home, Internet Lead-gen, Make money on online opportunities, etc.
- Online trading, day trading tips, or stock market related content
- Gambling services, products or gambling education
- Multi-level marketing
- Affiliate marketers
- Credit repair, get-out-of-debt content
- Mortgages and/or Loans
- Nutritional Supplements, Herbal Supplements or Vitamin Supplements
- Pornography or nudity in content
- Adult novelty items or references in content
- List brokers or List rental services
- Marketing or sending commercial email without proper permission
Generally speaking, if you’re in an industry that is frequently associated with spam, you know who you are (it’s probably why you’re reading this far, right?). We make no judgments about your line of business, but we cannot afford to risk our deliverability. In fact, most ESPs like MailChimp will not be able to help you. You will most likely need to look into setting up your own mail servers. The term to search on is “email delivery server.” There are many industrial strength MTAs to choose from with built-in delivery and reporting tools for high-volume senders.
