You’ve heard that having an email list is important. The old saying is the money is in the list or the money is in the follow up. Both statements are absolutely true! Affiliate marketers do your self a favor and stay away from Mailchimp!
I get it. You’re just starting out and all the tools and monthly fees can add up quickly. You need to follow up with your 300 leads and Mailchimp supports 2,000 leads for free. Please resist the urge to take advantage of this offer to avoid future headaches.
Why To Not Use Mailchimp
Let me start by admitting Mailchimp is a good platform. They have a user friendly interface and very good deliverability. However, the problem is they don’t allow affiliate marketing. If you’re new to the affiliate game you probably didn’t even realize that.
When I began sending mass emails it started as only a monthly newsletter for my music blog. I included random affiliate links here and there with no issues and saw great results. I then started a clickbank campaign for a product I was sending Facebook ads to. Immediately I was banned from Mailchimp!
Not only was I restricted from sending emails to my new leads for the clickbank product but also to my music blog followers as well.
All the hard work went down the drain. Luckily Mailchimp allowed me to export all my email contacts. Take it from me, this is the number one reason you should stay away from Mailchimp.
Grey Area
Here’s the deal. Mailchimp allows affiliate links but not affiliate marketing. It’s vague and there is a grey area here. So what’s the difference? Essentially affiliate marketing is a campaign where most of the work is done by a third party. Where as affiliate links are more of an agreement between the affiliate and the business. Let’s say you you recommend a pair of shoes to your audience and leave an affiliate link. That’s ok. Now, let’s say you recommend a course on how to jump higher with those shoes. That’s not ok. Save yourself the misery and just stay away from this service if you are an affiliate.
I don’t blame Mailchimp for having a policy like this. At the end of the day for them reliability and deliverability is their top priority. There are a lot of spammers in the affiliate marketing world who ruin this Industry for others.
Mailchimp Referral Program
As an affiliate marketer you should really be recommending products and services you use. It’s easier to promote and stand by something you believe in and trust. With Mailchimp they don’t even have their own affiliate program. Rather, they have a referral program where you earn credit toward your Mailchimp account. With so many handsome affiliate programs for email autoresponder’s this is just another reason to stay away from Mailchimp.
Mailchimp Alternatives
There are countless alternatives to Mailchimp that actually allow affiliate marketing. I recommend trying out a few different ones to see what works best for you. How is the deliverability, ease of use, etc. GetResponse, AWeber and MailingBoss are all viable choices to try out. If you are on a tight budget MailingBoss allows you to send emails to 100 leads for free. Their highest paid plan allows you to send to unlimited contacts for only $69.90/month, which blows away the competition. All three services offer recurring affiliate commissions as well!
The Work Around For Affiliates
The best way to promote any kind of affiliate program is to not send affiliate links at all. Use email platforms to build relationships and send subscribers to your YouTube channel or blog posts. This is effective for a couple of reasons. It allows you to avoid the spam folder most of the time while driving traffic to your platform of choice. By doing this you are giving your audience a better way to really get to know you.
If you enjoyed this article, check out 16 Programs With Recurring Affiliate Commissions.
This article includes affiliate links. The blog earns a small commission at no extra cost to you. By using our links you help to keep the blog running. Furthermore, this article is not financial advice. I am not a financial advisor and words herein are for entertainment purposes only.
