No MailChimp Affiliate Program - It Gets Worse!
I've seen a lot of people asking about a MailChimp affiliate program. Whether they offer one, and if it's any good.
The short answer for the affiliate marketer's need is "No". They do not offer a commission-based affiliate program.
They do, however, offer credits for referrals that can be used toward your MailChimp service if you pay for premium.
But, like I said, it gets worse.
MailChimp Doesn't Like Affiliate Marketers!
I realize that a free email service up to 2,000 subscribers is tempting, especially when you're just getting started with list building.
But that low price can come at a high cost!
Take a look at this screenshot from MailChimp's terms of "Acceptable Use":
No affiliate marketing businesses. Uh-Oh!
Here's the thing. You might be able to work around this by not actually including any affiliate links in your emails. Use all of you emails to send subscribers to the appropriate page on your site and you MIGHT be okay.
But do you really want to have a list of over a thousand subscribers when MailChimp figures out what you're doing and deletes your account? All those subscribers, lost in an instant?
Don't take that chance.
AWeber and ConvertKit are both awesome services. Paying for the service that does what you need is a whole lot better than trying to fly under the radar at MailChimp and risk losing the email list you worked to build.
Not All Free Services Are Evil!
There are a ton of options out there for free email autoresponders that you can start building your list with.
Just make sure you read the fine print!
Terms of Use... Terms of Service... Acceptable Use... There are a number of names that the policy could go by and/or be listed under. So read them all.
Don't risk losing the results of your hard work to save a few minutes of reading the fine print. Don't risk your efforts being for nothing to save a little money.
You're building a business. Your autoresponder service is a business investment. That means you can recover some of that expense come tax time when you claim it as a business expense, reducing your overall tax liability.
If you're going to put your time and effort into building your business with an email list, make sure you do it the right way.
UPDATE! (I know it's only been about an hour!)
Protect Your List!
I didn't think to mention it as I wrote this because it has become routine for me, but @DBlanchard pointed out in his comment that maintaining an updated CSV file on hand is an incredible idea.
Then, should the worst happen, you can put your list back together with a new service provider.
Thanks for the reminder Denis!
Recent Comments
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Good points all. Have been using the MailChimp "carefully" for a short while now, easy to use and the 2,000 user list is an attractive lead-in, but they seem to be missing the mark with their concept of affiliate marketing being a no-no.
I have been looking at all the email programs from Aweber on - Drip and ConvertKit seem to be two good programs for the affiliate marketer.
Dallas
I've played around with AWeber, and I liked it a lot. But I use ConverKit now. The setup is very intuitive and easy to figure out. And if you get stuck they've got an amazing library of video guides.
Thank you. Because of this discussion i have done more research. I think i need to change over to Benchmark email. Thanks for letting me know
Glad i could help you avoid any problems. I'm not familiar with Benchmark, so I don't know their terms. Just read carefully!
I have been having a low spirit about joining MailChimp but this time I did but have not known if I have got a subscriber or not this post have put chills on me. Don't know what to do now. Any suggestion can be welcome.
You can log into your account and view your subscribers any time. I've never used MailChimp, so I can't help you with navigating to that page. When you get there, if you do have subscribers, you can migrate them to another provider. If you don't have any subscribers yet just close the account and find a better provider.
I got burned just a couple of days ago! Mailchimp has suspended my account? where to go now? Thought that they seemed alright with the free account for up to 2000 subscribers before paying anything, just to get an email saying my account was suspended after creating my first campaign.
All I did was actually send my subscribers to my WA link, so they (MailChimp) caught up right away! So yeah, don't take a chance with them if you are promoting WA.
Like you say in your blog Make sure to read the fine prints - I did NOT so it's my own fault! :)
I am not a big fan of those terms of service but it's a lesson learned!
Found another service (Benchmark email) which claim that if I have an opt-in and send them a promised product I should be ok! We'll see how that goes.
I will make sure to have a CSV file of my list updated every time I have a new subscriber...
Sorry to hear about that. I've let a few people know about that trap in Live Chat, and have been meaning to write a warning post. Wish I'd gotten it up sooner now. And great idea about keeping an updated CSV on hand. I do the same, but didn't think to mention it. I'll add it now though!
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Aweber is awesome and they have a very nice affiliate program. They pay a recurring 30% commission.
Their affiliate program is amazing. So is ConverKit's. I can't recall the commission off hand, but theirs is recurring as well.