The golden rule is to read the vendor’s rules about affiliate marketing. You can find these in terms and policy documents or by searching on Google. If a service is clear that it doesn’t allow affiliate marketing, don’t use it.
Some email marketing platforms don’t tell you what they do and don’t allow. In that case, there are a few general rules you can follow. These are all best practice examples to follow to avoid your email campaigns being marked as spam:
– Never use third-party lists. Make sure all subscribers have opted in to receive marketing emails from you. Don’t use bought or rented email lists.
– Make it clear in every email that your message contains affiliate links. And that you’re earning a commission from them.
– Include an unsubscribe link in every email and make it easy to find. If your readers can’t find the unsubscribe link, they’ll find “mark as spam” for sure.
– Keep on top of your list hygiene. Remove unengaged and bounced contacts from your list from time to time to keep your email list clean.