Recently I did a full review of Active Campaign, on which I’m getting good feedback (and hopefully helping people to make their minds up as to whether or not this is the right product for their needs).
One question I see that pops up now and then is whether or not you can use Active Campaign for affiliate marketing.
Active Campaign’s unique approach to automation funnels has MASSIVE potential for affiliates. Imagine being able to give away lead hooks (ebooks, a video course, or whatever) and then put your leads into funnels where you can follow up with targeted messages based on interactions and actions.
I mean it’s pretty much made for affiliate marketing, right?
Well unfortunately, you’d be wrong. That’s because Active Campaign isn’t friendly towards affiliate marketers.
Here it is, straight from the horse’s mouth:
You can read the full TOS here, which is definitely worth studying because there are a few exceptions that might be worth taking a look at.
I must admit that I haven’t yet tried doing any form of affiliate marketing with Active Campaign, but I am looking for a platform that I can use on this very humble website to help keep readers informed about the types of products they are interested in. A “normal” emailing platform like Mailchimp might not be entirely suitable.
My understanding is as follows:
- If every email you send is a “call-to-action” promotion for an affiliate product, you won’t be welcome on Active Campaign
- If you’re promoting make money at home/make money online products (and you’re probably building your list through things like solo ads) then you definitely will run into issues.
- If you are providing high-quality content in your emails and occasionally include an affiliate link as part of that content, then you may be okay – especially if you’re not operating in a niche that isn’t related to the classic “MMO” niche.
I’ve heard anecdotal evidence of some people getting away with affiliate marketing on Active Campaign, and others getting pinged before they’ve even got out of the blocks. My thought is that if you are providing real value to your readers, then you might be able to get away with the occasional posting of affiliate links.