What is Compliance?
All affiliate marketers have to operate their business legally and ethically. This includes complying with regulations, terms and conditions of social media platforms and affiliate programs. There are several aspects of Compliance including Disclaimer, Disclosure, Terms and Conditions, GDPR, Spamming, Unsubscribe, and Cookie Policies.
Being compliant is part of the administration of an affiliate marketing business and needs to be taken seriously. If an affiliate isn’t compliant, they can incur fines from government agencies or their YouTube channel shut down and other penalties compromising their brand.
Disclaimer
The purpose of a disclaimer is to inform visitors that the information on an affiliates’ site is for informational purposes only, and that the affiliate cannot be held responsible for any decisions a visitor makes based on that information. It should advise visitors to a site that they should seek independent advice/information before making a purchase.
For Example: I’m not a lawyer so please check with an attorney if you need additional information. Or the disclaimer you’ve probably seen on affiliate marketing courses about not being able to guarantee your income but that testimonials are only examples.
Disclosure
On the other hand, a disclosure is a statement that explains your relationship with the brands and products you are promoting. It is meant to be transparent with your audience, and let them know that you may receive compensation for any purchases made through your affiliate links.
Best practice is that affiliate links are not ‘hidden’ or too hard to find. Many affiliate programs will require that an affiliate’s disclosure is easy to find. A disclosure should be posted anytime an affiliate link is included in promotional content – for example a website and YouTube description.
Terms and Conditions
Affiliate programs will ask affiliates to comply with terms and conditions in relation to how products/services will be promoted. In addition, products/services that provide promotional materials like email swipes, images, banners will ask affiliates to comply with rules when using these promotional materials.
Affiliates also need to have ‘Terms and Conditions’ on their website. An affiliates’ ‘Terms and conditions’ policy is a legal agreement between the affiliate and visitors that outlines the rules and conditions of using the affiliates’ site.
GDPR/Spamming/Unsubscribe
General Data Protection Regulation known as GDPR is a European Union (EU) regulation that regulates data protection for EU citizens. As information on the internet can be seen worldwide, affiliate marketers need to be aware of and compliant with GDPR. If you’re an affiliate marketer that collects data – where someone clicked, email addresses, what products/courses a person is buying, etc. then you need to be compliant with GDRP in relation to protecting and securing people’s data. For specific information go to gdpr.eu.
Spamming is the use of messaging systems to send an unsolicited message to a large numbers of recipients. Messages can include texts, emails, and instant messages. Spamming is a violation of GDPR and Google’s rules for using their platforms like Gmail and YouTube. If affiliates engage in spamming they can be fined or have their email accounts and YouTube Channel shutdown. At this time, Google is the largest search engine so for an affiliate to have their email/channel shut down is a brand damaging scenario and could mean that Google won’t surface your content to anyone using their search engine.
Unsubscribe is that affiliates need to provide a way for people to no longer receive messages they’ve signed up to receive. Regulations also state that ‘how-to’ unsubscribe should be easy for people to follow and clearly stated.
Cookie Policy
‘Cookies’ are small text files that a websites can place on a device to store information about when a person visits a site and their preferences. They are used to remember login credentials, shopping cart contents, and other settings so that a person doesn’t have to re-enter them every time they visit a site. Cookies can also be used to track browsing behavior across multiple sites and uses this information to target advertising.
If an affiliate has a website, they need to have a ‘Cookie Policy’. It normally pops-up asking people to agree knowing that Cookies are being used on the site. Having Cookie Policy is part of GDPR to inform site visitors how their data is being tracked, processed, and used.
What Should Affiliates Do Next?
It is an affiliate marketers’ responsibility to know current regulations, and terms and conditions of countries, search engines, and affiliate programs. Every affiliate should review their Landing Pages, Website, and YouTube descriptions to ensure they are compliant. If an affiliate isn’t sure, they should consult a lawyer or attorney. If an affiliate needs a template of any of these policies, there are companies that can provide these free of charge.
