Is affiliate marketing better than sponsored placements in an investing newsletter?

Hi! The cleanest way to compare affiliate links vs. sponsored placements is to run them like real experiments and judge them on both revenue and reader health—e.g., revenue per 1,000 delivered emails and changes in unsubscribes/spam complaints/reply sentiment—because the “best” monetization format is the one that makes money without quietly eroding trust or deliverability.

Here’s a practical way to compare them (without getting fooled by randomness):

1) Pick the right scorecard (don’t use clicks alone)
Track each send (or each campaign variant) with a small set of metrics:

• Revenue per 1,000 delivered (RPMD) = revenue ÷ delivered × 1,000 (better than per “sent”)
• Revenue per click (EPC) and conversion rate (for affiliate)
• Effective CPM (for sponsors) = sponsor fee ÷ delivered × 1,000
• List health: unsubscribe rate, spam complaint rate (from your ESP), and reply rate/qualitative feedback
• Engagement: click-through rate and “active readers” over time (affiliate can win short-term but hurt long-term if it feels pushy)

2) Run a fair test design
If you can, do one of these:

• A/B test within the same issue: 50% get sponsored placement, 50% get affiliate-style contextual links (keep subject line, send time, and core content the same).
• Holdout test over several sends: keep ~10–20% of your list on a “no monetization” version for a few weeks. This tells you what monetization is doing to unsubscribes and engagement versus baseline.
• Rotate formats across the same content series: if true A/B isn’t possible, rotate formats across similar issues and compare averages over multiple sends (at least a few) to smooth volatility.

3) Normalize by segment
In investing/trading newsletters, reader intent varies a lot. Compare results by key segments such as:

• New subscribers (first 30 days) vs. established readers
• Highly engaged (clicked in last 30–60 days) vs. inactive
• Topic interest tags (options, long-term investing, crypto, macro, etc.)

Often the “winner” differs by segment—affiliate links may crush for high-intent readers, while sponsors might be safer for new subs until trust is earned.

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Best practices for affiliate links (trust + deliverability)

Keep trust intact

• Disclose clearly and consistently. A short plain-language disclosure near the first affiliate mention (and/or in the footer) is usually enough: “Some links are affiliate links, which may earn me a commission at no extra cost to you.” If you’re making recommendations in a financial niche, clarity matters even more.
• Stay selective. Promote only products/pages you’d be comfortable recommending with zero commission. Readers can feel “link stuffing.”
• Don’t blur editorial and ad intent. Contextual is fine, but make sure the recommendation is genuinely relevant to the paragraph, not shoehorned.
• Limit frequency. A simple rule of thumb: one primary affiliate CTA per issue (plus maybe one secondary) tends to feel intentional rather than salesy.

Protect deliverability

• Use clean, consistent linking. Too many redirects/shorteners/tracking hops can look spammy. If your affiliate program requires tracking parameters, keep the chain as short as possible and avoid unnecessary link shorteners.
• Balance content-to-links. Lots of links, especially to multiple domains, can increase filtering risk. Keep the email readable even if someone never clicks.
• Watch domain reputation. If an affiliate destination domain is low-quality or frequently flagged, it can hurt you. If you notice a sudden drop in inboxing or clicks after adding a particular offer, pause it and retest.
• Maintain authentication and list hygiene. Strong DKIM/SPF/DMARC alignment (handled in your sending setup) plus removing/pausing unengaged subscribers helps offset the added “commercial” signals.
• Make unsubscribe obvious. Hiding it is the fastest path to spam complaints, which is what really hurts deliverability.

A smart hybrid approach (often best in finance newsletters)
Many publishers do well with:

• Sponsored placement for predictable baseline revenue (simple, fixed fee), and
• Contextual affiliate links only where they truly add value (tools/research/education), measured for incremental lift and list impact.

If you tell me roughly how often you send (daily/weekly) and whether sponsors are flat-fee CPM-style or performance-based, I can suggest a simple test calendar and a reporting template that makes the comparison pretty unambiguous.