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We are often asked by merchants how to go about creating an FTC Affiliate Disclosure and why you even need one. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requires by law to disclose relationships that could influence the endorsement or promotion of products.
No matter how big or small the promotion, all affiliate marketers are required to do this. FTC Affiliate Disclosure is designed for this purpose and helps ensure transparency with audiences and legal compliance.
This article teaches you what an FTC Affiliate Disclosure is, why you need one, who needs one, and best practices for creating one. With this information, you can easily create an affiliate disclosure for yourself.
Note: If you want to start your own affiliate program for your ecommerce brand, I’d suggest using ReferralCandy. It offers a 30-day free trial and can help you start and scale your first affiliate or referral program.
An FTC affiliate disclosure is a mandatory statement set by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that affiliate marketers use to inform their audience about any financial relationships or incentives they have with the products or brands they promote.
For example, if a beauty blogger writes a review about a new skincare product and includes affiliate links to purchase that product, they must disclose that they are earning a commission from any sales made through those links.
As an affiliate marketer, you may get compensated in many ways, such as:
No matter what compensation you receive, it must be disclosed to consumers through the affiliate disclosure.
Anyone who promotes products/services online and receives compensation must use affiliate disclosures. This often includes bloggers, social media influencers, content creators, website owners, podcasters, YouTubers, and anyone else promoting products or services.
An FTC affiliate disclosure is a must-have for a few reasons:
Creating an effective FTC affiliate disclosure involves several steps to ensure transparency and compliance with regulations. The following steps are based on the FTC website, which shares the best practices for creating affiliate disclosures.
FTC mentions that you should position the affiliate disclosure where consumers are likely to see it, such as near affiliate links or prominently within the content. Ensure consumers can easily connect the disclosure with the specific product or service being promoted without searching for related information elsewhere.
For example, here is how Forbes has selected their placement:
As you can see, affiliate disclosure is one of the first things readers see when reading a Forbes article.
Avoid placing it in obscure locations, such as the bottom of a webpage, or in areas where consumers are less likely to look, such as sidebars or footnotes.
This is what the FTC mentions about the importance of clear disclosures:
Their main point is that you should use clear and simple language that consumers can easily understand. Avoid jargon or dense blocks of text that obscure the disclosure's message.
While font size isn't any deciding thing, you should still ensure the disclosure is large enough to be easily read without requiring consumers to zoom in or strain to see it.
Avoid using fonts that are too small or placing the disclosure where it can be easily overlooked, such as in the fine print or against a busy background.
Integrate the disclosure seamlessly into your content to complement rather than disrupt the user experience.
Ensure it's clear and readily understandable, helping consumers make informed decisions without feeling misled.
Next, let's examine examples of affiliate disclosure in different channels. You can use these ideas as an inspiration for your own affiliate disclosures.
This is how Smart Bark showcases its affiliate disclosure in its blog articles. The disclosure is at the start of the post, making it easy for readers to understand and read.
Smart Bark also links to a specific page, where they explain more about the affiliate disclosure.
GLAMOUR uses a simple and effective text for its affiliate disclosure.
The font differs from the other text on the site, which is something you may want to try when creating your affiliate disclosures. Similarly to Smart Bark, they also link to an additional page, where they explain the process in more detail.
If you want a a highly minimalistic way of displaying your affiliate disclosure, consider taking inspiration from Cosmopolitan. On every product page, they showcase this small piece of text:
This falls within the low end of the FTC's recommendation in terms of how visible affiliate disclosures should be. However, many brands use the same disclosure style, so there should be no problem.
Similarly to Cosmopolitan, Byrdie uses a minimalistic style to showcase its affiliate disclosure. It is visible on every blog article page, on top of the primary heading:
Byrdie also links to an external page, where they explain their evaluation and affiliate process in more detail.
Forbes uses highly visible FTC affiliate disclosure text in its blog articles. Here is one example from their best kitchen sink brands article:
One interesting point you can pick from Forbes' example is that they say the commissions don't affect their editors' opinions or evaluations. This increases customers' trust that the Forbes editors make unbiased decisions.
Here is an example of how Digital PR Tips does their affiliate disclosure in their newsletter. It's simple, to the point, and follows all the required guidelines.
The last line of the paragraph also mentions the author does not recommend products he doesn't believe are useful, which increases trust in customer's eyes. The disclosure is also done naturally in the text, which is good since it doesn't interrupt the reader's flow.
If you promote products/services on a YouTube video, you also need to disclose the brand relationship. Here is an example from Emily Norris on how to do it:
As you can see, the disclosure is added to the product description, which is an ideal place for it. She also mentions the affiliate disclosure during the video, which further increases customers' trust.
Here is an example from an Instagram account, Themeparkmomlife, of how to add your affiliate disclosure to a social media post.
The text simply outlines how they were gifted the toys for free, which they do a review on. While it’s simple, it has all the necessary information for an affiliate disclosure.
FTC affiliate disclosure is a must for all marketers who receive compensation for the products/services they recommend.
While creating an affiliate disclosure isn't the most fun task, it's vital to comply with regulations and increase customer trust. Plus, if you use the advice and examples we provided in this article, creating an affiliate disclosure is relatively quick and easy. You can also read directly from the FTC website for more information about the affiliate disclosure.
Hopefully, our guide was informative to you! If you feel like our article is missing something, you can always get in touch with us! If you want to create your own affiliate program, you can use ReferralCandy to do that. It has a 14-day free trial available and you can also use it to create referral programs.
P.S. If you enjoyed reading this article and want to start your own affiliate program, subscribe to our newsletter to get our latest articles and roundups.
Hey, I'm Elmeri Palokangas. I'm an e-commerce and online marketing specialist with over five years of experience. My expertise extends to various publications and companies, including WordStream, QuickMail, Scribe, Marketcircle, and Digital.com. When I'm not enjoying a cup of coffee and writing awesome articles, you can find me running in the nearby mountains.
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