Difference between revisions of "Affiliates"

Revision as of 22:11, 18 July 2009

WHMCS comes with a built in affiliates system. Affiliates are often key to a business in order to generate revenue by having others refer customers. So with that in mind, WHMCS has a comprehensive affiliate system featuring support for one time and recurring commissions, both percentage or fixed money values, payout delays, minimum withdrawal limits and live stats/info for affiliates from the client area.

Configuration

To configure the affiliates system, go to Setup > General Settings and then select the Affiliates tab. From here you can set the initial bonus deposit amount, the minimum withdrawal level, the payout delay and the percentage to payout.

Affiliate Earning Percentage - The default percentage to pay as commission on all products/services. This can be overidden on a per product basis when configuring a product. And you can then overide the commission settings furthur on a per client basis and set a specific commission rate for an individual affiliate, ideal for rewarding your best affiliates.
Affiliate Bonus Deposit - the amount to default any new affiliates balance to - a way of offering an incentive to new affiliates so they'll reach their first withdrawal level quicker
Affiliate Payout Amount - the amount at which you allow affiliates to withdraw their commission balance, for example $50 or more.

Payout Delay

With the payout delay setting, you can set a period of time to delay paying commission to an affiliate. The idea behind this is to prevent losing money paying commissions for fraudulent orders. The way this works is that instead of paying commission instantly when you are paid, it waits for a period of days and then only pays the commission should the product or service still be active after that period of time has passed. For example you could set it to wait 60 days before paying the commission for a sale on the basis that most fraudulent transactions will have been reported to you within that time.

Affiliate Linking Code

You can specify affiliate link code in the config area. Below is an example:

The above code entered in the Affiliates Link section will display the image preview of the banner first and then the code below it for the affiliate to use. The <( and )> is special syntax which you must use so the code is not executed as true HTML. WHMCS modifies this when displaying it to the client so it will appear as normal HTML.

For more advanced link code, you can add it directly to the affiliates.tpl template file of your active template folder using the template field {$referrallink} wherever you want to include the affiliates unique referral url.

Activating an Affiliate

Clients can activate their affiliate account from the client area but you as an admin can do it from the client summary page also. To do that, locate the client you want to activate using the search or client list and then in the Actions panel click the Activate as Affiliate link.

Managing Affiliates

To view & manage affiliates, go to Clients > Manage Affiliates
To view the affiliate statistics for a specific client, search for that client as normal and from the Client Summary" page, click the View Affiliate Details link in the Actions panel
To view your best performing affiliates, click the Balance column heading to resort the affiliates into order of balance

Assigning an Affiliate to an Existing Order

To assign an affiliate to an order which has already been placed and shows no referral, go to Orders > List and locate the order you want to assign to the affiliate. Once located, click on the Order ID number to open the details for that order. Scroll down to the Affiliate Referral section at the bottom of the page and then choose the Affiliate you want to assign the order to and click Submit to apply it.

Paying Commission for an already paid order

There may be some instances where you apply an affiliate to an order after it has been paid for and that would mean the affiliate has then missed out on the initial commission for that order. To correct that, after assigning the affiliate with the steps above, open the affiliates page (see Managing Affiliates above) and then on the Referrals list for the affilate, click the Manual Payout button next to the new account. That will perform the equivalent action of an invoice being paid by the end user for a referred order in terms of crediting the affiliate.

Affiliates Cookie

The affiliates cookie by default is set to last for 90 days on the users computer. You can change the number of days it lasts for in the aff.php file.

Multi Currency

When you select the %age it will pay x% of whatever currency the user pays you in and convert it to the affiliates' currency using the current exchange rate. If you select to pay a fixed amount that will be paid the same amount in any currency.

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 ==Configuration==
-To configure the affiliates system, go to Configuration > General Settings and then click the Affiliates tab.  From here you can set the initial bonus deposit amount, the minimum withdrawal level, the payout delay and the percentage to payout.
+To configure the affiliates system, go to '''Setup > General Settings''' and then select the '''Affiliates''' tab.  From here you can set the initial bonus deposit amount, the minimum withdrawal level, the payout delay and the percentage to payout.
-==Commission Settings==
+*'''Affiliate Earning Percentage''' - The default percentage to pay as commission on all products/services. This can be overidden on a per product basis when configuring a product.  And you can then overide the commission settings furthur on a per client basis and set a specific commission rate for an individual affiliate, ideal for rewarding your best affiliates.
+*'''Affiliate Bonus Deposit''' - the amount to default any new affiliates balance to - a way of offering an incentive to new affiliates so they'll reach their first withdrawal level quicker
+*'''Affiliate Payout Amount''' - the amount at which you allow affiliates to withdraw their commission balance, for example $50 or more.
-In the General Config you can set the default commission percentage that applies to all products & services.  You can however overide this on a per product basis in the product configuration area setting.  You can then overide the commission settings furthur on a per client basis and set a specific commission rate for an individual affiliate, useful for rewarding your best affiliates.
+===Payout Delay===
-==Payout Delays==
+With the payout delay setting, you can set a period of time to delay paying commission to an affiliate.  The idea behind this is to '''prevent losing money''' paying commissions for fraudulent orders.  The way this works is that instead of paying commission instantly when you are paid, it waits for a period of days and then only pays the commission should the product or service still be active after that period of time has passed.  For example you could set it to wait 60 days before paying the commission for a sale on the basis that most fraudulent transactions will have been reported to you within that time.
-With the payout delay setting you can set a period of time to delay paying commission to an affiliate.  This is an advanced feature and the idea behind this is to reduce losing money paying commissions for fraudulent orders.  The way it works is that instead of paying commission instantly when you are paid, it waits for a period of days and then only pays the commission should the product or service still be active after that period of time has passed.
+===Affiliate Linking Code===
-==Affiliate Linking Code==
 You can specify affiliate link code in the config area.  Below is an example:
@@ Line 24: / Line 24: @@
 </nowiki>
-The above code entered in the Affiliates Link section will display the image preview of the banner first and then the code below it for the affiliate to use.  The <( and )> is special syntax which you must use so the code is not executed as true HTML.  WHMCS modifies this when displaying it to the client so it will appear as normal HTML.
+The above code entered in the Affiliates Link section will display the image preview of the banner first and then the code below it for the affiliate to use.  The '''<(''' and ''')>''' is special syntax which you must use so the code is '''not executed''' as true HTML.  WHMCS modifies this when displaying it to the client so it will appear as normal HTML.
-==Affiliates Cookie ==
+For more advanced link code, you can add it directly to the affiliates.tpl template file of your active template folder using the template field '''{$referrallink}''' wherever you want to include the affiliates unique referral url.
+==Activating an Affiliate==
-The affiliates cookie by default is set to last for 90 days on the users computer. You can change the number of days it lasts for in the aff.php file.
+Clients can activate their affiliate account from the client area but you as an admin can do it from the client summary page also.  To do that, locate the client you want to activate using the search or client list and then in the '''Actions''' panel click the '''Activate as Affiliate''' link.
 ==Managing Affiliates==
-To manage affiliates and view their referrals and earning balance, go to Clients > Manage Affiliates.  This is the one central location that allows you to manage and view everything affiliate related.
+*To view & manage affiliates, go to '''Clients > Manage Affiliates'''
+*To view the affiliate statistics for a specific client, search for that client as normal and from the '''Client Summary" page, click the '''View Affiliate Details''' link in the '''Actions''' panel
+*To view your best performing affiliates, click the '''Balance''' column heading to resort the affiliates into order of balance
 ==Assigning an Affiliate to an Existing Order==
-To assign an affiliate to an order which has already been placed and shows no referral, go to Orders > List and locate the order you want to assign to the affiliate.  Once located, click on the Order ID number to open the details for that order.  Scroll down to the Affiliate Referral section at the bottom of the page and then choose the Affiliate you want to assign the order to and click Submit to apply it.
+To assign an affiliate to an order which has already been placed and shows no referral, go to '''Orders > List''' and locate the order you want to assign to the affiliate.  Once located, click on the '''Order ID''' number to open the details for that order.  Scroll down to the '''Affiliate Referral''' section at the bottom of the page and then choose the Affiliate you want to assign the order to and click Submit to apply it.
 ==Paying Commission for an already paid order==
-There may be some instances where you apply an affiliate to an order after it has been paid for and that would mean the affiliate has then missed out on the initial commission for that order.  To correct that, after assigning the affiliate with the steps above, open the affiliates page (see Managing Affiliates above) and then on the Referrals list for the affilate, click the "Manual Payout" button next to the new account.  That will perform the equivalent action of an invoice being paid by the end user for a referred order in terms of crediting the affiliate.
+There may be some instances where you apply an affiliate to an order after it has been paid for and that would mean the affiliate has then missed out on the initial commission for that order.  To correct that, after assigning the affiliate with the steps above, open the affiliates page (see Managing Affiliates above) and then on the Referrals list for the affilate, click the '''Manual Payout''' button next to the new account.  That will perform the equivalent action of an invoice being paid by the end user for a referred order in terms of crediting the affiliate.
+==Affiliates Cookie ==
+The affiliates cookie by default is set to last for 90 days on the users computer. You can change the number of days it lasts for in the aff.php file.
 ==Multi Currency==
 When you select the %age it will pay x% of whatever currency the user pays you in and convert it to the affiliates' currency using the current exchange rate. If you select to pay a fixed amount that will be paid the same amount in any currency.

Documentation