All About Affiliate Manager

All About Affiliate Manager

DOJODIGI Team

Contents:
Introduction
Benefits
Affiliate Dashboard
Creating a Campaign
- Creating an affiliate funnel
- Adding Your Affiliates
- Setting Up
- Managing Payouts
Client Portal (For Your Affiliates)
Affiliate Manager Automations

What is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate marketing is a performance-based marketing strategy where businesses reward affiliates (partners) for driving traffic or sales to their website through the affiliate's marketing efforts. Affiliates promote the business's products or services and earn a commission for each sale or lead generated through their unique referral links.

How Does Affiliate Marketing Benefit My Business?

1. Cost-Effective Marketing:

   • Affiliate marketing is cost-effective because you only pay for actual conversions, reducing wasted advertising spend. According to a study by Forrester Consulting, affiliate marketing generates a return on investment (ROI) of 12:1 on average .

2. Expanded Reach and Audience:

   • Affiliates help you reach new and broader audiences that you might not be able to target directly. This expanded reach can lead to increased brand awareness and higher sales volumes.

3. Improved SEO and Web Traffic:

   • Affiliates create backlinks to your website, which can improve your site's search engine ranking and increase organic traffic. HubSpot reports that companies with a robust affiliate program can see a significant boost in their SEO efforts .

4. Performance-Based Rewards:

   • The performance-based nature of affiliate marketing means you pay for results, ensuring a better allocation of your marketing budget. This model minimizes financial risk while maximizing potential returns.

Should I Do Affiliate Marketing?

According to your business needs, you should consider affiliate marketing if you want to grow your business with minimal upfront investment. It is especially beneficial for small and medium-sized businesses looking to scale quickly. A study by Rakuten Marketing found that 81% of brands rely on affiliate programs to improve their marketing strategies . However, ensure you have a robust affiliate management system in place to track and manage your affiliates effectively.

What is DOJODIGI's Affiliate Manager?

DOJODIGI's Affiliate Manager is a comprehensive tool designed to help businesses manage their affiliate marketing programs efficiently. It allows you to track affiliate performance, manage payouts, and optimize your affiliate strategy all within one platform. Key features include:

• Affiliate Tracking: Monitor clicks, conversions, and sales generated by each affiliate.

• Payout Management: Automate commission calculations and payouts to affiliates.

• Performance Analytics: Gain insights into your affiliate program’s performance with detailed reports.

• Campaign Management: Create and manage multiple affiliate campaigns to target different products or services.

• Affiliate Recruitment: Tools to recruit and onboard new affiliates to expand your marketing reach.

How does the Affiliate Manager work? 

1. Once an affiliate campaign is created and published/live, all the enrolled affiliates will receive their unique affiliate link, which they can share with their network.

2. , When a customer signs up through an affiliate link, the payout, and commission are recorded and published on the ', Payout - Pending' tab on the 1st of the month.

3. The affiliate owner can see the list of all the generated payouts and choose to approve or deny them for a payout.

4. Once approved for a payout, the affiliate owner needs to take an export and upload it on their payment gateway to manually make the payment as per that CSV.to make the payment as per that CSV manually.

5. Once the payment has been made, the affiliate owner needs to update the status in Affiliate Manager to paid so that correct reporting gets reflected for that Affiliate and the overall campaign.

Your Affiliate Dashboard

• Head over to the Marketing tab > Affiliate manager

  

• Get a high level view of your affiliate campaigns and statistics, displaying information like conversion rates, your top affiliates, newest affiliates, pending commissions, payouts and more.

Creating Your Affiliate Campaign

Pre-requisites

1. Stripe is connected (Head to settings > Integrations, connect Stripe & follow the on-screen instructions)

2. A domain is set up and connected (Read more here under "Connecting Your Domain")

3. A product has been set up - This is the product your affiliates are going to sell! (Read more on how to add a new product here under "Products")

Step 1: Create Your Affiliate Funnel

• Create a funnel for your affiliates and input an order form element and your products into it. (Read more on funnels here)

• Setting up an affiliate product is no different than setting up any product within a funnel or website within the system.

  The only difference is that once the funnel has a domain and product setup you would then move into the 'Affiliate Manager Campaign Settings' and filter down to the specific product and funnel/website you just created

  

Step 2: Adding Your Affiliates

• In the affiliate manager drop down menu, click on "Affiliates"

  

• Click on "+ New". There are 4 ways to add affiliates: Individually, Bulk in CSV or from your DOJODIGI contacts and via automations

  • "+ New Affiliate" is to manually add a new affiliate

  • "Add Affiliates" is to add a group of affiliates from a csv file

    • Note the csv file should have the exact headers as shown below to accurately map the fields over

      Custom HTML/CSS/JAVASCRIPT

• Import contacts to the Affiliate Manager

  1. Go to Marketing > Affiliate Manager > Click on '+ Add"

  2. Click on 'Import from Contacts'

     

  3. Select the contacts that you want to import as Affiliates.

• Adding Your Affiliates Automatically via Automations

  • Create a form(with the relevant fields like name, email, phone, etc) and insert it onto your affiliate sign up landing page (Read more on our form builder here)

  • Create an automation as shown below to automatically add all incoming form submissions directly to the affiliate manager

    

    • The Assign to user action notifies your team

    • Adding an affiliate tag helps for better contact segmentation and organisation

    • Add to Affiliate Manager action adds them automatically into the affiliate manager

    • If you wish, you may add them directly into a campaign with the Add to Affiliate Campaign action

• To edit an affiliate's details, click on the 3 vertical dot icon next to your affiliate of choice and click edit

  

Please note:

There is no system generated email when a new affiliate is added. The ONLY time an affiliate receives a system generated email is once the campaign is published/live. The email will contain their unique URL Affiliate ID which they will use when promoting the product/service.

• Checking The Progress Of Your Affiliates

  • Click on the name of your affiliate

  • Here you may view data on the progress of your affiliates throughout all and/or specific campaigns(drop down menu), and sales they brought in and the status of the sale

    

• How to get the Affiliate-id for each Affiliate Manager Campaign

  • Click on the 'Affiliate Manager' drop-down tab > Click on Affiliate > Scroll down and click on the 'Affiliate name' > Toggle between campaigns to see unique Affiliate ID per campaign

    

What is the difference between an active and inactive affiliate?

• Active affiliate - An active affiliate has been added to your campaigns and can use their tracking links to monitor their sales on the platform. This feature lets you easily keep tabs on how well your affiliates perform.

• Inactive affiliate - Inactive affiliates cannot be linked to campaigns, and any tracking links will no longer work. However, their historical data from the affiliate manager is still stored and can be accessed.

How to mark an affiliate as active or inactive?

An affiliate can be marked as active or inactive by clicking the icon on the 'Status' column.

Step 3: Setting Up

An affiliate marketing campaign consists of one or more configurations that decide how an affiliate marketing campaign flows from start to finish, it can be as simple as a single link, or it can be a complex multi-step funnel with many moving parts. The key is to have the right configuration for your business and its goals.

Please note:

The affiliate campaign can only go live once the respective products and affiliates have been selected. You will not be able to publish a campaign until these requirements have been met. 

You can always save an affiliate campaign and later come back and add affiliates and or products/services.

• In the Affiliate Manager drop down menu, click on "Campaigns"

• Click on "+Add"

• Fill out details like your campaign name, select your campaign funnel (refer to step 1), add your affiliates, select your payout frequency - which is how often your affiliates get paid, commission percentage, cookie life - which the number of days the cookie will stay in the lead's browser/ how long the link will attribute back to the affiliate (industry average is about 30 days)

  

• Note, once you create the campaign, it cannot be edited

• Once the campaign is created, an email will be sent to your affiliates with their own unique links

  • This email can be customised and branded. To do so, you will have to create an email template first in our email builder and select it in the option for email templates in the campaign creator(Read more on Email Marketing here)

When should I create multiple campaigns?

The affiliate manager creates multiple campaigns when you have different:

• The landing page your affiliate's users will visit

• Product on which the commission would be applicable on

• Affiliates who will promote the product

• Affiliate commission percentages

• Affiliate payout frequency

Example: You set up two campaigns, one for your regular affiliates who will receive a commission of 20% per sale, and another campaign for your influencers who will receive a 30% commission per sale.

Can an affiliate be part of multiple campaigns?

Yes, an affiliate can be part of multiple campaigns and each campaign will provide a unique affiliate link to the affiliates. Make sure when setting up the products that you don't link the same product across multiple campaigns as this will skew your numbers.

My Affiliate Campaign won't publish. What can I do?

The green color indicates that the campaign is 'Live' and the red color indicates that the campaign is 'Paused' (see the image above).

A campaign gets created in a paused state if

• Stripe is not connected

• Affiliates are not added

Step 4: Managing Your Payouts

Please note:

- Affiliate commission is tracked via a sale happening first in Stripe. The system does not currently track refunds for One-time products or Subscriptions. We suggest delaying the payout to 30 or 60 days to avoid payouts when a sale is cancelled/refunded

- For subscription cancellations, the Affiliate Manager administrator can choose to pay 15, 30 or 60 days after the sale has occurred. This allows for sufficient time for the administrator to deny commission if the subscription gets canceled. Once canceled the lead will move into the churned category and can later be re-activated by initiating another checkout or enrolling them again in Stripe.

- The affiliate commission can be one-time or recurring depending on the Stripe product being sold.

- Payments are a manual process that would need to be done by the Affiliate Manager Administrator. You cannot pay your affiliates directly through DOJODIGI and must do so via your own payment gateways. For recording and ease, you may export your affiliates an payout data by clicking on the export button. Once you have paid them you may label them as paid.

- If a coupon is used during check-out, the discount value is considered revenue and the commission is calculated off that discounted value

- Your affiliate needs to go through their unique affiliate link to have their sales and commissions recorded in the system

• In the Affiliate Manager drop down, click on 'Payouts'

You'll see the 4 sub-tabs that indicate the payout status: Pending, Approved for payout, paid, denied payout

1. Pending- All the payouts across all campaigns get populated in this status month-wise. The affiliate owner is expected to come here and approve the affiliates that are eligible for a payout. The affiliate owner can see the break-up of every affiliate's payout at a campaign and month level by clicking on the three dots.

If a commission is not applicable for an affiliate, the affiliate owner can 'Deny Payout' and that card gets moved to the 'Denied Payout' tab

2. Approved for Payout- Once a payout has been approved from the Pending tab, it comes to the 'Approved for payout' tab where the affiliate owner is expected to fetch an export of the affiliate names and the amount they are owed and upload it on their payment gateway. Once payment to the affiliate is made, the affiliate owner is expected to mark the affiliate payouts as 'Paid'.

The affiliate owner can move a payout back to pending from this tab.

3. Paid- This tab shows a list of all the affiliates that have received a payout along with the date of the transaction. Payouts can not be moved from this status. This is the final status for a payout journey.

Please note:

You cannot pay your affiliates directly through DOJODIGI and must do so via your own payment gateways. For recording and ease, you may export your affiliates an payout data by clicking on the export button. Once you have paid them you may label them as paid.

4. Denied Payouts - If a payout for an affiliate has been denied, they come to this tab. A payout can be denied through any of the following tabs

1. Pending 

2. Approved for payout

How are payouts generated?

Payouts get generated in the 'Payouts' screen under the 'Pending' tab on the 1st of every month and the column 'Due' reflects the date on which the payout should be done to the affiliate based on the configurations done for the campaign they were enrolled into.

Payouts are generated for a specific interval and the ability to make actual payments at a later date. This is mostly used to cover refunds and other issues that might occur.

Client Portal

What is a Client Portal?

• A client portal is a secure online gateway where clients can log in to access courses, communities, and affiliate payouts at any time! It is where your community groups and courses are hosted!

• Read more on our courses & membership builder feature here!

Editing Your Client Portal:

1. Access Dashboard:

   • Head to the Sites tab > Client Portal page > Dashboard

     

   • Click the dropdown and select "Dashboard" to manage portal activities. Send invite links or login emails for direct access without passwords.

2. Settings:

   

   • Domain Setup: Configure the domain for your client portal. This can also be done in the course settings page in the memberships tab.

   • Branding: Edit branding details of the client portal. This can also be done in the course settings page in the memberships tab.

   • App Permissions: Enable or disable client portal functions (courses, membership groups, affiliate programs). Change the default landing page, with "Home" recommended as the default.

     

In the portal, your affiliates can:

Tracking Campaign Success: The dashboard on the Client Portal shows the count of leads, customers, and canceled customers who have signed up through an affiliate's links. This information can help your affiliates assess the success of their marketing efforts. They can identify which campaigns are working best and where to improve.

Viewing Payment Information: By accessing the Commission screen, affiliates can view their earned commissions, the amount owed to them, and the total revenue they have generated for your business. This transparency can encourage trust and motivate them to improve their performance further.

Identifying Effective Channels: By analyzing the leads and customers who have signed up through their links (accessible on the Leads/Customers screen), affiliates can identify which channels or platforms bring in the most sign-ups. They can then focus their efforts on these channels to maximize conversions.

Planning Future Campaigns: All the statistics in the Client Portal can inform future marketing campaigns. Affiliates can identify successful strategies from their stats and replicate these in future campaigns.

Evaluating the Impact of Inactive Campaigns: Affiliates who are part of inactive campaigns can still view their stats, even if they can't use their affiliate links. They could use these statistics to evaluate the potential impact of these campaigns if they were to become active again.

Analyzing Customer Behavior Post-Sign-Up: With information on canceled customers, affiliates can understand the reasons behind customer drop-offs and strategize ways to minimize them.

Improving Communication with the Business: Regularly checking their stats allows affiliates to have informed discussions with your team about their performance, issues, or suggestions for the affiliate program.

Please note: The information in the Client Portal can only be as accurate as the input data. Ensure all relevant data for your affiliates is correctly and promptly entered and updated.

How can Affiliates Access the Client Portal?

Adding Affiliate to Campaign: 

As an account owner, navigate to the Affiliate Manager and add your affiliate to an active campaign. Once added, they will automatically receive an email invitation to sign up on your client portal.

Please Note:

If your affiliate does not receive the invitation email, advise them to check their spam or junk folders. If the email is not there, double-check that you entered their email address correctly and that the campaign is active.

Affiliate Sign-Up: 

Your affiliate should click the link in the invitation email. This will redirect them to a sign-up page. Ask them to follow the prompts to create their account.

Please Note:

If your affiliate is having trouble signing up, advise them to ensure they enter the correct details and have a strong internet connection.

Affiliate Login: 

Once your affiliate has created their account, they can log in to the MyPortal app using their credentials or a one-time password provided during the sign-up process.

Please Note:

If your affiliate is having trouble logging in, advise them to ensure they are using the correct credentials. If they forgot their password, they can reset it using the "Forgot Password" function.

Accessing the Affiliate Dashboard: 

Once logged in, your affiliate will land on the Affiliate Dashboard, where they can view their stats and affiliate links.

Please Note:

If the affiliate dashboard is not immediately visible upon login, instruct your affiliate to click on the 9 dots in the top right corner and choose "Affiliates."

Affiliate Manager Automations

DOJODIGI's smart Automation & Workflows feature is a game-changer for any business looking to streamline operations, enhance efficiency, and drive growth. Transform how you manage tasks, communicate with customers, and handle everyday processes. Our powerful automation tool covers Affiliate Manager as well.

Here are some simple DOJODIGI Automation ideas for Affiliate manager:

With DOJODIGI workflows and automations, the possibilities are endless. While we can't cover everything in this post, we're here to teach you the basics and the logic behind building your own workflows. Learn more here.

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We will be briefly going through the automation actions related to affiliate manager and their use cases.

1. Affiliate Sales (Trigger)

   This trigger is activated whenever an affiliate makes a sale.

   Usage Cases:
   1. Congratulatory Email/SMS to the Affiliate

   • Benefit: Fosters a positive affiliate experience, boosting morale and encouraging continued engagement. Affiliates feel acknowledged and appreciated, leading to increased loyalty and higher performance.

   2. Notification Email/SMS to the Customer

   • Benefit: Enhances customer satisfaction and engagement by acknowledging their purchase promptly. Customers feel valued, creating a positive post-purchase experience and potentially increasing customer retention.

   3. Add Customer Tag for Segmentation

   • Benefit: Enables targeted marketing efforts by automatically categorizing customers based on their purchase behavior. This segmentation allows for personalized communication, improving the effectiveness of marketing campaigns.

   4. Add Notes and Tasks for Customer

   • Benefit: Enhances customer relationship management by providing a centralized platform for tracking post-sale interactions. Notes and tasks help in creating a comprehensive customer profile, enabling better-informed decisions and improved customer service.

2. Add Manual Sales (Action)

   The Add Manual Sales For An Affiliate action in workflows allows you to assign manual sales for specific affiliate in the selected affiliate campaigns. After the action the commissions will be calculated according to the campaign's default commission settings and get assigned to the affiliate accordingly

   Usage Cases:

   1. Automate Recurring Manual Commissions: Automatically assign manual sales and commissions to an affiliate on a periodic basis. This is particularly useful for recurring sales that occur outside the system or are not tracked by the system, ensuring affiliates receive their commissions consistently.

   2. Track Offline Sales: Capture and credit sales made offline or through channels not tracked by DOJODIGI. By automating manual sales entries, you ensure that all affiliate-driven sales are accounted for, enhancing the accuracy of your commission tracking.

      • To do this, we recommend creating a page/funnel with a form for your affiliates to key in any offline sales. When the form is submitted, it will trigger the system to automatically add the sale using the add manual sale action.

      • To level this up, you may add a assign to user action to notify your team, add a wait 30 days action(incase the lead churns), add a send an internal notification action to your assigned team member, add trigger links in the internal notification to be clicked to "approve" and validify the sale. Create a new workflow, add a trigger linked clicked trigger to activate the workflow and then add a add manual sale action

   3. Reward Affiliate Engagement: Automatically add manual sales to recognize and reward affiliates for non-monetary contributions or specific achievements. This can include actions like attending training sessions, providing exceptional customer support, or generating high-quality leads.

3. Add Leads under an Affiliate (Action)

   The Add Leads under an Affiliate action in workflows allows you to add leads under a specific affiliate campaign and affiliate. With this action, you can specify the affiliate campaign and then choose the affiliates within that campaign under whom you want to add the new lead.

   Usage Cases:

   1. Reward Lead Generation: Use this action to add a lead when someone fills out a form, survey, or calendar. Subsequently, use the "Manual Sales" action to assign a manual sale and generate commissions for the sale. This allows users to reward affiliates for generating leads and provide commissions for successful sales.

   2. Custom Lead Nurturing: Automatically assign leads to affiliates for targeted nurturing and follow-up. Affiliates can then engage with the leads, providing personalized communication to increase the likelihood of conversion.

   3. Simplify Administrative Tasks: Reduce the manual effort involved in assigning leads to affiliates by automating the process, saving time and minimizing errors in lead allocation.