/
Getting Started With Affiliate Management

Getting Started With Affiliate Management

A Comprehensive Guide to Launching and Managing Your UltraCart Affiliate Program

1.0 Introduction to Affiliate Marketing with UltraCart

Affiliate marketing is a powerful, performance-based strategy for increasing sales and brand awareness. By building a network of partners who promote your products for a commission, you create a cost-effective customer acquisition channel where you only pay for tangible results. This guide serves as a strategic walkthrough of the UltraCart Affiliate Management system, designed to empower e-commerce managers to build, manage, and optimize a successful program from the ground up.

Your First Affiliate Program: A Beginner's Guide to Getting Started

Introduction: The Power of Partnership

Welcome to the world of affiliate marketing! If you're looking for a scalable, cost-effective way to grow your business, you've come to the right place. At its core, an affiliate is "a web site or influencer that drives traffic to another web site in exchange for a percent of sales from users driven to the site."

But it's more than just a definition—it's a fundamental growth strategy. Affiliate marketing is one of the most powerful and least expensive ways to promote your product because it operates on trust and performance. Instead of paying for clicks or impressions, you're paying for results. You get to leverage the established audiences and credibility of your partners, creating a powerful marketing channel with a crystal-clear return on investment.

This guide is your step-by-step roadmap. We'll walk through every essential decision, from the technical setup to the strategic choices that will turn your program from an idea into a revenue-driving engine.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Core Program Setup: Defining Your Foundation

This section covers the essential settings that define your affiliate program's identity and basic rules.

1.1. Naming Your Program

Your first step is to give your program a name and description. These two fields establish its identity for potential partners.

  • Name: This is the name your affiliates will see on their dashboard (e.g., "XYZ Product Bonus Program"). This is a required field.

  • Description: A brief description of your program. While this field is not currently used externally, it's good practice to complete it for your own records. This field is optional.

1.2. The Signup Experience: Your First Impression

You need to make three critical decisions that shape how affiliates join your program. These settings control the legal framework, initial communication, and approval workflow.

  1. The Agreement: This is a required field where you outline the terms and conditions of your affiliate program. It is crucial to cover key issues such as commissions, payout terms, acceptable marketing methods, and fraud prevention.

  2. The Welcome Letter: This is the required email sent to affiliates once their application has been approved. It's your first official communication and a great opportunity to get them excited and equipped to start promoting.

Mentor's Corner: Your welcome letter is a critical onboarding tool. Don't just confirm approval; include a link to their dashboard, a link to your marketing creatives, and the contact email for your affiliate manager. A strong start leads to engaged partners.

  1. Approval Method: You can choose to review each affiliate individually or approve them all automatically. Each method has its own trade-offs.

Option

Key Consideration

Manual Approval

You review each affiliate application before they are accepted into the program. This gives you maximum control over who represents your brand.

Automatic Approval

All signups are instantly approved. Merchants using this option typically weed out unfavorable affiliates later. It's also wise to enable the Captcha feature to prevent fraudulent bots from signing up.

Pro Tip: "It is a good idea to enable the captcha option if you are automatically approving signups."

1.3. How You Track Sales: Cookies and Customer Association

This is the technical core of how your program works, ensuring affiliates get proper credit for the sales they generate.

  • Affiliate Cookie Lifetime: This is the number of days an affiliate gets credit for a sale after a customer clicks their link. A typical lifetime is 30 days, but this can range from 15 to 90 days. Setting it to 999 means the cookie never expires.

  • Prevent Cookie Stomping: This setting determines who gets credit when a customer clicks links from multiple affiliates. If selected, the first affiliate whose link was clicked gets the commission. If not selected, the last affiliate gets the commission.

  • Associate Affiliate with Customer Profile: A powerful option that links an affiliate to a customer's profile after their first purchase. This ensures the original affiliate receives credit for all future orders from that customer, even if a cookie is no longer present. This only applies to new customer profiles created from that initial order.

Mentor's Note: Consider a longer lifetime (60-90 days) for high-ticket items with a longer sales cycle, and a shorter one (15-30 days) for impulse buys or low-cost products. The right lifetime aligns with your customer's buying journey.

Now that you've established the basic rules and tracking for your program, it's time to decide on the most important part: how your affiliates will get paid.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. Deciding on Commissions: How to Reward Your Partners

This section breaks down how to structure payments to your affiliates, which is the primary incentive for them to promote your products.

2.1. Your Primary Commission Strategy

You have two main strategies for setting commissions: applying a single rate across your entire store or setting custom rates for specific products.

Strategy

How It Works

Best For...

Global Commission

A single commission percentage that applies to all items in your store.

Merchants with many items who want a simple, store-wide commission rate.

Individual Item Commission

A specific commission (either a fixed dollar amount or a percentage) set for each individual product.

Merchants who want to offer different commission rates for different products. This setting will always override any global commission you have set.

Pro Tip: When starting out, a simple Global Commission is often best. You can introduce Individual Item Commissions or Commission Groups later to incentivize top performers or promote specific products.

2.2. A Word of Caution: Multi-Tier Programs

A multi-tier (or "downline") program is a structure where affiliates are rewarded not only for their direct sales but also for sales made by other affiliates they recruit. While this can encourage recruitment, it adds significant complexity and cost.

"Few merchants utilize the downline feature. We recommend you enter '0' (zero) since this feature can have substantial economic consequences."

2.3. Organizing Affiliates with Commission Groups

Commission Groups are a flexible tool that allows you to create different commission structures for different sets of affiliates. This is perfect for creating strategic tiers. For example, you could create:

  • A "VIP Affiliates" group with a higher commission rate to reward your top performers.

  • A "Content Partners" group for bloggers and influencers who get your standard rate.

  • A "PPC Specialists" group for partners who drive high volume through paid ads and might receive a lower, specialized rate.

This lets you manage multiple payment tiers without complexity.

With your financial rules established, the next step is to manage the affiliates themselves and their day-to-day activities.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3. Managing Your Program Day-to-Day

This section outlines the recurring tasks involved in running your affiliate program once it's live.

3.1. Your Command Center: The Overview Tab

The Overview tab acts as your dashboard for pending tasks that require your attention. The three main tasks that can appear here are:

  1. Approve New Affiliate Signups: If you chose manual approvals, new applications will appear here for you to review and process.

  2. Approve Commissions for Sales: You can review transactions to check for potential fraud before approving the associated commissions for payout.

  3. Approve Invisible Links: Affiliates may submit special link types that require your approval before they become active.

3.2. Adding a New Affiliate Manually

In addition to having affiliates sign up through your public form, you can also add a new affiliate manually by clicking the New button on the Affiliates tab. This is particularly useful for directly onboarding a specific partner, influencer, or business you've already established a relationship with.

Now that you know how to manage your affiliates, it's time to give them the tools they need to be successful.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4. Equipping Your Affiliates for Success

Providing high-quality marketing materials makes it easy for your affiliates to promote your products effectively.

4.1. Creating Marketing Links and "Creatives"

In affiliate marketing, "Creatives" are the advertising assets—like images and text—that you provide for your partners to use. You can create several types of links for them:

  • Text Links: Pre-written marketing copy with an embedded hyperlink.

  • Image Links: Banners, product photos, and other graphics that affiliates can place on their website or social media.

  • Invisible & Simple Links: These are special "naked" hyperlinks that don't have visible affiliate tracking parameters in the URL. For these to work correctly, a tracking script must be placed on the landing page of your website. This creates a cleaner, more trustworthy-looking link for affiliates to share, as it doesn't contain a long string of tracking characters.

4.2. Providing Ready-to-Use Email Templates

You can create pre-written email templates that appear directly on the affiliate's dashboard. This makes it incredibly easy for them to market your products to their email lists, ensuring your brand's messaging stays consistent while saving your affiliates valuable time.

With your affiliates equipped, the final steps are paying them for their hard work and analyzing the program's overall performance.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5. Payouts and Performance: Closing the Loop

This final section covers the operational tasks of paying your affiliates and measuring the success of your program.

5.1. How to Pay Your Affiliates

The system provides several key settings to manage how and when you pay your partners.

  • Payment Method: You can pay affiliates via check or PayPal MassPay. For the "Allow Payment via PayPal" option, the system's documentation notes, "We recommend this option."

  • Commission Reversals: By enabling the "Reverse Commissions on Refunded Orders" setting, any commissions paid on an order will be automatically deducted from an affiliate's balance if that order is later refunded to the customer.

  • Handling Repeat Orders: You can reward affiliates for long-term customer value by enabling settings like "Pay Commissions on Repeat Orders by Email" and "Pay Commissions on Auto Orders," which credit the original affiliate for recurring purchases.

5.2. Measuring Success with Reports

The Reports tab is your hub for analyzing your program's performance. It contains several key reports and tools that help you answer critical questions:

  • Commission Analysis: Who earned what commission on which specific orders?

  • Sales Summary: How many sales are my affiliates generating each day?

  • All Affiliates: Who are my top-performing affiliates over a specific time period?

  • Fraud Review Tool: Is anyone trying to abuse the system? The most common fraud this tool will find is customers signing up as affiliates to reduce the amount they pay for a product.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Conclusion: Your Program is Live—Now What?

Congratulations! You've successfully configured the foundation of your affiliate program. You’ve defined your rules, set your commissions, and prepared your marketing materials. The technical setup is complete, but your journey as an affiliate manager is just beginning.

Here are your next steps to build momentum and grow a thriving program:

  • Actively Recruit Your First 5-10 Affiliates: Don't wait for them to find you. Reach out to loyal customers, industry bloggers, and influencers who align with your brand.

  • Communicate Regularly: Use the Dashboard News feature to post updates, announce promotions, and share tips with your partners. An engaged affiliate is an effective affiliate.

  • Schedule a Monthly Review: Set aside time each month to dive into your reports. Identify your top performers, look for trends, and make sure your program is on track to meet its goals.

A successful affiliate program is a living, breathing part of your business. By actively managing and nurturing it, you’ll build strong partnerships that drive sustainable growth for years to come.

1.1 The UltraCart Affiliate Ecosystem

The fundamental concept of an affiliate program is to recruit partners who market your products in exchange for a commission on the sales they generate. The UltraCart Affiliate Management system is the command center for this entire ecosystem, providing a robust suite of tools to manage every aspect of the affiliate relationship.

The system is organized into eight primary management tabs:

Management Tab

Core Function

Overview

Provides a summary of pending tasks requiring manager approval, such as signups, reviewing invisible links submissions, reviewing affiliate commissions.

Settings

Controls the basic configuration and foundational rules of the affiliate program.

Commissions

Controls the commission structure paid out to affiliates.

Email Templates

Allows the merchant to define email templates that affiliates can use for marketing.

Affiliate Links

Where the merchant configures the different marketing links available to affiliates.

Merchant Links

All the links that the merchant needs to deploy on their site like signup, login, etc.

Affiliates

Management of all the affiliates within the program.

Reports

Allows merchants to run reports, process payments to the affiliate, and analyze performance.

The technical architecture is designed for reliability. UltraCart uses first-party cookies and IP tracking backups for attribution, ensuring its effectiveness and resilience despite industry-wide changes regarding the phasing out of third-party cookies.

The first step in building a successful program is to strategically configure its core settings and operational framework.

2.0 Phase 1: Establishing Your Program's Foundation (Settings)

Why it matters: The Settings tab is the central control panel for your entire affiliate program. These initial configurations are strategically critical, as they define the rules of engagement for your affiliates, the technical mechanisms for tracking sales, and the overall operational framework. A thoughtful setup here prevents future confusion and establishes a clear, professional foundation for your partnerships.

2.1 Defining Your Program's Identity and Legal Framework

The 'General' settings establish your program's public-facing identity. It is crucial to define these fields clearly to set proper expectations from the start.

  • Program Name: The public-facing name for your program (e.g., "XYZ Product Bonus Program").

  • Program Description: A brief description for potential future use in an affiliate network.

Under the 'Signup' section, you will configure the legal and communication elements that govern your relationship with affiliates. These are non-negotiable for running a professional program.

  • Agreement: This field is for your program's terms and conditions. It is essential to outline all rules covering commission rates, payout terms, acceptable marketing methods, and policies on fraudulent activity.

  • Welcome Letter: This is the first official communication an approved affiliate receives. It should confirm their approval and provide essential information to help them get started.

2.2 Structuring the Affiliate Onboarding Process

The choice between manual and automatic approval is a foundational strategic decision that should align with your business goals.

  • For programs prioritizing rapid scale and user-generated promotion, automatic approval (with a mandatory Captcha) creates a low-friction entry point. Merchants using the Automatically approve signups option typically vet affiliates after the fact to remove any undesirable partners.

  • Conversely, for premium brands focused on partner quality and brand alignment, manual approval is non-negotiable, allowing for thorough vetting of each applicant's website and marketing methods.

If you opt for automatic approval, enabling the Required Captcha setting is a vital security measure to prevent fraudulent signups from automated bots.

2.3 Configuring Customer Tracking and Attribution Rules

The 'Link Options and Customer Tracking' section is critical for determining how and for how long an affiliate receives credit for a sale. These rules directly impact affiliate earnings and motivation.

Setting

Description & Strategic Impact

Affiliate Cookie Lifetime (days)

Defines how long the tracking cookie remains on a customer's browser. The typical range is 15 to 90 days, with 30 being common. A longer lifetime is more attractive to affiliates. Entering 999 sets a non-expiring cookie.

Associate Affiliate with Customer Profile

This powerful feature creates persistent credit. If a new customer creates a profile during their first purchase, the affiliate is permanently linked to it, earning commissions on all future orders from that profile, independent of cookies.

Prevent Cookie Stomping

This setting controls your attribution model. When enabled, the first affiliate to refer the customer gets credit ("first-click"). When disabled, the last affiliate gets credit ("last-click"). The "last-click" model is the industry standard as it rewards the affiliate who was the final touchpoint in the conversion path. This model tends to favor bottom-of-the-funnel partners like coupon and deal sites. If your strategy relies on content creators who build initial awareness, consider enabling Prevent Cookie Stomping to protect their commissions.

Use IP Tracking as Backup

This acts as a secondary attribution method. If cookie tracking fails, the system can look up click data by the customer's IP address to associate the sale with an affiliate, providing a fallback to ensure affiliates are credited fairly.

2.4 Establishing Financial and Payment Policies

The 'Payment Options' section defines the rules for how and when commissions are approved and paid. These settings work together to create an efficient yet secure financial workflow.

  • Auto Approve Commissions: Enabling this automates commission approval, streamlining your workflow. Commissions for orders in Pre-orders or Accounts Receivables will correctly remain pending until payment is fully processed.

  • PayPal Payments: UltraCart recommends allowing Pay via PayPal and requiring PayPal MassPay for its efficiency in sending commission payments to many affiliates at once.

  • Reverse Commissions on Refunded Orders: This is a crucial risk-management setting. When enabled, commissions are automatically clawed back when an order is refunded, protecting your bottom line from paying commissions on sales that did not stick.

  • Pay Commissions on Auto Orders: Enabling this feature is critical for any business with a subscription or recurring revenue model. It transforms affiliates into long-term partners invested in customer retention, not just initial acquisition.

  • Pay Commissions on Repeat Orders by Email: This attribution method links a customer's email address to the referring affiliate, allowing them to earn credit on subsequent purchases made with that email, even without a cookie present.

2.5 Exploring Advanced Program Strategies

UltraCart offers advanced features for more complex program structures, though they should be approached with caution.

  • Multi-Tier Programs:

    • This feature allows you to create a "downline," where affiliates earn commissions on sales generated by affiliates they recruit.

    • The source documentation warns about the "substantial economic consequences" of this model and recommends that most merchants enter 0 tiers to disable it.

  • Automatic Customer Enrollment:

    • This feature automatically enrolls customers as affiliates after a purchase to create a "viral" program.

    • The source documentation explicitly states that this strategy is "not recommended."

With the foundational rules established, the next step is to design the financial incentives that will drive your program.

3.0 Phase 2: Designing the Commission Structure

Why it matters: The Commissions tab is the financial heart of your affiliate program. Your commission structure is the primary lever for influencing affiliate behavior, attracting specific partner archetypes (e.g., top-tier content creators vs. coupon sites), and ensuring the program remains profitable.

3.1 The Strategic Use of Commission Groups

Commission Groups are a powerful segmentation tool, allowing you to create different commission structures for different types of affiliates. For example, you can establish a standard group for all new partners and a VIP group with higher rates for top performers. Settings at the Group level can override the global program settings, offering granular control.

Key settings you can control at the Group level include:

  • Pay Commissions on Auto Orders

  • Pay Commissions on Repeat Orders by Email

  • Remove cookie after purchase

3.2 Establishing Baseline Commissions

UltraCart provides several ways to set base commission rates for your products.

  • Global Commissions:

    • The Global Commission is a store-wide default percentage applied to all items not otherwise specified.

    • This is particularly useful for merchants with large catalogs, as it provides a simple, catch-all commission rate.

  • Individual Item Commissions:

    • Setting commissions for individual items provides greater control and overrides global settings. Commissions can be a fixed dollar amount or a percentage.

    • A key strategic benefit: if an item has a specific commission defined, its URL becomes available as a direct landing page choice for affiliates, enabling more targeted promotions.

  • Excluded Items:

    • This feature allows you to exclude specific items (e.g., low-margin products) from earning any commissions, even if a Global Commission is active.

3.3 Implementing Advanced Commission Scenarios

The system supports more complex payout structures, including multi-tier and repeat customer commissions.

For multi-tier programs, commissions are distributed up the recruitment chain. For example, if Affiliate C makes a sale, and was recruited by Affiliate B, who was recruited by Affiliate A, the payout structure is as follows:

Tier

Recipient

Affiliate Commission

The affiliate who brings the sale (Affiliate C).

Downline Tier 1

The affiliate who recruited the seller (Affiliate B).

Downline Tier 2

The affiliate who recruited the recruiter of the seller (Affiliate A).

You can also incentivize affiliates for driving customer loyalty with the Alternate Repeat Customer Commission feature.

  • This allows you to offer a different commission rate for repeat purchases.

  • A "repeat customer" for this purpose is specifically defined as a customer who:

    • Has a customer profile with an auto order.

    • Is making a purchase that is an auto order rebill.

    • Uses an email address that has been previously commissioned.

Once your financial structure is in place, the next step is to provide affiliates with the marketing materials they need to start promoting.

4.0 Phase 3: Equipping Affiliates for Success

Why it matters: Providing affiliates with high-quality, easy-to-use marketing tools is strategically vital. Well-designed creatives and clear instructions reduce friction, ensure brand consistency, and empower partners to promote your products effectively. The Affiliate Links and Email Templates sections are where these essential resources are managed.

4.1 Developing Marketing Creatives and Affiliate Links

"Creatives" are the advertising assets—such as images and text—that affiliates use to promote your products. UltraCart supports several types of links that can be generated for affiliates.

Link Type

Description & Key Considerations

Text

Pre-written marketing copy that can be used for hyperlinks.

Image

Banner images or product photos that serve as clickable links.

Invisible

"Naked" hyperlinks that do not have visible affiliate tracking parameters in the URL. These require manual approval by the merchant.

Simple

Direct links to your site with the affiliate's unique ID appended to the URL.

Crucial Implementation Note: Invisible and Simple links require a tracking script to be placed on the landing page, typically in the footer section, to function correctly.

A Managed Link is the tool used to associate a specific creative (like a banner image) with a specific landing page URL. This ensures affiliates are sending traffic to the correct page with the approved marketing asset.

4.2 Providing Email Marketing Support

The Email Templates feature allows you to create pre-written marketing emails that affiliates can easily use. This provides approved marketing copy, ensuring brand consistency and making it significantly easier for affiliates to promote products to their email lists. The creation process is straightforward: define a Name, Subject, and Body for the template.

With the promotional tools created, it's time to turn our attention to managing the people who will use them: the affiliates themselves.

5.0 Phase 4: Affiliate Recruitment and Management

Why it matters: The Affiliates tab is the central database for all your program partners. Effective management in this area allows you to onboard partners smoothly, create custom arrangements for top performers, and maintain a clear overview of your affiliate network.

5.1 Onboarding and Configuring Individual Affiliates

While affiliates typically sign up through your portal, you can also add them manually via the "New" button. Each affiliate profile contains numerous settings for granular control.

  • Payment Information: Configure affiliate-specific payment rules like the Minimum Payout amount, enter their SSN / Tax ID, and enable the Pay via PayPal option.

  • Checkout Settings: Grant special permissions, such as allowing Custom HTML on Receipt for advanced tracking, enabling Google Adwords Tracking, or having a specific coupon Auto Apply when their link is used.

  • Marketing Information: Keep records of an affiliate's promotional methods by tracking their Website URL and primary Marketing Channels (e.g., Pay per click, SEO, Blog).

5.2 Leveraging Affiliate-Level Overrides

One of the most powerful management features is the ability for settings on an individual affiliate's profile to override the global or commission group settings. This allows you to create custom arrangements for high-value partners without altering the rules for everyone else.

The most impactful override examples include:

  • Pay Commissions on Auto Orders

  • Pay Commissions on Repeat Orders by Email

  • Affiliate Cookie Lifetime Override (days)

  • Prevent Cookie Stomping

After onboarding affiliates, the focus shifts to the daily tasks involved in running the program.

6.0 Phase 5: Day-to-Day Program Operations

Why it matters: The Overview tab is your daily dashboard. This is where pending tasks accumulate, requiring your review and action to keep the program running smoothly, ensure partners are approved promptly, and process commissions in a timely manner.

6.1 Your Operational Task List

Three primary tasks will appear on the Overview screen, demanding your attention:

  1. Approve new affiliate signups.

  2. Approve commissions for recent sales.

  3. Approve invisible links created by affiliates.

6.2 The Approval Workflow

Each task has a straightforward approval process to ensure managerial oversight.

  • Approving Signups: Review the new affiliate's information and select "approve" or "reject." This step can be automated in the Settings tab for a lower-touch approach.

  • Approving Transactions: Review pending commissions to check for potential fraud or other issues before approving or rejecting the transaction.

  • Approving Invisible Links: Review the URL an affiliate wishes to send traffic from. It's critical to make sure that the invisible link is the URL that the affiliate will be sending traffic FROM to ensure it aligns with your brand and policies, then approve or reject the link.

Beyond daily tasks, effective program management requires regular performance analysis to guide strategic decisions.

7.0 Phase 6: Performance Analysis and Optimization

Why it matters: The Reports tab provides the data and tools needed to measure your program's effectiveness, identify top performers, detect fraud, and manage payouts. Consistent analysis is the key to optimizing your program for long-term profitability and growth.

7.1 Understanding Key Performance Reports

The system includes several reports to give you a clear view of program activity.

Report Name

Purpose and Insights Provided

All Affiliates

Shows all affiliates (including disabled ones) with their affiliate ID, name, email address, affiliate type, unique clicks, items sold, and total commissions for a given time period.

Commission Analysis

Provides transaction-level details for all commissions, including affiliate, order ID, buyer, and item details.

Click Summary

Displays the total number of customer clicks through affiliate links per day over a selected period.

Payment Summary

A historical record of all payments you have processed and paid to your affiliates.

Sales Summary

Shows the number of sales and gross sales amount generated by all affiliates for each day in a given period.

Traffic Summary

Analyzes traffic from individual affiliates to provide an executive-level view of revenue generation. Note: This report is currently considered ALPHA.

Data Retention Policy: Raw affiliate click log data is retained for 365 days.

7.2 Utilizing Essential Management Tools

Alongside reports, a suite of administrative tools helps you manage key operational workflows.

Tool Name

Function

Broadcast Email

Allows the affiliate manager to send a bulk email to all affiliates in the program.

Fraud Review

Scans orders for potential fraud. It is particularly effective at identifying customers who sign up as affiliates just to get a discount on their own purchases.

Process Payments

A tool to process commission payments to affiliates via check or PayPal MassPay.

Export Payments

Exports payment information (e.g., for a check writing service) and marks all payments as completed in the system.

Export Affiliates

Exports the Affiliate ID and email address for all affiliates into a spreadsheet format.

By strategically configuring your program settings, designing motivating commission structures, and consistently analyzing performance with these tools, an e-commerce manager can leverage the UltraCart platform to build a thriving and profitable affiliate program.

Related documentation

Affiliate Management Tutorials

Affiliate Management

Tour of Affiliate Portal