What features do you need in a tiered affiliate system/program?

[cix7medi]

Work will begin in December on a tiered affiliate system for WHMCS but before I write out a work order I wanted to get some input from other users. At this point, I am only interested in developing a 2-level tier but if enough people believe more levels are necessary then I will consider investing in development of such a system. What features would you like to see in a tiered affiliate system (where any affiliate who refers a new affiliate to signup get a percentage of sales generated by those referral affiliates)?

 

Thanks for all input.

-Moni

[Convergence]

Basically the same features you have for the single tier - but allow for an affiliate to deep link to a specific package / service.

[cix7medi]

Ok. That seems pretty simple. With that said, do you think 2 levels will be effective enough to grow a decent program?

[Convergence]

Yes, I believe two levels is enough - Hosting revenues are diluted as they are...

[Convergence]

However, if there are those that want 5 tiers, there should be an option in WHMCS admin to select the number of tiers...

[anthill]

Hi Moni,

 

This is a great idea. My comment/request might be a little bit off topic, but one of the things we'd like is to be able to assign an affiliate ID to the affiliate (rather than WHMCS automatically assigning Affiliate IDs sequentially). The reason we want to do this is so we can group our affiliates based on the sales person who signed them up as an affiliate. For example, a sales person might not make a sale, but does sign up a lead as an affiliate. This would allow us to group all affiliates by their Affiliate ID based on which sales person signed them up (salesperson #1 assigns Affiliate IDs starting at 1000, Salesperson #2 assigns Affiliate IDs starting at 2000... and so on.

 

So my request doesn't really speak to your question, but maybe it's closely enough related that it could be combined, and it may be useful for others.

 

But, I also think that 2 tiers is sufficient, and I think that would be useful for us also.

 

Thanks, Daniel

[othellotech]

allow for an affiliate to deep link to a specific package / service.

 

Already able to do this with *...

<?php
define("CLIENTAREA",true);
include("dbconnect.php");
include("includes/functions.php");

$location = "";
$oursite = $CONFIG["Domain"];
$ordersite = $CONFIG["SystemURL"];

if (isset($promocode))
{
       $promocode = "&promocode=".$promocode; // add voucher code to orders
}

if (isset($aff))
{
       update_query("tblaffiliates",array("visitors"=>"+1"),array("id"=>$aff));
       setcookie("WHMCSAffiliateID", $aff, time()+366*24*60*60);
       // *commented out proprietory tracking system*

       // *commented out proprietory link management system*

       // set location based on parameters
       if (isset($gid))
       {
               $location=$ordersite."/cart.php?a=add".$promocode."&gid=".$gid; // go straight to a gid
       }
       if (isset($pid))
       {
               $location=$ordersite."/cart.php?a=add".$promocode."&pid=".$pid; // go straight to a pid
       }
       if (isset($domain))
       {
               $location=$ordersite."/cart.php?a=add".$promocode."&domain=".$domain; // go straight to a  reg/transfer
       }

}
else
{
       // not an affiliate *commented out proprietory signup system*
}


if (isset($productsite))
{
       $location="http://www.".$productsite.".com/"; // go straight to minisite
}

// set default if still no locations
if ($location == "")
{
       $location=$oursite;
}

header("HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently");
header("Location: ".$location);
?>

[Convergence]

Already able to do this with *...

<?php
define("CLIENTAREA",true);
include("dbconnect.php");
include("includes/functions.php");

$location = "";
$oursite = $CONFIG["Domain"];
$ordersite = $CONFIG["SystemURL"];

if (isset($promocode))
{
       $promocode = "&promocode=".$promocode; // add voucher code to orders
}

if (isset($aff))
{
       update_query("tblaffiliates",array("visitors"=>"+1"),array("id"=>$aff));
       setcookie("WHMCSAffiliateID", $aff, time()+366*24*60*60);
       // *commented out proprietory tracking system*

       // *commented out proprietory link management system*

       // set location based on parameters
       if (isset($gid))
       {
               $location=$ordersite."/cart.php?a=add".$promocode."&gid=".$gid; // go straight to a gid
       }
       if (isset($pid))
       {
               $location=$ordersite."/cart.php?a=add".$promocode."&pid=".$pid; // go straight to a pid
       }
       if (isset($domain))
       {
               $location=$ordersite."/cart.php?a=add".$promocode."&domain=".$domain; // go straight to a  reg/transfer
       }

}
else
{
       // not an affiliate *commented out proprietory signup system*
}


if (isset($productsite))
{
       $location="http://www.".$productsite.".com/"; // go straight to minisite
}

// set default if still no locations
if ($location == "")
{
       $location=$oursite;
}

header("HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently");
header("Location: ".$location);
?>

 

Not to derail this thread - but does that ONLY allow for linking to a hosting package in the cart? Meaning, once the above code is implemented affiliates can no longer link to your main page?

 

If a method of deep linking is implemented in the next release of the affiliate system then, logically, an affiliate could link to any page on your site (outside of the WHMCS cart system) by simply adding their affiliate code to the end of a URL. I think for many not linking directly to the shopping cart would be a preferred method.

[Convergence]

Another feature for the affiliate section - is to be able to put a snippet of code (java or php) on pages outside the cart system that will display the referring affiliates ID (as in my post here) allowing us to track phone sales / live chat sales.

[cix7medi]

Not to derail this thread - but does that ONLY allow for linking to a hosting package in the cart? Meaning, once the above code is implemented affiliates can no longer link to your main page?

 

Feel free to post anything in reference to the affiliate system. I'm trying to get ideas from others before I write our a work order so you might mention something I hadn't thought of already.

[Convergence]

Feel free to post anything in reference to the affiliate system. I'm trying to get ideas from others before I write our a work order so you might mention something I hadn't thought of already.

 

Great, thanks - I didn't want to be disrespectful to anyone.

[othellotech]

but does that ONLY allow for linking to a hosting package in the cart? Meaning, once the above code is implemented affiliates can no longer link to your main page?

 

try reading it

it allows for affiliates linking to all sorts of things, including other sites if required

 

some of the things we're working on/have in testing...

* auto-upgrades to the %age once they reach a certain number of sales/month

* allowing them to choose between %age recurring or a single fixed commision amount

* payments for domain registrations

* automatically rewarding them on future purchase by the introduced clients

* whole new tracking/reporting system

[Convergence]

try reading it

it allows for affiliates linking to all sorts of things, including other sites if required ...

 

NIce, I'll have to try it out.

 

...

 

some of the things we're working on/have in testing...

* auto-upgrades to the %age once they reach a certain number of sales/month

* allowing them to choose between %age recurring or a single fixed commision amount

* payments for domain registrations

* automatically rewarding them on future purchase by the introduced clients

* whole new tracking/reporting system

 

Great, some of these features are what I was just going to post about...

[Convergence]

Below are some of the features we are interested in - some where mentioned by othellotech

 

Commissions should be on a scale (as mentioned by otheotech. Currently we do this manually:

 

ie:

1-10 active accounts = n%

11-24 active accounts = n%

25+ active accounts = n%

 

This should be on the configgeneral.php area.

When setting the Products/Services in configproducts.php > Other: you could have radio buttons to choose if the product / service is part of the 2nd+ tiers, as well as the options that are currently available. This will assist in low margin items such as Dedicated Servers, Domains, Dedicated IP Addresses, Memory Upgrades, etc, while maintaining higher commission rates for products / services like Shared Hosting. A maximum 2nd tier commission should also be available.

 

2nd+ tier commissions should also be on a scale and should have the option of paying Affiliate #1 either a % of Affiliate #2's sale or a % of Affiliate #2's commission.

 

ie:

Say Affiliate #1 is at a 25% (3rd level) commission structure because they meet certain criteria. Affiliate #2 is at a 20% (2nd level) commission structure:

 

Affiliate #2 sells a $10 hosting plan - Affiliate #2 earns 20% or $2.00. Affiliate #1 can earn either a $2.50 (25% commission), total cost to merchant in commissions = $4.50. Or, Affiliate #1 can earn 25% of Affiliate 2's commission, or $0.50, total cost to merchant in commissions - $3.00.

 

With commissions being on a scale, the system to should recognize any manual increase in an Affiliates commission "level" and calculate based on the manual commission entered in the Affiliate's profile versus the criteria established.

 

ie:

Affiliate may not have 25+ active accounts but they may have a higher commission structure.

 

Bonuses: No bonuses paid to 2nd+ tier affiliates should be commissionable to prevent affiliates signing up fraudulently to receive additional commissions.

 

I'll add more thoughts as they come to me.

Edited November 5, 2009 by Convergence

[cix7medi]

Please disregard this thread. The people who originally asked me to get this feature added have gone MIA so I have canceled the work order with the programmer.