The Discounts page allows merchants to display discounts, promotions and coupon codes to your affiliate partners, via the AvantLink dashboard and API. The Discounts page also allows merchants to set rules for coupon code tracking.
To ensure that your affiliate partners promote your brand with the most up-to-date discounts, promotions and coupon codes, it is important to continually update these via the Discounts page.
CREATING DISCOUNTS, PROMOTIONS, AND COUPON CODES
AvantLink makes it easy to add discounts and promotions with our without coupon codes for your affiliate partners. From your AvantLink dashboard, navigate to Ad Tools > Discounts.
To start, select Create Discount and follow the prompt:
Step 1 - Discount Title and Details:
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Discount Title serves as the tag line/name for the discount or promotion for you and your affiliates.
- Enter your title, this will help you and your affiliates identify at a glance the context of the discount.
- It is helpful to include your company name in this description as well for your affiliates that use the AvantLink API.
- Some examples include:
- Company.com Black Friday Discount
- 20% off Company.com with code
- Free Shipping on all purchases on Company.com in June
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Discount Details are displayed to affiliate with details/qualifications for the discount or promotion.
- Enter your description, details and qualification for the discount/promotion.
- Be as detailed as possible. This information will help your affiliates build the best content for your program.
- Some examples include:
- 40% off one item – one use per customer
- Free shipping on one order during the month of June – no code needed
- 10% off one order for {Affiliate Name} customers
- If the discount has a Qualified coupon code rule applied, it is helpful to list that detail in the Discount Details as well, i.e.: This is a Qualified Code – Affiliate will only get commission if code is accompanied by an affiliate tracking link click.
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Destination URL
- Enter the landing page you want to take the customer to when the affiliate discount link is clicked.
- This will default to your merchant base URL.
Step 2 – Discount Schedule:
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Start Date: Schedule discounts or promotions to start on the day of creation, or in the future. Scheduling discounts/promotions ahead of time is especially helpful during busy seasons or during the holidays and you can schedule these as early as you would like.
- Affiliates will not see a discount/promotion until the Start Date.
- End Date: End a discount or promotion on a specific date. Select ‘No end date’ to indefinitely keep discount active.
- Start Time/End Time: Get specific with when you would like your ad campaigns to begin and end. Times are in Mountain Time.
Step 3 – Discount Rules:
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Coupon Code (optional): If you would like your discount or promotion to be connected to a coupon code, enter the code for use by your affiliate(s).
- Coupon Code input supports wildcard coupon codes. This is helpful if you provide one time use codes to an affiliate partner. Please see our Wildcard Coupon Code article for more detailed information.
- Each coupon code can only be entered in one discount. Duplicates will show an error.
- Please note: unless you designate a Coupon Code Rule to the coupon code, the affiliate will only earn commission if there is an affiliate link click used in conjunction with the coupon code.
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Coupon Code Rule Type (optional): Rules can only be applied to discounts that include a coupon code.
- Coupon Code Rules can be used to designate how an affiliate can use provided coupon codes and which actions will earn commission. Coupon Code Rules include the following:
- Exclusive Coupon Code Rule: Commission an affiliate on all orders that use a specific coupon code. Intended for influencers, podcasts, and affiliates that are able to drive traffic to your site but do not have a way to use a tracking link. Please see our How Merchants Can Use Exclusive Coupon Codes article for more detailed information.
- Restricted Coupon Code Rule: Prevent affiliates from earning commission when a specific coupon code is used. Order will track, but commission will not be awarded. Please see our How Merchants Can Use Restricted Coupon Codes article for more detailed information.
- Qualified Coupon Code Rule: Commission specific affiliate(s) when both an affiliate click and a coupon code is used on an order. Commission will not be awarded if the coupon code is used by affiliates that are not authorized to use it. Please see our How Merchants Can Use Qualified Coupon Codes article for more detailed information.
- Coupon Code Rules can be used to designate how an affiliate can use provided coupon codes and which actions will earn commission. Coupon Code Rules include the following:
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Affiliate: Designate the Affiliate(s) that can use the discount.
- Affiliates can be added individually or by Tag Group.
- All Affiliates can be chosen unless you are using an Exclusive or Qualified Coupon Code Rule.
Step 4: Be sure to Save the Discount!
- You are done! If at any time you need to come back and edit your discounts, you can do so by selecting the pencil icon next to that discount.
- Editing allows you to update any field and even delete the discount if necessary.
- If you need to find a specific discount in the future, you can select the filter icon in the top left will allow you to search by any of the columns listed on your discounts table.
Step 5: Tell Your Affiliates
- Affiliates can see Active discounts on their AvantLink dashboard, but they are not notified when a new one appears. Be sure to email your affiliates to keep them up to date.
HOW TO REVIEW DISCOUNT PERFORMANCE
There are a few ways to measure the performance your discounts:
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Performance Summary by Discount
- Navigate to the Classic reports page and run the Performance Summary by Discount report.
- Select ‘Show more columns’ will expose more details.
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Sales Commission Detail report
- Navigate to the Classic reports page and run the Sales Commission Details report.
- Select ‘Show more columns’ will expose the Coupon Code column and Tool Name column.
- Filter to the specific coupon code, by Discount Link Tool Name or by the transaction type "Sale (Exclusive Coupon)”.
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Performance Summary by Ad Tool report
- Navigate to the Classic reports page and run the Performance Summary By Ad Tool report.
- Review the number of sales and sale amounts associated with Discount Link.
ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS
If you have questions on how to set up a discount, promotion or coupon code, please reach out to support@avantlink.com.