Managing affiliate relationships often calls for increasing the compensation of these partners in your program. In this article, we will review AvantLink tools to help you adjust your partners' compensation, including answers to common questions:
- How do I temporarily adjust the commission rate for a single and/or group of affiliates?
- How do I permanently adjust the commission rate for a single affiliate?
- How do I permanently adjust the commission rate for a group of affiliates?
- How do I provide a one-time bonus for an affiliate?
COMMISSION RATE ADJUSTMENTS
AvantLink’s tools make increasing or decreasing your affiliate payouts - both temporarily or permanently - very easy.
Temporary Commission Increases
Navigate to Menu 
>Commission Tools>Commission Promotion in the top menu bar.
From this page, you can:
- Select an affiliate or a Tag Group and select ‘+’
- Select the commission increase details
- Confirm date range of commission increase
- Explain the reason for the commission increase
Insider Tips:
- Ensure that you have a Tag Group appropriately set up. See: Organizing Your Affiliates Using Tag Categories and Tag Groups
- Ensure that you have selected the correct increase mechanism among the two choices offered:
- “Increase Commission By”
- “Set Commissions To”
- Add the affiliate name in the description and be as detailed as possible about what the placement is for. This serves as the only historical listing of these occurrences. Being as thorough as possible can help your team in the future. Example: AFFILIATE NAME: Increased commission to 5% for newsletter placement. Insertion Order# for newsletter placement - 1234A567.
Permanent Commission Adjustment for One Affiliate
From AvantLink Dashboard, navigate to your Active Affiliates list.
Select the affiliate and select the Details hyperlink.
Select the Application tab, adjust the Base Commission accordingly, then select Save.
Permanent Commission Adjustment for Multiple Affiliates
To permanently adjust the commission rate for a group of affiliates, you can also initiate a Tag Group Rule.
From the interface navigate to Affiliates>Affiliate Tagging/Group Administration> Tag Group Rule> New Rule. From this page:
- Select “Affiliate Commission” as the Rule Type
- Select the appropriate Affiliate Tag Group
- Select the new commission rate
- Submit the new rate (NOTE: The new commission rate will not go into effect immediately as the rule will be sent to our compliance team for review and approval.)
Insider Tips:
- Ensure that you have a Tag Group appropriately set up. See: Organizing Your Affiliates Using Tag Categories and Tag Groups
- When a commission rate is set to decrease, a seven day waiting period is required before the lower rate is effective so that affiliates are notified of their compensation change.
- Rate adjustments can be submitted for one Affiliate Tag Group at a time.
ONE-TIME BONUS COMPENSATION
AvantLink’s Bonus tool allows you to provide a one-time bonus amount to your affiliates. Navigate to the Menu icon>Commission Tools>Bonus in the top menu bar. From this page:
- Select the affiliate receiving the one-time bonus
- Explain the reason for the bonus
- Enter in the amount of the one-time bonus (you do not need to include dollar sign in bonus amount)
Insider Tips:
- Bonuses can only be submitted to individual affiliates. They cannot be submitted for Tag Groups.
- Bonuses submitted before the end of the current month will appear on the merchant’s next invoice. For example, bonuses submitted in January will appear on a merchants February 1 invoice.
- Include a detailed description explaining why the bonus was awarded. Example: December 12-18 2019 Homepage Banner Placement. Insertion Order# for placement - 1234A567.
ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS?
AvantLink makes managing the compensation of your affiliate partners simple. If you have questions about this article or the discussed, please email am@avantlink.com.