AffCoupons
Summary
The AffCoupons Plugin is designed to reduce the effort in administering a Coupon Code based Affiliate rewards system. This system uses the Coupon Code to provide not only a Discount at purchase but also to identify and reward the Affiliate who provided that Code to the Customer.
The Plugin allows one or more batches of Coupons to be distributed to all existing affiliates. It allows Coupon Codes from one or more batches to be added automatically to new affiliates. It even increases the number of Coupon Codes in those batches if needed so new Affiliates can get one. You can use it to define which products an Affiliate must have before they can get a commission for recommending those products. It allows the Affiliate to see their Coupon Codes and to edit them.
After you have installed the AffCoupons Plugin you can go to aMember CP -> Configuration -> Setup/Configuration and click on the AffCoupons Button to access the Plugin Configuration Page.
To use the AffCoupons Plugin successfully you will need to not only set up the Plugin Configuration Page, but also to create one or more batches of coupons, and to set up affiliate Commission Rules linked to your Affiliate Coupon batches. This is all described in detail below.
Here is a summary of how the AffCoupons Plugin Configuration Page, the Coupon Batch pages, and the Commission Rules pages work together.
The AffCoupon Plugin Configuration Page allows you to distribute Coupons to your Affiliates. You can do this by specifying just the Coupon Batch, or you can do it by setting up rules to give a Coupon from a particular Coupon Batch if the Affiliate has a particular product.
On the Coupon Batch page you define the Discount which is given for that batch of Coupons. This discount could be for all products or for specific products. On the Commission Rules pages you define the Commission which is given to the Affiliate when these batches of Coupons are used by a Customer.
Plugin Configuration Page
The field Affiliate Coupons Page Title will be seen by your members in their Members Area on the Members Area Affiliate Coupons Page.
Below this field you will see Affiliate Coupons Page Description. The Description you enter here will be seen by all Members at the top of the “Members Area Affiliate Coupons Page”. For example you could write here:
You can share the Coupon Code(s) shown in the first Column below with your friends so that when they buy the products listed in the second Column they receive the Discount shown in the third Column. You can edit the Coupon Code by clicking on the Edit Record Icon in the Action Column on the right. If you want to change any Coupon Code, then we suggest you only edit it once before you share it with your friends, and then never change it again, because after you change it, the previous Coupon Code will no longer work.
The fourth Column shows the Commission which you will receive when your friends purchase one of these products;
The fifth Column shows the number of times this Coupon Code has been used and the total number of times Coupon Codes from this batch are allowed to be used by all Customers;
The sixth Column shows the maximum number of times each one of your friends is allowed to use this Coupon Code.
The next field you will see on the AffCoupons Plugin Configuration Page is the field called Automatically Shared Coupon Batch. This allows you to specify one or more special batches of Coupons which will automatically be shared with every new affiliate.
When you first create each of these batches of Coupons you need to create enough of them to provide one for every Affiliate. You will have to share them with all existing Affiliates using the Add Coupon Code to Affiliates link described below. After that, as soon as a new affiliate joins up one more Coupon Code will automatically be added to this batch and assigned to the affiliate.
The next field you will see on the AffCoupons Plugin Configuration Page is the field called Minimal Coupon Code Length empty - 8 symbols where you can specify the minimum length of the Coupon Codes which are given to the affiliates. This controls the length of the coupon code which is automatically generated when an affiliate registers. If the script cannot generate a coupon code with minimal length because all combinations are used, then the script increases the coupon code length. This does not control the length of the Coupon Code when it is edited by the user. At that time only two rules apply:
*The Coupon Code field must not be empty. *The Coupon Code must be unique.
If you use a batch of Coupons with less than this length then their length will be automatically increased to this minimum length when you add them to each Affiliate using the link described below.
At the top of Configuration Page you will see the Link: Display All Affiliate Coupons which provides a report where you can view, edit or delete the Coupon Codes assigned to affiliates.
Right after it you will see the link: Add Coupon Code to Affiliates. After clicking on this you will see a popup box with the following choices:
“Select Coupon Batch” gives a dropdown menu of all batches of Coupon Codes so you can select the batch of codes you wish to share with your Affiliates.
Then you are presented with three options of “How to add coupons”.
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
|
*Add [__] coupons for each affiliates
(default: 1) | This means that ALL current affiliates will be given the defined number of Coupon Codes. Or if not defined they will each be given one extra Coupon code. Hence all affiliates will receive 1 or more new coupons. |
|
Add one coupon for each affiliate, so that each had not more than [__] coupons
(default: 1) | If you set this to 2, the script will check how many coupons each affiliate has before giving them any more. It looks at the total number of Coupons they have across all batches. So in this example: * If the Affiliate has 2 or more coupons - they will not get new coupon. * If the Affiliate has 1 coupon or has no coupons - they will get ONE coupon. |
|
Add coupons for each affiliate, so that each had [__] coupons
(default: 1) |
If you set this to 3, the script will check how many coupons has affiliate before in order to add Coupons as follows:
|
Finally you will see the Section called: Additional Rules to give Coupons to Affiliates depending on product purchased. In this section you can create rules to give a coupon to an affiliate based on the product purchased. At the end of this Guide some examples age given showing how these rules are to be used and what they do.
Creating a Batch of Coupons for your Affiliates
Go to aMember CP -> Products -> Coupons And click on the “New Coupon Batch” Button. The first field is “Coupons Usage Count how many times coupon can be used” If you set this to say 50, then this would mean that after one of the Coupon Codes from this batch was used 50 times then that Coupon Code would not work anymore. Alternatively you can simply fill this field with as many 9s as you can type and this will be saved as 2,147,483,647 which is over 2 Billion Coupon Codes. In the members area this will be shown as Unlimited.
The next field is “Discount” which you can set as a percentage or a dollar value. This is the discount which will be given to all Customers using one of these Coupons. The Affiliate Commission will be calculated from the amount paid after the discount is applied.
The next field is “Comment for admin reference”. This can be used by you to remind yourself that this Batch was intended to be used for Affiliates.
Under Advanced Settings you can specify more details about how many times each Customer can use each Coupon Code, and which products it applies to etc. At the bottom of the Advanced Settings you will see:“Affiliate this affiliate will get commission for paymentin case of coupon from this batch is used during payment.This affiliate will be assigned to user as default affiliatein case of user has not default affiliate assigned yet.” This is a separate stand alone method of assigning a whole batch of Coupons to a single Affiliate. It has nothing to do with the AffCoupons Plugin and does not need to be filled in.
There are three places where you can view the Coupon Codes which have been assigned to an Affiliate.
Firstly, you can go to 'aMember CP -> Products -> Coupons' where you can see all Coupon Code batches. Under the Column called “Coupons” you will see the number of Coupons in each Batch.If you click on this number you will see a list of all the Coupons in that Batch and the name of the Affiliate to whom that Coupon has been assigned. Under the Column called “Actions” you can click on the “View Coupons” Icon and see the same report.
Secondly you can go to 'aMember CP -> Users -> Browse Users', either click on the Username or click on the “Edit User” icon under the “Action” Column. At the top right of the Edit User page you will see the “Affiliate Info” Button. A dropdown menu appears when you rollover it with your Mouse and you can choose the last entry called “Affiliate Coupons”. You will then see a table listing all Affiliate Coupons assigned to that user. Many details are provided and you can also edit the Coupon Code name here by clicking the “Edit Record” Icon under the “Action” Column. There is also a “Delete Record” Icon so Admin can remove a Coupon from any user. The column 'Reason' shows how this user received the coupon:
- registration means this user was registered as an affiliate and he got the coupon from 'Automatically Shared Coupon Batchs'
- affiliate means this user has become an affiliate after registering (by clicking the link in Members Area, or by admin changing his profile) and he got coupon from 'Automatically Shared Coupon Batchs'
- product#_ means this user get the coupon because he has an active subscription to a defined product
- category# means this user get the coupon because he has an active subscription to a defined category
- manual means this user was given the coupon by admin
Thirdly at aMember CP -> Users -> Browse Users, click the Logon as User Icon under the “Action” Column and when you are in the Members Area of the User roll your mouse pointer over the Affiliate Info Button and select the last item on the dropdown menu called “Get Affiliate Coupons”. Here you will see a short version of the table that was described above, with just the details needed by the Affiliate.
Setting up Commission Rules
In order for an Affiliate to get a Commission when one of their Affiliate Coupon Codes is used you need to either edit or create a Custom Commission Rule, and link the commission to the batch of Coupon Codes you are using for this plugin. e.g.
To create a new rule for Batch #8 Affiliate Coupons:
- go to 'aMember CP -> Affiliates -> Commission rules',
- click on the Button “New Custom Commission Rule”
- set your percentage commission etc and make sure you insert a special condition for “Used coupon”: Used, coupon from batch, #8 Affiliate Coupons.
Members Area Affiliate Coupons Page
Members need to click on the dropdown choice called “Get Affiliate Coupons” under the “Affiliate Info” Button. This will take them to a page listing all the Coupon Codes which have been assigned to them. The coupon Codes are presented in a table with seven columns.
- The first Column entitled “Coupon Code” lists the actual Coupon Codes.
- The second Column entitled “Product(s)” lists the Products to which the Coupon Code applies. (This information is set by you when you created a batch of Coupon Codes).
- The third Column entitled “Discount” lists the percentage Discount which their friends will receive when purchasing any of these products.
- The fourth Column entitled “Conditions/Commissions” shows the Affiliate the Commission which they will receive when their friends purchase one of these products. It shows a summary of the Commission Rules which you have established. It_s not in very good English because it is computer generated from different data fields you have used.
- The fifth Column entitled “Used” shows how many times one of their friends has used the Coupon Code as well as the total number of times the Coupon Code is allowed to be used. (This number is set by you when you created a batch of Coupon Codes).
- The sixth Column entitled “Maximum usage per Customer” shows how many times one of your friends can use the same Coupon Code. (Again this number is set by you when you created a batch of Coupon Codes).
- The seventh Column entitled “Action” contains an “Edit Record” Icon. The Member can click here and edit their Coupon Code. If they try to enter a Coupon Code which has already been used by another Affiliate, they will see an error message saying: “This Coupon Code is already being used, please select another one”.
Housekeeping Rules
If admin changes an affiliate to a standard user then all his coupons will automatically be deleted. When a user is deleted all his coupons will be automatically deleted.
Examples of how to use the Plugin
Example 1
Say you want to give 10% discount on all products to any Customer using an affiliate coupon and you want the affiliates to get 30% Commission. You want all existing affiliates to get a Coupon and you want new Affiliates to get a Coupon:
- Create or Edit a Coupon Batch and set the Discount at 10%. Say it is Batch #1.
- Set the “Coupons Usage Count” to maximum by filling the field with 9_s.
- In the field: “Comment for admin reference” enter a title: “Affiliate Coupons 10% Discount”, to remind yourself what this is for.
- Don_t select any products so the batch applies to all products. Save the settings.
Create or Edit a Commission Rule.
Use “#1 Affiliate Coupons” in the title to remind yourself what this is for.
Under “Add Condition” select “by used Coupon” and three “Used Coupon” data entry fields will appear. Select: (Used), (Coupon from batch), (# 1 Affiliate Coupons 10% Discount).
In the field “Commission for First Payment” type in 30.00 and select “%” in the field to the right of it.
Save the settings.
On the AffCoupon Plugin Configuration Page in the field: “Automatically Shared Coupon Batchs”, click on the drop down arrow and choose: “# 1 Affiliate Coupons 10% Discount”.
Save the settings.
On the AffCoupon Plugin Configuration Page click on the link: “Add Coupon Code to Affiliates”.
A box will pop up with choices. Select Coupon Batch as “# 1 Affiliate Coupons 10% Discount”.
Select the first choice: “Add Coupons for each Affiliate” and click the OK button.
A box will appear showing you the results.
Click the Cancel button to return to the Plugin Configuration Page.
Thats it, you have succeeded in achieving what you wanted. You can click on the Link: “Display All Affiliate Coupons” to see a report showing you all the Coupon Codes.
Example 2
Say you only have two products which are Course#1 and Course#2. People can only do Course#2 after completing Course#1. You only want to give affiliates a coupon for a Course after they have purchased the Course. You want to give 10% discount to Customers purchasing these Courses using a Coupon Code, and you want the affiliates to get 30% Commission. You want all existing affiliates to get a Coupon and you want new Affiliates to get a Coupon. When somebody purchases Course#2 you want them to get a new coupon which is good for getting a discount on either Course.
Create or Edit a Coupon Batch and set the Discount at 10%. Say it is Batch #1.
Set the “Coupons Usage Count” to maximum by filling the field with 9_s.
Select the product “Course#1” so the batch only gives discount for this product.
In the field: “Comment for admin reference” enter a title: “Affiliate
Coupons 10% Discount, Course#1”, to remind yourself what this is for.
Save the settings.
Create or Edit anther Coupon Batch and set the Discount at 10%. Say it is Batch #2.
Set the “Coupons Usage Count” to maximum by filling the field with 9.
Select the products “Course#1” and “Course#2” so the batch only gives discount for these products.
In the field: “Comment for admin reference” enter a title: “Affiliate Coupons 10% Discount, Course#1 and Course#2”, to remind yourself what this is for.
Save the settings.
Create or Edit a Commission Rule.
Use “#1 Affiliate Coupons” in the title to remind yourself what this is for.
Under “Add Condition” select “by used Coupon” and three “Used Coupon” data entry fields will appear.
Select: (Used), (Coupon from batch), (# 1 Affiliate Coupons 10% Discount, Course#1).
In the field “Commission for First Payment” type in 30.00 and select “%” in the field to the right of it.
Save the settings.
Create or Edit another Commission Rule.
Use “#2 Affiliate Coupons” in the title to remind yourself what this is for.
Under “Add Condition” select “by used Coupon” and three “Used Coupon” data entry fields will appear.
Select: (Used), (Coupon from batch), (# 2 Affiliate Coupons 10% Discount, Course#1 and Course#2).
In the field “Commission for First Payment” type in 30.00 and select “%” in the field to the right of it.
Save the settings.
On the AffCoupon Plugin Configuration Page, go to the section called: “Additional Rules to give Coupons to Affiliates depending on product purchased”
Set Rule #1: If an affiliate has this product: “Course#1” they get a Coupon from this batch: “#1 Affiliate Coupons 10% Discount, Course#1”
Set Rule #2: If an affiliate has this product: “Course#2” They get a Coupon from this batch: “#2 Affiliate Coupons 10% Discount, Course#1 and Course#2”.
Thats it, you have succeeded in achieving what you wanted. You can click on the Link: “Display All Affiliate Coupons” to see a report showing you all the Coupon Codes.
===Example 3=== Say you wanted everything as in Example 2 above except that you want the Affiliate Commission on Course 1 to be 30% and the Affiliate Commission on Course 2 to be 40%.
Do everything as above except that instead of the two rules described above, you will need three Commission rules as described below.
- Create or Edit a Commission Rule.
- Use “#1 Affiliate Coupons” in the title to remind yourself what this is for. Under “Add Condition” select “by used Coupon” and three “Used Coupon” data entry fields will appear.
- Select: (Used), (Coupon from batch), (# 1 Affiliate Coupons 10% Discount, Course#1).
- In the field “Commission for First Payment” type in 30.00 and select “%” in the field to the right of it.
- Save the settings.
Create or Edit a Commission Rule.
- Use “#2 Affiliate Coupons and Course#1” in the title to remind yourself what this is for.
- Under “Add Condition” select “by used Coupon” and three “Used Coupon” data entry fields will appear.
- Select: (Used), (Coupon from batch), (# 2 Affiliate Coupons 10% Discount, Course#1 and Course#2).
- Under “Add Condition” select “by product” and a new data entry field will appear called “This rule is for particular products”.
- Select Course#1.
- In the field “Commission for First Payment” type in 30.00 and select “%” in the field to the right of it.
- Save the settings.
Create or Edit a Commission Rule.
- Use “#2 Affiliate Coupons and Course#2” in the title to remind yourself what this is for.
- Under “Add Condition” select “by used Coupon” and three “Used Coupon” data entry fields will appear.
- Select: (Used), (Coupon from batch), (# 2 Affiliate Coupons 10% Discount, Course#1 and Course#2).
- Under “Add Condition” select “by product” and a new data entry field will appear called “This rule is for particular products”.
- Select Course#2.
- In the field “Commission for First Payment” type in 40.00 and select “%” in the field to the right of it.
- Save the settings.
Thats it, you have succeeded in achieving what you wanted. You can click on the Link: “Display All Affiliate Coupons” to see a report showing you all the Coupon Codes.
Acknowledgment
This Plugin was created in November 2013 with the assistance of Huegio Bonham acting as a design consultant and software tester. Huegio also kindly wrote this Admin User Guide for your benefit.