Multi-level marketing · Consultants recruit consultants

The consultant who turns customers into a team.

Katrin Seidel has been selling spices and kitchen tools from a spice manufactory to friends, colleagues and their acquaintances for three years. By now some of her customers want to become consultants themselves. The shop runs this with the affiliate program and the multi-level marketing add-on plugin: every consultant has a code of her own and earns from the orders of her customers, and Katrin as team leader earns from the orders of her team as well. That turns network marketing into a direct selling store of your own.

Into the team through the code

Whoever came through Katrin's link, code or partner voucher and applies is in her team once you approve.

Override commission per level

The consultant keeps her rate, the team leader gets a rate of her own on top for the orders of her team.

The team as a tree

Katrin sees her consultants level by level in the partner area, with shortened names and her commission from them.

How the team grows

How does a customer join Katrin's team as a consultant?

Miriam Ahrens ordered her first spice box with Katrin's partner voucher and has belonged to her ever since. Now she wants to sell herself and applies in her customer account under Affiliate Program. With the Behaviour set to Partners must apply and be manually activated, you decide on every new consultant. Once approved, Miriam is in Katrin's team, one level below her.

  • Application: Miriam enters Your desired code and describes under How would you like to promote us? where she wants to sell. Under Applications you read her message and click Approve or Reject.

  • Consultant agreement: With Enable mandatory checkbox every applicant ticks a box before sending. By default the text of the checkbox names the shop's terms and conditions; in the snippets you turn it into your consultant agreement.

  • The chain: There is no field for the sponsor. Miriam is below Katrin because her customer account carries Katrin's code. Anyone not assigned to a consultant starts a team of her own once approved.

  • No poaching: By default a customer stays with the consultant she came through first. Another consultant can take her into her team neither as a customer nor as a consultant.

Who earns from an order of Miriam's customer?

When one of Miriam's customers orders, Miriam is level 1 and gets her rate from the affiliate program. Katrin, who recruited Miriam, is on level 2, and Gabriele Sommer, who recruited Katrin three years ago, on level 3. With Level set to Level 1 to Level 3 the chain ends there, even if someone is above Gabriele.

  • On top: Miriam's commission stays as it is. Katrin and Gabriele each get a booking of their own, called an override commission or team commission in direct selling.

  • The same base: Every level calculates from the net value of the goods of the order, not from the commission of the level below.

  • Building a downline: If Miriam recruits a consultant herself, Katrin is on level 3 for that consultant's customers. The referral network grows level by level like this, down to five levels.

And when Miriam orders for herself?

Miriam also buys for herself, spices for her own kitchen and tasting packs for people who are interested. Her customer account carries Katrin's code, so every order of her own carries Katrin's code too. For these own purchases Katrin is level 1 and gets her full rate, Gabriele is on level 2. Miriam herself gets no commission for her own orders.

  • Own purchases without commission: Give the consultants a customer group of their own in Shopware and select only the groups of your end customers under Customer groups for commissionable orders. Then orders of consultants bring nobody commission.

  • The same goes for Katrin: Her own orders carry Gabriele's code and bring Gabriele commission, Katrin herself nothing.

How does Katrin become a team leader?

The rates for levels 2 to 5 are defaults in the settings of the add-on plugin, 3 and 2 percent for levels 2 and 3 by default. Katrin's team is growing, so at her partner, in the Commission tab, you give her 5 percent for level 2 and 3 percent for level 3 in the Further levels card.

  • By hand: Whether a consultant becomes a team leader is your decision, and you enter her rates at the partner. They apply to every booking from then on, commission already booked stays.

  • Subsequent orders: The purple link takes the rate of the level for subsequent orders as well. Undone, a rate of its own applies, 0 included.

  • New consultants get the defaults on registration, here 3 and 2 percent.

The calculation

What does one order of Miriam's customer bring?

All consultants have 20 percent on the orders of their customers. As team leader Katrin has 5 and 3 percent for levels 2 and 3, Gabriele the defaults of 3 and 2 percent. The base is the net value of the goods after discounts, without shipping.

Order of a customer of Miriam, €120.00 net

Level 1, Miriam, 20%€24.00

Level 2, Katrin, 5%€6.00

Level 3, Gabriele, 2%€2.40

Total commission€32.40

Miriam's own purchase, €150.00 net

Miriam herself€0.00

Level 1, Katrin, 20%€30.00

Level 2, Gabriele, 3%€4.50

Total commission€34.50

What does Katrin earn in October?

Katrin recruited Miriam and Nadine Kraft herself, Selin Aydin joined through Miriam in October. All turnover is net.

Katrin's commission in October

Her customers, €1,400.00, level 1, 20%€280.00

Miriam's own purchase, €150.00, level 1, 20%€30.00

Miriam's customers, €900.00, level 2, 5%€45.00

Nadine's customers, €600.00, level 2, 5%€30.00

Selin's customers, €500.00, level 3, 3%€15.00

Commission in October€400.00

Katrin owes €120.00 of it to her team: €30.00 from Miriam's own purchase and €90.00 from the orders of her consultants' customers. Miriam, Nadine and Selin keep their full 20 percent.

What Katrin and you see

Katrin's team in the partner area

With Show the network as a tree in the affiliate program Katrin sees her team in the Multi-Level-Marketing tab: “You” at the top, below Miriam and Nadine on level 2 and under Miriam Selin on level 3, each with the commission Katrin earned from the orders of her customers.

  • Only after approval: An applicant shows up in the tree as soon as you have approved her.

  • Shortened names: Katrin sees “Miriam A.”, the figures and the last five orders of the customers, but no customer data.

  • Nothing above: Miriam sees Selin in her tree, but neither Katrin nor Gabriele.

  • By level: Below the tree, every level shows how many consultants, customers and orders belong to it, with turnover and commission.

The team in the administration

At the partner, the Network tab shows under Recruited by who recruited Katrin, and below all consultants of her team level by level, with a search across the whole network. In the program statistics the Network tab shows Best recruiters and Largest networks, among others.

How do the consultants get their money?

With the Type of remuneration set to Voucher and payout, every consultant decides herself: a voucher for her next own purchase or a payout to her account. You review payouts in a list and transfer them with a SEPA file from your online banking. Commission from the team sits in the same balance as the commission from her own customers.

  • Cancellations: If a customer cancels, the plugin books the commission back on every level with a counter-booking of its own, for Miriam, Katrin and Gabriele.

How to set it up

In the affiliate program

The Behaviour of the registration is set to Partners must apply and be manually activated, the Type of remuneration to Voucher and payout.

Where to find them in the settings (affiliate program menu on the left under System → Settings):

  • Partners · Registration card → Enable mandatory checkboxShould a customer be shown a mandatory checkbox when registering for the affiliate program? By default, the checkbox makes the partner accept the terms and conditions of the shop. The text of the checkbox can be changed in the snippets.

  • Partners · Defaults for new partners card → Commission (absolute or percentage)The initial commission of the partner in percent (e.g. 5%) or in the default currency (e.g. 5,- EUR). Can be customized per partner after registration in the administration.

  • Commission · Commissionable orders card → Customer groupsOnly orders of customers in these customer groups get commission.

    Note:
    If NO customer groups are selected, then ALL customer groups are valid.

  • Marketing · Customer assignment card → Assigned customers may be poached from other partnersA referred customer is usually permanently assigned to a partner. The customer's commission is always attributed to the original partner, even if the customer is led into the shop for follow-up orders from another partner. Activate this configuration so that the original assignment is cancelled and the customer can thus be poached.

In the multi-level marketing add-on plugin

The rates are defaults for new consultants. You change the rates of a team leader at her partner.

Where to find them in the configuration of the multi-level marketing add-on plugin (Extensions → My extensions → Configure):

  • Level settings card → LevelThe maximum level of commission for future orders.

  • Commission - Level 3 card → Commission (absolute or percental)The initial commission of the Partner in percent (e.g. 5%) or in the default currency (e.g. 5,- EUR). Can be customized per partner after registration in the administration.

  • Default settings card → Show the network as a tree in the affiliate programPartners see the partners they recruited directly and indirectly level by level, with shortened names, their figures and the last five orders of their customers. The overview by level stays.

Common questions

What is an override commission?

In direct selling, that is the commission a team leader earns from the orders of her team. In the multi-level marketing add-on plugin these are levels 2 to 5: a booking of its own per level, on top of the commission of the consultant the order came through.

Does the sponsor earn from her consultants' own purchases?

Yes, on level 1. A consultant is assigned as a customer to the consultant who recruited her, and her own orders carry that code. If own purchases should bring no commission, give the consultants a customer group of their own and leave it out of the commissionable orders.

Does a consultant become a team leader automatically?

You enter the rates for her team at the partner in the Further levels card. Partner groups with automatic promotion count turnover, orders or referred customers from the orders a consultant brings herself. How a partner group counts on levels 2 to 5 is explained at shop-affiliate.de/en/mlm-commission-rules.

Can a consultant bring a regular customer of the shop into her team?

Yes, if the customer is not assigned to a partner yet. She opens the consultant's link while signed in or redeems her partner voucher and then applies. With “Assign new customers only” this only works as long as the customer has never ordered.

Does a consultant see who is above her?

No. In the partner area she is at the top as “You”, below only the consultants she or her team recruited. In the administration the Network tab at the partner shows under Recruited by who recruited her.

Is there commission for every new consultant in the team?

No, commission comes only from orders, on every level. A new consultant brings her team leader something only once her customers or she herself order.

Can consultants take their commission as a voucher?

Yes. With the type of remuneration “Voucher and payout” every consultant chooses in the partner area whether she takes her balance as a voucher for her next purchase or as a payout to her account. Commission from the team sits in the same balance as the commission from her own customers.

In detail in the manual

More examples

Priority in the network Which rate applies on levels 2 to 5? Level rate, partner group and commission rules: how the plugin decides. Read on → Espresso mail order Customers refer customers The regular customer spreads the word and takes a voucher instead of money. The credit stays in the shop. Read on → Natural cosmetics shop Referral reward per new customer A one-off €10 voucher for every new customer, not for existing customers or second accounts. Read on →

From a circle of customers to a team of consultants.

The multi-level marketing add-on plugin builds on the affiliate program and is available in the Shopware Store.

Open the demo shop Manual View in the store