„Use the code espresso-lena and get ten percent off."
The sentence you hear in every other video. It works because it does three things at once: it names an incentive, it is memorable without a link, and afterwards it tells you who you owe the order to. That is exactly what the partner voucher is.
What you set once.
A collaboration is arranged in a few minutes, and after that it runs without you.
- Create the partner, with or without a customer account. The code comes from the name, and you can overwrite it.
- Set the reward to payout, for this partner only. The rest of your partners stay on voucher.
- Give a rate of their own. Whoever brings reach gets more than the 5 percent from the basic setting.
- Set up the partner voucher, amount, usage limits and conditions. Optionally it lands in the cart automatically.
What a collaboration costs.
Ten percent off for the audience, twelve percent commission for Lena. The two together are the price of reach, and both are worth working out before you agree.
Around 19 percent of the list price goes into the collaboration. Whether that carries depends on your margin and on whether Lena brings customers you would not otherwise reach. The commission calculates on the net goods value excluding shipping, not on the gross total of the order.
What this plugin cannot do.
If you come from an affiliate network, you will miss two things. Better to know beforehand.
No click statistics over time
Every visit through the partner link increases a counter, and that counter stands in the partner list. That is all it is: no curve across days, no conversion rate, no comparison of two campaigns.
What you do see: referred customers, orders, revenue in the month and in the year, commission. Enough for settling up, not enough for optimising campaigns.
No tracking across devices
The assignment hangs on the session and the cookie and only becomes permanent when somebody logs in, registers or orders as a guest. Anyone who watches the video on their phone and orders on their computer without naming the code is lost.
The way around it is exactly the discount code: it gets typed in whatever the device, and it assigns independently of the cookie.
Common questions
Why does an influencer get money instead of a voucher?
Because they run advertising as a business. A voucher for your shop is worthless to somebody who does not need your goods. They send an invoice and expect a transfer. That is why you switch the kind of reward per partner: regular customers to voucher, influencers to payout.
How does an influencer get their discount code?
Through the partner voucher. Every partner can have a discount code of their own for your shop, percentage or absolute, with a pattern for name and code. The partner espresso-lena thus gets the code espresso-lena, which she names in every video. The code discounts and assigns at the same time.
Does the code count without a link?
Yes. The partner voucher assigns the customer even when they arrive in the shop without a link. That is exactly what you need for video and podcast, where nobody clicks a link. In addition you can allow free code entry in the cart, and then the plain partner code without a discount works too.
Can the voucher sit in the cart automatically?
Yes. On request the shop puts the partner voucher into the cart automatically as soon as somebody arrives through the partner link. For the audience coming from a story link the typing falls away, and the assignment is still unambiguous.
How do I limit how often a code is used?
Through the usage limits on the partner voucher: in total and per customer. On top of that come conditions from the Shopware Rule Builder, a minimum order value for instance, or a restriction to certain categories. That keeps a collaboration from running away with you.
Can I see how many clicks the link brought?
You see a counter, no more. Every visit through the partner link increases it, and the figure stands in the partner list. There is no evaluation over time, no click statistic by day and no conversion rate. What you do see cleanly is referred customers, orders and commission.
How do I pay out?
The partner requests the payout in the customer account, you confirm it in the administration. Every process gets a consecutive number and a receipt as a PDF showing which orders make it up with which partial amounts. The transfer happens outside the shop, in the process you already have.
What about VAT?
For partners from Germany with a VAT identification number the amount can be calculated as a net figure, so that the partner's invoice and your receipt match up. The receipt itself shows no tax; it is a record of the payout, not an invoice.
Other ways to turn customers into partners.
Comparison sites and blogs
Commission per product and category, so that thin margins do not bleed twice.
Read on → A partner with a VAT IDAn agency with an invoice
Business partners send invoices. The receipt and the net invoice have to match up.
Read on → Five levelsA sales network
Partners recruit partners, and whoever recruited them earns too. The add-on for structures.
Read on →You do not buy reach, you reward it.
The demo shop has a partner with a voucher of their own that you can try in the cart.