Understanding Payouts
What is a payout?
A payout is a commission rule that determines when an affiliate earns a commission and how much they receive.
Payouts are created within campaigns. Each campaign can have multiple payouts, allowing you to reward affiliates for different events, such as registrations, purchases, or other actions performed by referred customers.
For example, you can configure a campaign to pay affiliates $1 for every registration, 20% for a customer's first purchase, and 10% for repeat purchases.
Each of these commission rules is configured as a separate payout.
How do payouts work?
Let's say you operate an online store and want to reward affiliates for three types of events:
| Event | Commission |
|---|---|
| Customer registration | $1 |
| First purchase | 20% |
| Repeat purchase | 10% |
To set this up, you create three payouts within your campaign:
Payout 1: Registration
Pays a fixed $1 commission whenever a referred customer registers.
Payout 2: First Purchase
Pays 20% of the customer's first purchase amount. For example, a $100 purchase generates a $20 commission.
Payout 3: Repeat Purchase
Pays 10% of each subsequent purchase. For example, a $100 repeat purchase generates a $10 commission.
Each payout is configured to recognize its corresponding event, ensuring that registrations, first purchases, and repeat purchases are rewarded according to their respective commission rules.
What can you configure in a payout?
Each payout has its own settings that determine how commissions are calculated, which affiliates are eligible, and what conditions must be met.
Commission Type and Rate
Determines how much an affiliate earns when the payout is triggered.
Tracknow supports three commission types:
- Fixed: A set amount per qualifying conversion, such as $5 per registration.
- Percentage: A percentage of the conversion value, such as 10% of a purchase.
- Hybrid: A combination of a fixed amount and a percentage, such as $2 plus 10% of a purchase.
Payout Scope
Determines which affiliates are eligible to receive commissions from the payout.
- General: Available to all affiliates participating in the campaign.
- Personal: Available only to selected affiliates within the campaign.
For example, you can create a General payout offering 10% per sale and a Personal payout offering 15% to selected VIP affiliates.
Payout Conditions
Allows you to define additional requirements that a conversion must meet to trigger the payout.
Conditions are evaluated using the event data received by Tracknow, typically through a postback.
For example, you can configure a payout to apply only when the postback contains a specific event type or product identifier.
If the required values are missing or do not match the payout's conditions, that payout will not be triggered.
Country Targeting
Allows you to control which countries are eligible for a payout based on the referred customer's country.
You can:
- Allowed Countries: Limit the payout to conversions from selected countries.
- Excluded Countries: Prevent the payout from applying to conversions from selected countries.
For example, you can create a payout that rewards purchases made by customers from the United Kingdom while excluding customers from other countries.
How does Tracknow determine which payout to trigger?
When a conversion occurs, your website or system sends the event information to Tracknow, typically through a postback.
Tracknow identifies the campaign associated with the conversion and evaluates the payouts configured within that campaign.
A payout can be triggered when the conversion meets its configured requirements, including:
- Event requirements: The conversion matches the event the payout is intended to reward.
- Affiliate eligibility: The referred affiliate is eligible for the payout based on its scope.
- Additional conditions: The conversion contains any required values defined in the payout.
- Country restrictions: The customer's country meets the payout's targeting rules.
For example, if your campaign has separate payouts for first purchases and repeat purchases, the event data must allow Tracknow to distinguish between them.
This ensures that each event can be evaluated against the appropriate commission rules.
When should you create multiple payouts?
Create separate payouts when you need different commission rules within the same campaign.
Common use cases include:
- Rewarding different events, such as registrations and purchases.
- Offering different commission rates for first and repeat purchases.
- Providing special commission rates to selected affiliates.
- Applying different commission rules based on event data, such as product type.
- Offering or restricting commissions based on the customer's country.
You don't need to create a separate campaign for each commission rule. Multiple payouts can be configured within a single campaign.
Do you need more than one payout?
If your campaign rewards only one type of event with a single commission structure, one payout may be sufficient.
If you want to reward multiple events or apply different commission rates and conditions, you can create additional payouts.
To summarize: A campaign defines the overall tracking and commission setup, while payouts define the individual rules for earning commissions within that campaign.
Each payout determines which conversions qualify for a commission, which affiliates are eligible, and how much they earn.