The deal and the hand-off
How a deal in Finder becomes a partner and a commission rule in your AffiliateRail program, in one press.
A deal is the terms one affiliate is offered and accepts. When they say yes, one press adds them to your AffiliateRail program with those exact terms. You write nothing twice.
The deal
Saving an affiliate creates their deal from your brand's offer. You can change it for that one person: the rate, how long it pays, tiers, a bonus, gifting. Every change of terms is kept, with its date, so you can see what you offered and when.
Two more fields sit on the deal:
- Verdict. Your call, for the card: recommended, yes but expensive, overpriced, maybe later, not recommended.
- Their ask. What they asked for, in their words.
Tiers step up after a number of referred customers. They can't step up on revenue, because AffiliateRail's rules count customers.
Terms agreed
When you and the affiliate settle on the terms, press Terms agreed. That stamps the date and fixes the terms. The verdict, their ask and your notes still save.
Add to AffiliateRail
Open the deal and press Add to AffiliateRail. A sheet shows what one press creates:
- A partner in your program, active, with their email, name, company, website and country.
- Their commission rule, in words. A fixed amount has to be in your program's currency.
- A sign-in link to their portal. It works for an hour, once.
Press Add to AffiliateRail and invite. All of it happens together, or none of it does. Pressing twice creates nothing twice. If it stops, the sheet says which step and what to do.
A bonus or gifting has no home on a rule, so it goes on the partner's note in AffiliateRail.
For now you send the link yourself. Copy it from the sheet into your reply. If it runs out before you send it, press Make a new link.
Already a partner
If the email is already in your program, the deal links to that partner and adds the rule. No second partner is created. The sheet says so before you press.
Invited, then joined
After the hand-off the deal shows Invited. It shows Joined once the partner accepts your program's terms on the portal. Nothing is paid before that.
No program yet
Started in Finder and don't have an AffiliateRail program? The sheet offers two ways on:
- Create your AffiliateRail program. One short form in AffiliateRail, then come back and press the button.
- I track them elsewhere. The deal moves to Activated, nothing is created, and the terms come back as a line to paste wherever you track them.
What the sheet refuses
- The terms aren't agreed yet.
- The affiliate has no email revealed.
- The address asked not to be emailed by your program.
- The email is your own. A partner can't be paid for referring themselves.
- The deal pays a fixed amount in a currency your program doesn't pay in.
Each refusal says what to change.
Existing affiliates
Finder reads your program's partners and keeps them out of Discover. A partner matches on email, website domain, or YouTube channel. You'll find them under Saved, in Existing affiliates.