How to Create a Recurring Commission Program Using Siren
Let’s say you are running a membership site with a recurring commission, and you want to pay your collaborators a recurring commission, but you want to pay a smaller commission for the recurring commissions, and a larger commission for the initial purchase.
Siren accomplishes this by using two separate programs – one that handles the initial purchase reward, and another that handles the recurring payout.
Video Tutorial
What Is Recurring Commission?
Recurring commission is a special type of reward where your affiliates are paid repeatedly after an initial sale. The recurring commission is usually tied to a customer’s recurring payment, paying out a percentage of the customer’s payment each time their payment renews.
This is commonly found on subscriptions, or membership websites that feature a monthly, or yearly subscription. The affiliate who attracts the customer to buy in these cases receives a commission as long as the customer remains an active customer.
We talk about recurring commission structures a bit in our podcast episode “These 3 Affiliate Program Structures Can Change Your Business“. If you’re looking for more information on ways to use this program, definitely give that episode a listen!
How To Create A Recurring Commission Affiliate Program Using Siren
Setting up a recurring affiliate program with Siren is straightforward. This tutorial will guide you through creating a program, configuring its structure, and setting up a public form for collaborator registration. Let’s get started!
Create Your Recurring Commission Program
One of the most-fundamental building blocks of Siren are programs. A program describes what people must do in order to earn a reward. It also defines how big the reward is, based on their actions. In-order to create our recurring affiliate program, the first thing we need to do is create a program.
- Navigate to the “Programs” section in the Siren dashboard.
- Click on the “Add New button.
- Define the basic details of the program.
Define the Program Structure
A program structure defines who gets paid whenever a customer converts. Some program structures dictate that only one affiliate wins, while others can dictate that many affiliates win. In cases where many affiliates win, the program structure also defines how the reward pool is divided.
Within the program creation screen, select one of the program structures.
Since this is an affiliate program, a good choice for this is probably Newest Engagement Wins, since that’s what affiliate programs typically use.
Configure Engagement Tracking Events
An Engagement tracking event happens when a potential customer’s action is tied to a collaborator. Engagement tracking is crucial for monitoring the effectiveness of your affiliate links, and your recurring commission program will rely on it to determine who to pay. Here’s how to set it up:
- Still in the program setup, look for the “Engagement Tracking Events” section.
- Add the types of engagements you want to track, such as site visits through an affiliate link. You can set multiple engagement types depending on your program needs.
For recurring commission affiliate programs, Site Visited is a clear winner. If you also have coupon codes for your collaborators, it makes a lot of sense to use Coupon Code Used, as well.
Check out detailed documentation for each engagement tracking event here.
Set Up the Incentive Structure
An incentive structure defines how much gets paid out whenever a customer converts. They use the transaction data to determine how much to reward affiliates.
- Select an incentive structure.
- Define the recurring commission rates in the “Incentive Structure” section. For example, set a 20% payout for sales and renewals. Remember, this is the recurring payout percentage, so the collaborator will receive this every time the payment recurs.
- Specify which conversions (sales, renewals) should trigger payouts. Since this is supposed to apply on both sales and renewals, tick both boxes.
Not sure which incentive structure you should use? Consider percentage of transaction. It’s generally easy to budget for, scales well, and motivates affiliates. Check out detailed documentation for each incentive structure.
Optional – Create Your Initial Non-Recurring Commission Program
The initial commission program will reward the collaborator the rest of the percentage that is not supposed to recur. This step is only necessary if you want to pay a higher percentage for the initial sale, and a smaller recurring commission afterward.
When the sale is completed, both of these programs will trigger, and they stack – so both the 5% and the 20% would apply, totaling to your intended 25% commission. After that, the recurring program will recur at 5%, but the 20% commission will not.
Duplicate Your Commission Program
Now repeat all of the steps above and create a second program. You should use the same settings as what you used in your recurring commission program, except for these differences:
- The payout percentage should be set to whatever percentage you want to payout minus the percentage your recurring commission pays out. For example, if you wanted to pay out 25%, and your recurring commission pays out 5%, this program should pay 20%.
- Only the “sales” conversion should be ticked. Do not tick the “renewals” box for this program.
