Choose a program type

Grizzlee runs referral and affiliate programs on the same rules. What differs is who shares your link and what they expect in return. This article helps you pick, then walks through building each one in the program builder. Choose your program rules covers every setting in detail.

Referral or affiliate

A referral program rewards your own customers for telling their friends. Someone who already buys from you shares a link, and when a friend orders, the customer gets store credit or a discount on their next order. The friend usually gets something too, so the link feels like a favour rather than an ad. A coffee shop giving customers $5 in store credit for each friend who orders, with 10% off for the friend, is a referral program.

An affiliate program pays outside partners who send you customers. Partners are people and businesses that do not buy from you, such as creators, bloggers, affiliate sites and agencies. They promote you to their audience and expect cash, often a percentage that keeps paying while the customer keeps buying. A creator who earns 20% of every order from the customers they send, for as long as those customers stay, is an affiliate.

In short:

• Customers who share usually earn store credit or a discount. Partners usually earn cash.
• Referral rewards usually cover the friend's first order. Affiliate commission often covers every order for months or forever.
• Friends in a referral program usually get a discount. Customers an affiliate sends may or may not get one.

None of these are rules. Grizzlee lets you give cash to customers or store credit to partners if that suits your business.

When to choose both

Choose Both under Who shares your link? when customers and outside partners should share the same program with the same rewards. A small shop that hands its regulars and a few local creators the same link, with $10 in store credit and 10% off for the friend, can run one program instead of two.

When the two groups should earn different things, such as store credit for customers and cash commission for creators, create two programs instead. Each partner can belong to several programs.

Who shares your link? only changes the wording. The program list shows it under Who shares, and you can change it on a saved program. Partners then read the new wording, and rewards already earned keep the terms they were earned under.

Build a referral program

1. Open Programs and choose New program.
2. Under How do you want to start?, choose Refer a friend, or Start from scratch if you want to type every answer. Choose Continue.
3. Under Who shares your link?, choose Your customers.
4. Under What does the customer get?, choose Store credit, type the amount and choose your currency sign. For a percentage of the friend's order, choose %. To give a discount on the customer's next order instead, choose A discount. A discount only works once you link the customer's account in their partner record on Partners.
5. Under Does the friend get anything?, choose % off and type the amount, such as 10. Choose Nothing if the friend gets no discount.
6. Under For how long?, choose Their first order. Most referral programs reward one order per friend.
7. Read In plain words. It should say something like "When a customer's friend places their first order, the customer gets $10.00 in store credit. The friend gets 10% off their first order." Choose Continue.
8. Enter the Program name and check Where should the link send people?. Choose Continue, then Create program.

Store credit sits in the customer's Grizzlee wallet until your checkout spends it. See store credit.

Build an affiliate program

1. Open Programs and choose New program.
2. Under How do you want to start?, choose Affiliate commission, or Start from scratch. Choose Continue.
3. Under Who shares your link?, choose Outside partners.
4. Under What does the partner get?, choose Cash, type the rate, such as 20, and choose %. For a flat amount per order, choose your currency sign instead.
5. Under Do the customers they send get anything?, choose Nothing, or give them a discount to help partners sell.
6. Under For how long?, choose how long a customer keeps earning for the partner. All orders, forever is recurring commission. All orders for a number of months limits it, such as 12 months of a subscription.
7. Read In plain words, such as "When a customer a partner sent places any order, the partner gets 20% of the order in cash. The customer gets nothing." Choose Continue.
8. Enter the Program name and the page links open, then create the program.

Before inviting partners, open Advanced settings on Review and check Payouts. It decides whether Grizzlee holds approved cash until you pay out, or your own system pays partners.

Reward an action instead of an order

Apps, courses and services sometimes want to reward something other than an order, such as finishing 10 classes or completing a booking. Choose Other / for apps under How do you want to start?, then Reward an action.

The builder shows a sentence like "When someone you invite completes 10 lessons, you get $50 cash once." Type what people complete, the count and the amount. Choose once to pay when they reach the count, or each time to pay for every report. These programs pay only when your server reports each action to Grizzlee, so you need a developer. Orders never count on their own. The program guide explains the milestone key your developer reports.

Cash rewards need payouts

An approved cash reward is money you owe the partner. Grizzlee does not send it until you pay out, either from the Payouts page or through your own system. Pay your partners explains both.

Paying people cash may also mean collecting tax forms, depending on where you and your partners are. Grizzlee does not collect tax forms yet, so check what your accountant needs before your first payout and collect it yourself.