Choose your program rules

A program defines who gets a reward and which customer action earns it. Start with rules you can explain to a partner in one sentence. Add limits and special terms later, when you need them.

Create a program

Open Programs and choose New program. An empty program list has its own New program button. Until your company has a program or a partner, the sidebar hides the Referrals group and shows Add referrals instead, which opens Programs. Creating a program takes four steps: Start, What people get, Name and link and Review. Continue checks the step's answers and moves on. Back returns to the previous step. Steps you have already reached stay clickable in the list on the left.

Not sure whether you want a referral or an affiliate program? Choose a program type compares them and walks through each one.

Start

How do you want to start? offers Start from scratch and two templates. A template fills in the answers on the next step, and you can change any of them:

• Refer a friend: the friend gets 10% off their first order, and the customer who shared gets $10 in store credit.
• Affiliate commission: outside partners earn 5% of every order from customers they send, in cash, forever.

Start from scratch picks your customers as the people who share and store credit as their reward, and leaves the amount blank for you to fill in.

Apps and online services can choose Other / for apps to show a third template, Reward an action. The person who invited someone gets $50 in cash once that person completes 10 classes, bookings or another action you name. These programs pay only when your server reports the action to Grizzlee.

What people get

What people get asks four questions, then shows the answers as one plain sentence.

1. Who shares your link? Choose Your customers, Outside partners such as creators, affiliates and agencies, or Both. The choice only changes the words partners and you read. Rewards work the same way for all three.
2. What the person who shares gets. The question reads What does the customer get?, What does the partner get? or What does the person who shares get?, depending on who shares. Choose Store credit, A discount or Cash, type the amount, and choose % or your currency sign. A percentage of store credit or cash is a share of each order's amount. A discount comes off the sharer's next order.
3. Whether the person they refer gets anything. The question reads Does the friend get anything?, Do the customers they send get anything? or Does the person they refer get anything?. Choose Nothing, % off or an amount off, then type the amount. You pay for the discount. Your checkout applies it for referral codes, and a Stripe or Shopify discount code carries it in that provider. Send your developer the friend-incentive guide.
4. For how long? decides which orders from the referred person earn: Their first order, the First few orders, All orders for a number of months, or All orders, forever.

In plain words sums the program up from your side, such as "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." It updates as you answer.

A discount for the person who shares works only after you link their customer account in their partner record on the Partners page. The step says so when you choose A discount. Store credit and cash need no linking.

In a Reward an action program, the second question shows a sentence like "When someone you invite completes 10 lessons, you get $50 cash once." Type what people complete, such as lessons or bookings, and choose once to pay at a count or each time to pay on every report. Orders do not count by themselves, even if you type orders. Partners read this word, so a company with more than one language asks for it in each language, under the sentence. Grizzlee makes the program's milestone key from the word in your first language. On a saved program, changing the word changes only what partners read, not the key. For how long? does not show, since there is no order.

When someone gets a discount, Add limits shows its limits:

• Most off one order caps a percentage discount.
• Minimum order is measured before the discount.
• Discount expires after a number of days. Leave it blank and the discount never expires. A discount for the person who shares starts counting from the referred order, even if it waits for approval.
• New customers only, for the friend's discount, limits it to customers with no earlier orders. With it on, the discount is for their first order. With it off, it is for their next order.

When both people get a discount, the limits show under Your discount and Your friend's discount.

How orders and amounts count

The referrer is the customer or partner who shared the link. The friend is the customer they referred. After a purchase qualifies, the friend keeps that partner, and later purchases can earn without a new link, scan or code.

A number of months runs to the same calendar date after the friend's first rewarded order, from 1 to 1,200 months. For subscriptions, the period starts with the customer's first referred paid invoice that earns a reward in the program. Twelve months covers 12 monthly invoices. Trials and zero-amount invoices do not start the period. A second subscription for the same customer shares the program's start date.

A percentage reward uses the commissionable amount your server sends, usually merchandise after discounts, before tax and shipping. A $100 order with a $10 discount and $5 in shipping and tax sends commissionableCents: 9000, so a 10% reward earns $9. Confirm that amount with your developer before promising a rate to partners.

Your developer can send whether a customer is new from your own order history. Then first-order rewards count purchases after the referral, and returning customers can earn partner rewards. Without that answer, Grizzlee uses its own purchase count for your company, which needs every completed purchase and an import of earlier purchases. New customers only follows the same answer.

Name and link

Enter the Program name. Partners and their customers see it in the embedded dashboard, the partner portal, the signup page, share text and QR code downloads. When your company serves more than one language, the step shows one name field per language, labelled with the language's name, and every language needs a name. See languages.

Where should the link send people? is the page partner links and QR codes open, such as your shop or signup page. Every link needs one, so the field is required while links or QR codes are on. A new program starts with your website, taken from your other programs or from the site your embedded dashboard runs on. A published signup page sends links to its own Referral destination instead. The field then names that page and becomes optional. Changing the name or the link does not change the rules rewards are earned under.

Review and create

Review starts with In plain words, the same summary as What people get. Below it, What partners read shows the program in each language: the program name, a short headline such as "Give 10%, get $10" and the reward in a sentence. Edit wording lets you replace the Headline. A Reward an action program also has a Milestone label with One and Several, such as lesson and lessons, so partners read "3 lessons" instead of "3 steps". Fill a headline or label in every language or in none.

Choose Create program to save. If an answer is missing, Grizzlee opens the step that needs it and names the language when a translation is missing.

What Grizzlee sets for you

New programs start with these settings, and Advanced settings on Review changes any of them before you create the program:

• A referral counts for 30 days after a click or scan. Referrals in Reward an action programs never expire.
• Links, QR codes and referral codes are on.
• Stripe or Shopify discount codes are on when the friend gets a discount and Stripe or Shopify is connected.
• Fraud checks are Standard.
• Rewards are approved without your review.
• Cash and store credit go out the way Who pays partners? says on Payouts. See paying partners.

Advanced settings

Open Advanced settings from Review while creating, or the Advanced tab on a saved program. Choose Back to review to return while creating. Each section is a closed row with its current value on the right. Choose a row to open it. The sections that apply to the program show in this order: Payouts, Safety, Which orders earn or Milestone rewards, Discounts, Sharing, Refunds and More rules. If a field in a closed section needs an answer, Grizzlee opens the section and points to it.

Which orders earn has the choices the sentences cannot say: the First few orders, All orders for a number of days, or Only orders made with their link or code. That last one credits one order at a time and suits influencer codes. Each purchase needs its own scan, code or link capture, and the next purchase does not carry the referral forward. On action programs, Milestone rewards can pay a percentage per report, stop after a limit, or pay both per report and at a count. It holds Each report, with a Report amount or Report rate and a Report limit, and At the count, with Reports needed and a Bonus amount. A report rate uses the valueCents your server sends with each report.

Discounts sets Discount covers, how many orders one discount applies to, and the order categories it applies to.

Sharing holds the Referral window, the number of days after a click or scan that an order still counts. Reward an action programs show Referrals never expire instead, and turning it off shows the window. Below it, the Links, QR codes and Referral codes switches decide how partners share. A referral code identifies the partner, and your checkout applies the friend's discount. Stripe or Shopify discount codes shows when the friend gets a discount and a connection exists. Turning a method off stops new referrals through it. It keeps qualified referrals and earned rewards. Deactivate existing discount codes to stop their discounts too.

Checkout uses the newest valid referral until a purchase qualifies. A code typed at checkout beats an older link or scan. Invalid or expired referrals are skipped, and checkout continues without one when none is valid.

Safety holds Fraud checks:

• Standard blocks self-referral and flags shared cards or devices, rapid repeats, repeat customers and throwaway emails.
• Strict still blocks self-referral and holds the other matches for your review.
• Off runs no checks, not even self-referral.
• Custom shows each rule so you can set it yourself.

Under Custom, each rule takes Block, Hold for review, Flag only or Off. Duplicate accounts also sets Customers sharing a card or device and the number of days in Within. Rapid repeat referrals sets Referrals from one device and the number of minutes in Within. Turn on Count shared IP addresses or Count referrals from one IP address to add a separate limit for an IP address. A shop's Wi-Fi puts many customers on one address, so leave these off unless your customers buy from home. Disposable email cannot block. A program saved with its own mix opens on Custom, and picking another level replaces its rules.

The checks compare signals Grizzlee collects on its own. A link click records the visitor's IP address and, with the Grizzlee SDK, a random device ID. A partner's IP address is recorded when they join from your program page and when they open their partner portal. Stripe payments and paid invoices add the card, and Shopify orders add the IP address the order came from. Grizzlee stores a one-way hash of each value, never the value itself. A match on an IP address alone never blocks a reward. It flags it instead. Fraud checks hold only suspicious rewards. To approve every new reward yourself, turn on Review rewards before approving. Reviewing rewards explains held and flagged rewards.

Payouts sets the Payout method for one program, overriding the company default:

• Grizzlee pays the partner for cash, or Grizzlee holds the credit for store credit, puts approved rewards in the partner's Grizzlee wallet. Cash still needs a payout. Store credit needs your checkout to support spending it.
• I pay the partner myself for cash, or I give the credit myself for store credit, means your business delivers the reward and reports delivery to Grizzlee. Your developer needs to connect that process.

Programs that give the referrer a discount have no Payouts, Reward caps, Performance tiers or Custom terms.

More rules holds Reward caps, Rates over time, Performance tiers, Custom terms and Order categories. Its row lists the ones in use, and each one shows a one-line summary when set.

Refunds holds When an order is partly refunded. A fixed reward is reduced to match by default. Choose Keep the full reward, cancel it only on a full refund to keep it. Programs with discounts also choose whether a full refund gives the discount back.

Earned discounts

A referrer who earns a discount gets one for each qualifying order from the friend. Earned discounts keep their terms when you edit the program. Partners use them once you link their customer account in their partner record, and your API checkout applies them with the same calls as a friend's discount. An eligible friend's discount wins when both are available. Earned discounts do not sync to Stripe or Shopify discount codes.

For discounts your checkout applies, your integration reserves a use when the customer places an order. The hold lasts until that order completes or your server releases it. On the Events tab of Developers, Open offer holds lists holds older than Open longer than days, which starts at 30. Kind shows whether a hold is Friend or Earned. Check whether each order is still active, then have your integration release cancelled orders. Grizzlee never releases an old hold by itself.

Edit a program

Open a program from Programs. The list shows Who shares for each program. A saved program has three tabs: What people get, Name and link and Advanced. Edit wording sits on Name and link. Choose Save program from any tab. The Active switch on Name and link controls whether the program can earn new rewards. Like every other field, it changes when you choose Save program.

You can change Who shares your link? on a saved program. It changes the words partners read from then on, such as "your friend" or "a customer you refer". Grizzlee saves a new program version, and rewards already earned keep the terms they were earned under.

Some programs use rules the questions cannot say, such as orders for a number of days or a reward cap. What people get then shows "This program uses advanced rules." Choose See advanced settings to change them. For how long? shows the closest answer it can, and choosing a new answer replaces the rule from Which orders earn. Other advanced rules, such as a reward cap, stay until you change them on Advanced. An action program with advanced milestone rules locks its amount, count and payment choices on What people get.

Edits apply to future earnings. Grizzlee keeps the original rules on rewards already earned. Open Version history on What people get to see earlier rules. Reward details link to the version used for that reward.

If you close the form with unsaved edits, Grizzlee asks before it discards them. Choose Keep editing to go back or Discard changes to close.

Program keys

Open Developers in the sidebar. The Program keys card on the API keys tab lists every program that is not archived, with its Placement keys and its Milestone key. Owners, admins and editors can change them. Keys save right away.

A placement key is a stable name your app or embedded dashboard uses to find a program, such as checkout_banner. Your developer puts the key in the code once. You choose which program it points to, so you can switch programs without a new app release. Choose Add key in the program's row, type the Placement key and choose Add key. If the key points to another program, the button says Move here. Only new embed sessions and new enrollments follow a moved key. To remove a key, choose the x next to it, then Remove key. Placement keys do not change the program's rules or add a program version.

A milestone key is the name your developer reports for an action program. Grizzlee makes it from the word you typed in the sentence, so lessons becomes lessons. To rename it, choose Change, enter the new Milestone key and choose Save key. Your server must send the new key, and reports with the old key stop counting. The change adds a program version.

Delete or archive a program

Choose Delete program at the bottom of the form. Grizzlee checks the program's history first and says which of two things will happen:

• A program with no referrals, rewards or other history is deleted for good, with its versions and placement keys.
• A program with history is archived. It stops earning, leaves your program lists and pickers, and loses its placement keys. Its referrals, rewards and versions are kept. The button reads Archive program.

Archived programs are hidden from Programs. Turn on the Show archived switch above the list to see them. An archived program opens read-only and cannot change again.