Launch an affiliate programme for your paid space
Tiers, duration, payout threshold, affiliate approval: the settings to choose, and in what order, so your members recruit your next customers.
Your best salespeople are already in your space: they are the members who talk about it to the people around them. An affiliate programme gives them a personal link, counts the people they bring in and pays them a share of what those people pay. This guide takes you from switching it on to the first payout.
In short: open the programme in Settings → Affiliates, keep the default settings to start with (20%, 25% then 30%, 12 months, €50 threshold), write a clear welcome message, then announce it to your members.
Before you start
Three conditions for the programme to be worth it:
- Your space is paid, with your members paying into your Stripe account. A free space can also open the programme, but only to track who brings in whom: there is nothing to calculate a commission on.
- You have a few happy members. Affiliate marketing amplifies word of mouth, it doesn't create it. Ten active members are worth more than a hundred silent sign-ups.
- You know how much you can pay out. If you're unsure about the rate, read how much to pay your affiliates first.
Step 1: open the programme
In your space, go to Settings → Affiliates and tick Open the programme to members. From that moment:
- an Affiliates entry appears in the space menu for your members;
- a card invites visitors to join the programme on the space's About page;
- each affiliate gets a link in the form
www.learnfloo.com/c/your-space?via=CODE.
The link leads to your space's public page. It is remembered for 60 days in the visitor's browser: if they come back later and join the space, they are still attributed to the affiliate.
Step 2: choose the tiers
An affiliate's rate depends on the number of their converted referrals, meaning those who have paid at least one invoice. By default:
| Converted referrals | Rate |
|---|---|
| 0 to 4 | 20% |
| 5 to 9 | 25% |
| 10 and over | 30% |
You can change the thresholds and rates and add tiers. Two tips:
- Keep a motivating first tier. An affiliate who earns a few euros on their first referral wants to keep going; a token rate discourages them.
- Reserve the top of the ladder for real recruiters. Tiers are there to reward those who bring in a lot without overpaying those who bring in one member a year.
For a particular partner (an influencer, an association, a partner trainer), you can later set a negotiated rate or own tiers, directly on their row in the affiliate list.
Step 3: duration and payout threshold
The commission duration ranges from 1 to 120 months after the referral arrives (12 by default). During this period, every payment the referral makes, monthly, yearly or lifetime, earns a commission on its amount before tax. After that, the referral remains your member, but the affiliate no longer earns anything from them.
The payout threshold is the amount owed from which you pay the affiliate (€50 by default, 0 for none). It saves you from making a transfer for €4.
Step 4: approval and welcome message
Automatic approval: ticked, any member who joins the programme gets their link straight away. Unticked, each request waits for your approval and you are notified. Start with automatic approval if your community is small and well known; switch to manual if you're worried about opportunistic sign-ups.
The message to affiliates is shown on their Affiliates page. That's where you tell them:
- who to recommend the space to (and who not to);
- where to share the link: newsletter, social media, bio, chat group;
- what you won't accept: spam, paid ads on your name, promises you don't keep.
If needed, add a link to your terms (a page on your website or a public document).
Step 5: announce it to your members
A programme nobody knows about recruits nobody. Announce it in three places:
- A pinned post in the space feed, with the link to the Affiliates page.
- An e-mail campaign to all members, or only the most active ones.
- A few minutes at the end of a live session, where you show the page and answer questions.
The guide turn your members into ambassadors gives you ready-to-copy messages.
What happens next
- A visitor follows the link, joins the space and pays: they become the affiliate's referral, and a commission is created at the rate of the affiliate's tier.
- If the payment is refunded, the commission is cancelled automatically.
- You see everything in Settings → Affiliates: affiliates, referrals, rates, amount owed. The affiliate sees the same figures on their side.
- When an affiliate reaches the threshold, you pay them (bank transfer, PayPal…) and mark the payout as done.
LearnFloo takes nothing: not from your sales, not from the commissions. Tracking and payouts are covered in detail in track and pay your affiliates without a spreadsheet.
Mistakes to avoid
- Opening the programme without a welcome message. Your affiliates don't know what to say, so they say nothing.
- Changing the rates every month. Trust matters more than the percentage: set rules and stick to them.
- Paying late. An affiliate paid on time keeps recommending; an affiliate who has to chase you twice stops.
For an overview of the programme, see the affiliate programme for your space page.