Help Center

What is the Community Affiliate Program?

The Community Affiliate Program is a feature that allows you to create an internal referral system for your community. When you activate this program, members who are on a paid subscription plan receive a unique, personal invitation link. If someone joins your community using that link and becomes a paying member, the original member (the referrer) earns a commission based on a percentage you set as the community owner. This turns your most engaged members into advocates, helping to grow your community organically.

Key Benefits

Using the Community Affiliate Program offers several advantages for growing your community.

Authentic Growth: New members who join through personal recommendations from existing members are often more engaged.
Cost-Effective Marketing: You can reduce advertising expenses by rewarding members only for successful referrals.
Increased Member Loyalty: Rewarding members for their advocacy strengthens their connection to your community.
Full Owner Control: You decide the commission rate, monitor all activity, and manage the payout process directly.
Clear Tracking: Each member's unique link ensures that every successful referral is accurately attributed to them.

How Member Referrals Work

A commission is generated when a new user signs up for a paid membership using a member's unique referral link. The commission amount is a percentage of the membership fee, which you define as the owner. These earnings accumulate and are paid out when you, the owner, process the payment. The program is designed to be simple for members to use and for you to manage.

Automatic Referral Links

Every paid member of your community automatically gets access to their own unique referral link. They can copy this link from their account and share it via social media, email, or direct messages. To encourage participation, consider announcing the program with a pinned post in your community or including details in your member onboarding communications.

Commission and Payout Management

As the community owner, you have complete control over the financial aspects of the program.

Commission Percentage: You set a single commission rate that applies to all successful referrals.
Payout Responsibility: You are responsible for processing all commission payments to your members. The CRM platform does not handle payouts on your behalf.
Payout Status: You manually update the status of each payout to reflect whether it has been completed, is pending, or has failed, so members have an accurate view of their earnings.

Access for Community Owners

You can manage the entire affiliate program from your CRM dashboard.

Setting the Commission Percentage

Navigate to the main dashboard for your community. Click the kebab menu (three vertical dots) next to your community's name and select Affiliates. In the top-right corner of the Affiliates page, you will find a field to set the commission percentage. Enter the desired rate and save your changes.

Understanding the Owner Dashboard

The dashboard provides an overview of the program's performance.

Revenue from affiliates: The total membership revenue generated through the affiliate program.
Total payouts: The sum of all commissions you have paid out to members so far.

Managing the Referral Table

The main table lists all referral activity. The columns include:

Invitee name: The person who was invited.
Referred by: The community member who sent the invitation.
Joining status: Shows as Invited until the person becomes a paying member, then updates to Joined.
Total Payouts: The amount you have already paid for that specific referral.
Pending Payouts: The commission amount that is still owed for that referral.
Payout Status: Indicates if the payment is Completed, Pending, or Failed.

You can manually update the payout status for each entry by clicking the checkmark icon to mark it as Completed or the cross icon to mark it as Failed.

Getting Member Bank Details

To process payments, you will need your members' banking information. Click the Download CSV button located at the top-right of the referrals table to export a file containing the necessary details.

Access for Referrers (Community Members)

Members can track their own referral activity and earnings.

Accessing the Affiliate Dashboard

Members should click their profile icon in the top-right corner of the screen and select Affiliates from the account menu. They will only see communities for which they are a paid member and which have the affiliate program enabled.

Understanding the Member Dashboard

The member's dashboard displays their personal affiliate statistics.

Account Balance: The total amount of commission they have earned but not yet received.
Earnings: The total amount of commission they have already been paid.

It is important for members to enter their bank account details in their profile before they begin referring others to ensure they can receive payments.

Member Referral Table

Members see a table of the people they have invited. The columns include:

Invitee name: The person they invited.
Joined Status: Shows Invited if the person has not yet purchased a membership, and Joined once they have.
Earnings: The total commission earned from that specific referral.
Pending Payouts: The commission from that referral that has not yet been paid by the owner.
Payout Status: Indicates if the payment is Completed, Pending, or Failed.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is eligible to receive a referral link?
Only members with an active paid subscription to the community receive a personal invite link.

When is a commission earned?
A commission is created when a new member signs up using a referral link and completes the payment for a membership.

How do I set the commission rate?
As the owner, go to your community's dashboard, click the kebab menu, select Affiliates, and set the Commission % in the top-right corner.

Who is responsible for paying commissions?
Community owners manage all payouts directly. The CRM platform is not involved in the payment process.

How do I update a payout status?
In the referrals table on the owner's Affiliates page, click the checkmark icon to mark a payout as Completed or the cross icon to mark it as Failed.