Working with commission models

Before you start

What is a commission model?

A commission model defines the financial reward partners receive for the business they generate for the advertisers on your platform. Commission models are based on traffic volume and conversions: ad media views, clicks on banners and links, a client signing up for a newsletter, placing an order, etc.

• If you want to reward partners for generating traffic, you can differentiate between views (CPM) and clicks (CPC).

• If you want to reward partners for generating conversions (CPA), you can differentiate between post view (PV) and post click (PC) conversions. Most advertisers prefer to base commission on post click conversions, but there are situations in which post view is recommendable. You can also combine both and give different commissions for post click and post view. For more information, please read this article. Furthermore, you can differentiate between the various conversion targets and tracking categories you have created.

Partners are allocated to a commission model on ad space level. Therefore, when partners are working with multiple ad spaces, it is possible to reward them differently, depending on the advertising strategy on the different ad spaces.

What is a commission period?

Every commission model contains at least one so called period. In this period, you define what conversions you give commission for and how high the commission is. The period can have an unlimited validity, but it can also be limited to a specific timeframe. This gives you the possibility to adjust commission automatically over time, without having to allocate partners to a new commission model. All you need to do is create a new period and define when it will replace the old one.

By using the periods, you can also raise your commission for a while and then make sure they are adjusted to the normal level automatically. This comes in handy when, for example, you want to give higher commissions in December, to motivate partners to generate more business during the holiday season.

The commission periods will be displayed in a timeline. This makes your commission model completely transparent: you can always find out what commission values were valid at what moment.

What is a commission rule?

After you have created a commission model and one or more commission periods, you can apply rules to your commission model. With these rules, you can make sure your partners are rewarded for high performance automatically. You can give them a bonus or make sure they are promoted to a model with higher commission. For more information, please read this article.

Getting started

If you haven’t already done so, login to your admin UI. Click on ‘advertiser’ in the main navigation and proceed to click on ‘manage advertisers’. If you do so, you will find yourself on the main advertiser page. Find the advertiser you want to create or edit a commission model for and click on the icon next to the advertiser. On the page appearing now, you can see an overview of the commission models of the advertiser and, further below, the commission rules belonging to the advertiser.

Creating a new commission model

Basic settings

To start, make sure you are one the page with the overview of commission models related to the relevant advertiser as described above. To create a new commission model, click on the button ‘create new advertiser’ in the right top corner of the page.

After you’ve clicked on the new commission model button, a page will appear looking more or less like this:

Open

Let’s go through all the basic settings you need to define one by one:

• First, you need to give your commission model a name, for example ‘default’, ‘premium’ or ‘voucher partners’.

• Under ‘description’, you can enter a message briefly explaining the model to your partners.

• Under ‘status’, you define whether the commission model is active, inactive or deleted. When you are creating a new commission model, you can use the inactive status to make sure partners are not immediately allocated to the model. In most cases, however, you will leave the status on ‘active’.

• Use the tick box ‘default‘ if you want your commission model to be preselected when you are allocating ad spaces to the commission model.

After you have defined the basic settings, you can decide if you want to import the values of the valid period from another commission model to create the first period of your new commission model. To do so, select the relevant commission model under ‘base period values on existing model’. If you do not want to import any values, ignore this menu. To finish, click on the ‘save’ button at the bottom of the page.

Creating a period

Getting started

After you’ve saved your basic settings, you will find a button called ‘create first period’ appearing in the timeline section. If you click on this button, a panel will appear looking more or less like this:

Validity of the period

Open

To create a new period, start by giving the period a name. If you are planning to work with different periods, you might want to make sure this is reflected in the names. For example, you could use ‘values 2016’, or ‘standard’ as a start and use ‘values 2017’ or ‘holiday season’ for the periods to follow.

Proceed to fill out a start and an end date for your period. Please note the start date will be predefined with the date you are creating the period on, but you are welcome to define a later start date. You can also the tick box ‘unlimited’ for your period: this does not mean you cannot start a new period at a later moment, it merely means your period will not have a predefined end.

Commission period values

General

As was mentioned above, you can reward your partners for generating traffic and generating conversions. Please note all values here relate to the currency you have defined in the advertiser billing section.

Commission for generating traffic

If you want to reward your partners for generating traffic, go to the ‘views and clicks’ section. If you enter a value under ‘fix’ in the row marked CPM (‘cost per mille’), your partners will receive a fixed value for every thousand ad media views they generate. To reward your partners for generating clicks, you can enter a value under ‘fix’ in the CPC (‘cost per click’) row. Please make sure you only select ‘raw clicks’ when you want to avoid the filters you have created. You can maximize the commissions your partners receive for generating traffic by entering value a ‘limit’. Your partners will not make more commission per hour than the value you enter here. If you do not want to reward your partners for the traffic they generate, you can just leave the entries in this section empty.

Commission for generating conversions

If you want to reward your partners for generating conversions, go to the ‘conversion’ section. Make sure you go through the following steps:

• Decide whether you want to base your commission on post click (PC) conversions or post view (PV) conversions by selecting the box next to the corresponding icons, right below ‘conversion’. Please note that you can also base your commission on both post click and post view conversions. If you want to do this, switch to PC first, enter your values, switch to PV and enter values again.

• Proceed to select to the conversion target and the tracking category for which you want to give commission. You can select both the conversion target and the tracking category by using the drop down menus. For a complete overview of all the conversion targets and tracking categories, use the ‘switch to batch edit’ button. You can also use the ‘show empty values’ button to display all the targets and categories for which you did not give a commission yet. Finally, the entries marked with the  icon can be used to filter: just enter the name of the target or category you are looking for in the entry.Please note that if you are working with basket tracking, you have the option to assign commissions on the level of the basket position and on the level of the conversion. To assign commission on basket position level, select the tracking categories that will be assigned to the basket positions. To assign commission on conversion level, select the ‘basket’ tracking category. You can also use a combination of both, for example by giving percentaged commission on basket position level and giving a fixed commission on conversion level.

• Continue to define a fixed value and/or a percentage value in the relevant entries further to the right in the row. To set a maximum to the amount of percentage commission your partners can earn per conversion, fill in a value in the ‘limit’ entry. Please note that in this section, a zero value is not the same as no value.

• Use the fields under auto approval to set the time after the system automatically approves the conversions which use this commission model. You can enter the amount of days during which a conversion or a basket position can be validated. If a conversion or basket position isn't validated during this period, the platform will approve it automatically.

When you’re finished, don’t forget to hit the ‘save’ button in the right lower corner of the page. After you have saved your first commission period, you will be taken back to the page with the overview of all commission models of your advertiser. You will find your new commission model listed there.

Editing a commission model

Before you start

When you want to edit a commission model, make sure you’re sure what you want to do before you start. Most of the time, you will want to make minor changes in the commission values. To do this, all you need to do is to create a new period. If you want to change the name of the commission model, make sure voucher values are regarded or make the commission model your default model, you will need to edit the basic settings of the commission model.

Working with commission periods

Before you start

Before you start working with commission periods, please keep in mind the following:

• Past periods cannot be changed. They are documented in the timeline so you can see how much commission you have been paying your partners in the past.

• The period currently valid cannot be edited either. You can merely create a new period based on the values you are currently using.

• Future periods, i.e. periods of which the start date has not been reached yet, can be edited at will.

Thanks to the timeline, you will find it easy to get an overview of all the different periods you have created. You can recognize the period that is currently valid by the red frame.

Commission period editing

Make sure you are on the page with the overview of the commission models of your advertiser. Find the commission model you want to change values for and click on the  icon. On the page you see now, you will find an overview with the basic settings of your commission model. Further below, you will find the timeline with all the different commission periods. For editing, you have the following options:

• To create a new period with blank values, click on the  iconat the end of the timeline.

• To create a new period based on the commission values you are using in the current period,click on the  iconin the period marked by the red frame.

In both cases, the panel with the commission values will appear. For full instructions on this panel, please read the paragraph ‘commission period values’ above.

Please note that when you create a period based on the current period, the new period will automatically be given the same name as the current period, completed by the date on which you are working. Of course, you are welcome to change this.

Previous periods will automatically expire on the start day of the new period, even when the previous period had an unlimited validity. Should you accidentally create a gap between periods, a warning sign will appear in the timeline.

Editing basis settings

Make sure you are on the page with the overview of the commission models of your advertiser. Find the commission model you want to edit and click on the  icon next to it. On the screen appearing now, you can edit the following settings:

• The name of the commission model.

• The description of the commission model used for your partners.

• The status of the commission model: active, deactivated or deleted.

• Whether the commission model is the default model, i.e. whether it will appear as the preselected model when you are allocating ad spaces to a commission model.

On the page where you can edit the commission model, you can also see the number of ad spaces allocated to the commission model and the name of the current period. When you are done editing, don’t forget to click the ‘save’ button in the right lower corner of the page.

Deactivating a commission model

You can deactivate a commission model by adjusting the status of the model in the basic settings. Please follow the instruction under ‘editing basic settings’ above. The deactivated commission model will remain visible on the overview page of the commission models. It is recommended to make sure no ad spaces are allocated to the model anymore before you deactivate a commission model.

Deleting a commission model

You can delete a commission model by adjusting the status of the model in the basic settings. Please follow the instruction under ‘editing basic settings’ above. It is recommended to make sure no ad spaces are allocated to the model anymore before you delete a commission model. To find back models you have deleted, all you need to do is use the option ‘show deleted’ on the overview page of the commission models.

Can I download commission models?

Yes, you can. Make sure you are on the page with the overview of all commission models as described above. In the right lower corner of the table with the models, you will find a small section looking more or less like this:

The icons in this section subsequently represent the format of the files you can download your commission models in: XLS, CSV and XML. For a complete overview on the output of the file, please read this article.