To run an affiliation campaign and track influencer sales on Upfluence, you can create Tracking plans based on our integration with Amazon Ads, Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, and Magento, or via Agnostic Sales Tracking (AST) settings.
By setting up a Tracking plan, Upfluence will generate discount codes and/or affiliate links for each influencer in your campaign, allowing you to track sales using these codes or links.
Here's a helpful video on how to do this:
Step-by-Step Guide
I. Setting up a tracking plan
Go to the "Campaign Settings" page and find the "Sales & Activity Tracking" section. Click on "Create a New Tracking Plan" to open a new tab.
Name the Plan: Set a unique and easily identifiable name for your tracking plan.
Pick Your E-commerce Store: Select the store for this campaign.
Set UTM Parameters (Optional): Configure UTM parameters if needed.
Choose Discount Type: Select either a percentage or fixed discount.
Set Discount Value: Enter the percentage reduction or fixed deduction amount in dollars.
Code Pattern: Define the pattern for generating discount codes. We suggest using the username.
Affiliate URL Link Targeting (Optional): Set a target URL for the affiliate link, or leave it to redirect to the store homepage.
Usage Limits (Optional): Limit the total number of times the discount code can be used and restrict it to one use per customer.
Select Products or Categories (Optional): Check more details: Applying Discount Codes to Specific Products or Categories
Set Active Dates (Optional): Define the start and end dates for the discount offer.
Create the Tracking Plan: Click "Create Tracking Plan" and close the current tab.
II. Linking a tracking plan to a Campaign
By linking a tracking plan to your campaign, Upfluence will automatically generate codes and/or affiliate links for each influencer. For detailed capabilities, check out this article: CMS Integration Capabilities.
You can link a tracking plan:
✅ When creating a Campaign
Add a tracking plan while creating your campaign as shown in the video.
✅ After creating a Campaign
Link a tracking plan by returning to the "Campaign Settings" page, clicking "Update Tracking Plans List," and selecting the new discount offer from the dropdown menu.
Important Notes:
Use the "Update Tracking Plans List" button without refreshing the page.
Avoid linking the same tracking plan to multiple campaigns to prevent tracking issues.
Once a tracking plan is assigned and the campaign outreach starts, it can't be changed. If changes are needed, contact support via live chat before any sales are generated.
III. Tracking sales performance
Track influencer performance under the "Performance" tab of your campaign, specifically in the "Conversions" section. Here's an article with more details: How to Track Sales Generated Within Your Campaign.
Next step:
If you would like to edit your tracking plan after creation, check out: Editing Saved Tracking Plans and Discount Codes.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is the difference between Shopify affiliate links and Shopify discount codes?
Shopify affiliate links and discount codes are technically the same and they are tracked in the same way. Here’s how it works:
Affiliate links are URLs that, when clicked, automatically apply a discount code to a customer’s cart, making checkout seamless.
Discount codes can also be entered manually by the customer during checkout.
Both methods ensure that when a sale is made using a valid code generated via Upfluence, Shopify accurately tracks and attributes the order to the influencer, and this data is displayed for you in Upfluence.
2. What is the difference between Affiliate links and Click tracking links?
Tracking Links: These are used to drive traffic to a website and monitor the number of visitors or clicks generated by an influencer. They help in tracking the reach and engagement of a campaign.
Affiliate Links: These are designed to track the number of sales generated by an influencer. Affiliate links can be associated with a discount offer to incentivize purchases.
*Upfluence AST affiliate links are not tied to discount codes, allowing for more flexibility in how they are used.
3. Why don’t I see affiliate links when I create my discount offer?
Affiliate links are not available due to WooCommerce, Magento, or BigCommerce's service limitations. However, you can use our Upfluence Agnostic Sales Tracking (AST) system as a work around.
4. Can I add the same tracking plan to different campaigns?
Technically you can add the same tracking plan to different campaigns, but it is not recommended due to potential issues with tracking sales and calculating commissions.
For instance, if an influencer participates in two different campaigns that both use the same tracking plan, the system will record sales for both campaigns simultaneously. This poses a risk of paying the influencer twice for the same sales.
5. Can I set up Active dates for WooCommerce codes?
No, you can't set up Active dates for WooCommerce codes due to WooCommerce's service limitations. However, you can always update your codes directly from your WooCommerce account. For more capacity limitations, please check CMS Integration Capabilities.
6. What should I do if a discount code didn't generate?
If a discount code fails to generate, follow these steps to resolve the issue:
Check for missing profile information
The issue may occur due to missing variables such as First Name, or Last Name in the influencer's profile.
Solution: Add the missing information to the influencer's profile and click "Retry" to generate the code.
Verify social media variables
If the discount code setup involves a social media variable (e.g.,
InstagramUsername) but the influencer does not have the required social media linked:Step 1: Contact our support team via the Chat Bot and provide details about the missing social media.
Step 2: Once our team updates the influencer's profile with the correct information, click "Retry" to generate the code.
If the influencer does not have the required social media account due to the variable is incorrectly set, our tech team will need to manually modify the discount code pattern for you (e.g., replace
InstagramUsernamewithUsername) to allow universal code generation.
If the problem continues and missing information is not the cause:
Provide a screenshot of the failed discount code attempt and a URL to the campaign to the support team via the Live Chat Bot.
The support team will investigate and respond as soon as possible.
7. Do you continue to track sales on archived campaigns?
Yes, we continue to track sales on archived campaigns.
8. Are the URL links (affiliate links, tracked links) created on Upfluence valid permanently?
The validity of URL links (affiliate links, tracked links) created on Upfluence depends on the tracking plan set up, particularly if a time limit was set for your discount during campaign creation.
9. Is it possible to make the same discount code for one influencer in different Shopify shops?
Yes, if they are entirely different shops, meaning different integrations, it is possible to use the same discount code for one influencer across these shops. However, if it concerns the same integration, there's no need to create more than one code.
10. Can we create the same discount code, and give the exact same code to various influencers in the same campaign? Can Upfluence distinguish between each different influencer to track their individual sales if the code with the same pattern is used?
No, Upfluence cannot distinguish between different influencers if they all use the exact same discount code. Each creator should have their own unique code attributed to them individually to accurately track their individual sales.