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How to create tracking plan and run affiliate campaign?

A step-by-step guide to setting up discount codes and affiliate links to track influencer sales for your campaigns.

Updated this week

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

  1. 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.

  2. Name the Plan: Set a unique and easily identifiable name for your tracking plan.

  3. Pick Your E-commerce Store: Select the store for this campaign.

  4. Set UTM Parameters (Optional): Configure UTM parameters if needed.

  5. Choose Discount Type: Select either a percentage or fixed discount.

  6. Set Discount Value: Enter the percentage reduction or fixed deduction amount in dollars.

  7. Code Pattern: Define the pattern for generating discount codes. We suggest using the username.

  8. Affiliate URL Link Targeting (Optional): Set a target URL for the affiliate link, or leave it to redirect to the store homepage.

  9. Usage Limits (Optional): Limit the total number of times the discount code can be used and restrict it to one use per customer.

  10. Select Products or Categories (Optional): Check more details: Applying Discount Codes to Specific Products or Categories

  11. Set Active Dates (Optional): Define the start and end dates for the discount offer.

  12. 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 a Discount code and an Affiliate link?

✔️ Discount code: Your customers need to manually type the discount code when checking out.

✔️ Affiliate link: The discount offer applies automatically to the your customer's cart when checking out.

2. How does Upfluence track Shopify affiliate links vs 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.

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 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.

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