Creating Your First Affiliate Campaign

Before you start

Four things to have ready

A campaign needs a product on a page to promote, and a way to track and pay. Check these first.

Turn on Stripe Connect

Click Search at the top of your screen and type Integrations, open it, and set up Stripe Connect.

Without it, your campaign will stay paused

List a product on a page

Add your product to a funnel, a website, or an online store. This is your product with a landing page, the thing affiliates will send people to.

Funnel, website, or store all work

Capture leads

Use forms, surveys, or calendars on your page so leads your affiliates send are tracked.

No form means no lead to credit

Connect PayPal Business

Link your PayPal Business account if you want to pay affiliates automatically.

You can still pay manually by bank transfer

Step by step

Build the campaign

Click Search at the top of your screen and type Affiliate Manager, then open it and go to the Campaign page.

1

Add and choose source

Click + Add on the Campaign page. Choose your campaign source: a funnel, a website, or a store.

2

Pick the landing page

Choose the landing page affiliates will promote. Your software builds the campaign URL for you and leaves a placeholder for each affiliate's ID.

3

Review products

Look over the product list and adjust which products earn commissions.

4

Set commissions

Set the default commission as a flat amount or a percentage. If you want, set different rates for individual products.

5

Describe and assign

Add an optional description that tells affiliates about the offer. Then assign affiliates now if you have them ready.

6

Settings and publish

Open Additional Settings for email templates, cookie duration, payout terms, setup fee inclusion, and sub-affiliate sign up. Then publish, or save as a draft.

Key terms

Definitions

Tap any term to expand it.

Where your products are listed for promotion: a funnel, a website, or a store.

The flat amount or percentage affiliates earn on all products in the campaign.

How long a visitor's click stays linked to the affiliate who sent them.

A custom commission for one specific product in the campaign.

Help me do it

Things To Do

Finish these before moving to the next lesson. They only take a few minutes.

0 of 3 done

Check each prerequisite in your own account: Stripe Connect, a product on a page, a lead form, and PayPal Business.

Click + Add on the Campaign page, pick a source and a landing page, and read the campaign URL.

Set a default commission and save the campaign as a draft.

⚡ Tips

If a campaign will not publish, check that Stripe is connected and affiliates are added. Those are the two reasons it stays paused.
Changing the source after you publish changes the referral URL. The old URL stops tracking, so tell your affiliates.
Avoid putting the same product in more than one campaign. It can skew your tracking numbers.
Add a branded domain: search for Business Profile and find Branded Domain. It flows into your campaign URLs.

Check yourself

Quick Knowledge Check

Answer a few quick questions to lock in what you just learned. Miss one and we'll show you the right answer.

0 of 4 answered

Where do you set up Stripe Connect?

The campaign source can be a funnel, a website, or a ____.

A campaign will not publish. What are the two things to check?

Changing the campaign ____ after publishing changes the referral URL and the old one stops tracking.

Help me apply it

Try This With Your Favorite AI

Copy a prompt below and paste it into ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or whatever AI tool you use. Fill in the bracketed details and it'll help you write your own version for your business.

🧭 Plan my campaign setup

You are a software setup planner helping me plan my first affiliate campaign before I click anything. My context: - What I sell: [product or service] - Where it is listed: [funnel, website, store] - Commission I am considering: [flat or percent] Give me: - A checklist of the four prerequisites to confirm - The exact choices I will make on each screen - A short description affiliates will see Constraints: Keep each step to one sentence. Finish by asking me: "Which prerequisite do you think is still missing?"

✏️ Name and describe it

You are a clear copywriter helping me name and describe my affiliate campaign. My context: - Campaign for: [product] - Who will promote it: [type of affiliate] - Tone: [friendly, professional] Give me: - Five campaign name ideas - A short description under 60 words - A one line note on commissions to include Constraints: Plain words. No hype. Finish by asking me: "Which name sounds most like your brand?"