A campaign is the set of rules for one affiliate program: where affiliate links send customers, how AffiliateBase attributes referrals, and how it calculates commissions. This page is for merchants creating or editing a campaign under Campaigns.
Campaigns define where affiliate links send customers, how AffiliateBase attributes referrals, and how it calculates commissions. Start with one simple public campaign. Add more when a product, audience, or reward rule needs different behavior.
Core fields
Open Campaigns -> New Campaign and fill in:
- Name (required): a short internal name, such as
Main SaaS Program. - Slug (optional): a short identifier that must be unique within your account.
- URL: the page customers reach from affiliate links. AffiliateBase does not require it to save the campaign, but affiliate links need a destination. Changing the URL later updates the affiliate links that use the campaign’s current destination; links with custom destinations are not changed.
- Reward type: Percent for percentage commissions or Fixed for a fixed amount.
- Commission percent (percent campaigns, must be greater than 0) or Fixed commission (fixed campaigns): the amount that applies to new attributed sales.
The setup wizard starts campaigns with a 60-day referral window; New Campaign starts with 90 days. Both use last-click attribution and a 30-day commission delay. You can change these in campaign settings.
Important Settings
Set these deliberately:
| Setting | What it controls |
|---|---|
| Days before referrals expire | How long after a click the visitor has to sign up or convert. A visitor who signs up inside the window still earns the affiliate credit when they pay later. |
| Days until commissions are due | How long after a sale the commission waits before becoming payable |
| Attribution model | Whether the latest eligible click or first eligible click in the campaign owns the referral |
| Pay a different rate for each customer’s first months | An optional higher or lower rate paid during each referred customer’s first months, before the campaign’s ongoing commission takes over (percent campaigns only) |
| Minimum payout | When affiliate earnings become payout-ready |
| Recurring commission cap | Maximum commissionable payments and Maximum commissionable months stop commissions for each referred customer after a number of payments or months. Leave both blank for unlimited recurring commissions. |
| Affiliate promo codes | Generate codes automatically creates name-based codes for active affiliates; Manage codes individually lets you assign existing Stripe codes or create codes you choose |
| Stripe discount | The customer discount applied to automatically generated codes; individually assigned codes keep their own discount |
| Invite-only campaign (hide public signup) | Turns off public signup. The campaign has no public signup link, and if it is the account default campaign, signup on your affiliate portal is closed too. Affiliates join only through an email invitation or direct onboarding. |
| Use private token scheme for affiliate links/coupons | Automatically generated promo codes use an opaque code (AFF plus an ID) instead of the affiliate’s name. Affiliate link tokens are not affected |
| Let affiliates choose their link names | Off by default, so links affiliates add in the portal get a generated name. Turn it on to let them pick a readable name in the link, like ?via=jane-reviews. Affiliates can always add links to any page on your site either way. |
| Show customer names and emails to affiliates | Off by default, so affiliates see an anonymous label such as “Customer 1D46BE” for each referred customer. Turn it on to show the customer’s name and email on the affiliate’s Referrals and Commissions pages and in their exports. Only turn it on when your privacy policy and customer agreements allow it. |
Keep the referral window tied to your normal customer decision cycle. Keep the commission delay tied to your refund and dispute risk.
If affiliates already have codes in Stripe, choose Manage codes individually before you onboard them. Then use Manage promo codes on each active affiliate’s Links & codes tab to link the intended code. Changing the provisioning choice does not rename or deactivate existing codes. See Use Stripe Promo Codes with Affiliates.
Pay an Introductory Commission Rate
Use an introductory rate to pay affiliates more (or less) while a customer is new, then move to a steady rate. For example, pay 50% for a customer’s first 12 months and 25% afterward.
- Open the campaign and set Commission percent to the ongoing rate, such as
25. - Select Pay a different rate for each customer’s first months.
- Enter the rate for the early period in Rate for the first months (%), such as
50, and how long it lasts in For the first (months), such as12. A preview shows what each customer will earn. - Optionally set Maximum commissionable months to stop paying commission after a total period, such as
24.
With those settings, each referred customer earns 50% for their first 12 months, 25% for months 13 through 24, and nothing after month 24.
How it works:
- The clock starts at each referred customer’s first commissionable payment, not when the campaign was created or edited, so every customer gets their own 12 months.
- A payment made exactly at the end of the introductory period earns the ongoing rate.
- A customer’s schedule locks at their first commissionable payment. Later campaign changes apply only to customers who have not paid yet.
- Customers who already earned commissions before you added an introductory rate stay on the ongoing rate.
- Affiliates see the schedule on their Dashboard in Promote this campaign, for example “50% for the first 12 months, then 25%”.
- Introductory rates are available for percent campaigns. Fixed-amount campaigns keep one amount per payment.
- The campaigns list shows a short hint under the rate, such as “50% for first 12 mo”.
- To remove the introductory rate, clear the Pay a different rate for each customer’s first months checkbox.
When To Create Another Campaign
Create a separate campaign when:
- a product has a different destination page
- a plan or offer needs a different commission rate
- you want invite-only/private affiliate access
- a coupon-based program should use a specific Stripe coupon
- attribution timing should differ from your main campaign
Each affiliate belongs to one campaign at a time.
Do not create separate campaigns only to give the same affiliate separate links under the same reward rules. Use affiliate links inside the existing campaign instead.
Best Practice
At launch, keep the first campaign public and simple. Add private campaigns, fixed rewards, recurring caps, and Stripe discounts only when a concrete program rule needs them.
Before you invite affiliates, confirm the campaign destination URL is the page where the AffiliateBase tracking script is installed or where visitors can reach the Stripe checkout path.
Add Affiliate Portal Content
Open the Campaign actions menu and choose Portal content to add plain-text instructions and up to 10 labeled HTTPS resource links. Affiliates assigned to the campaign see this material on their Dashboard in Promote this campaign (or Share your promo code), alongside their referral link or promotion code.
Use these fields for campaign-specific rules, approved messaging, brand guidelines, training, or creative folders. Keep account-wide support guidance in the affiliate portal Help URL. AffiliateBase links to external resources but does not change their sharing permissions.