Written guide
Overview
This course covers Appmint CRM Affiliate and Referral Management. We will configure a program, its commission and attribution rules, register an affiliate and create referral codes. Then we will inspect the controls governing eligibility, rewards and payouts, keeping configured rules separate from a verified referral outcome.
01. Create the program identity
Why this matters
Referral, affiliate and hybrid programs combine public terms, attribution and rewards. A draft lets you inspect those commitments before inviting participants.
Follow these steps
Open CRM → Affiliates → Programs → New Program. Enter Program Name (ID), Display Name, Title, Tagline and Description. Choose Type and Draft status; add the intended logo, cover and contact details. Save and reopen.
Check the result
The public identity must match its actual program destination. Do not treat a saved draft as an active enrolment route.
Detailed instructions
Save a draft program before inviting referrers
An affiliate program introduces a different business relationship: someone refers a customer and may earn a commission when the program's conditions are met. An invoice discount reduces what the buyer owes; affiliate commission concerns the referrer. They should not be treated as the same adjustment.
Open CRM → Affiliates, then Programs → New Program. The September 28 recording creates and reopens cedar-partners-0928, titled Cedar print referrals. The program remains Draft. No affiliate enrollment, referral attribution, commission credit, wallet movement or payout is performed.
The manager has four tabs: Dashboard, Programs, Affiliates, and Referrals. Under Programs, New Program opens a form whose relevant settings are:
| Section | Fields to decide | Why the decision matters |
|---|---|---|
| General | Program Name (ID), Display Name, Status, Type | Identifies the program and whether it is Draft, Inactive, or Active |
| Commission | Percentage, Flat Amount, or Tiered; Max Commission | Defines how the referrer is rewarded and any cap |
| Referred Customer Reward | None, Discount Code, or Wallet Credit | Separates a buyer incentive from the referrer's commission |
| Terms & Conditions | Requires Agreement, Auto Approve New Affiliates, agreement text/URL | Establishes onboarding and the terms being accepted |
| Attribution | Window (days), First Click or Last Click, Allow Self-Referral | Defines the intended referral-credit rules |
| Payout | Hold Period (days), Min Payout, Auto Credit | Separates eligibility and crediting from final payout evidence |
| Fraud Prevention | Max Referrals/Day, Min Order Amount, Require Unique Email, Require Paid Order, Block Same IP | Defines checks to evaluate before treating a referral as eligible |
Enter the unique Program Name (ID) cedar-partners-0928 and Title Cedar print referrals. Keep Status: Draft, Type: Referral, and Commission Type: Percentage with Percentage: 10. The separate Referred Customer Reward is None.
Open Terms & Conditions and inspect Auto Approve New Affiliates: No. Under Payout, change Auto Credit to No. Under Fraud Prevention, keep Require Paid Order: Yes. The recorded attribution settings use a 30-day window, Last Click and no self-referral.
Select Create Program once. The Programs list now has one Draft card. Open Cedar print referrals to inspect Program Details. The saved record shows 10% commission; Payout Settings retains Auto Credit No and a seven-day hold; Paid Order is Required. Activity remains zero affiliates, zero referrals and zero commission paid.
Give the program a public identity and check its saved terms
The updated local build now retains the public-facing name and Terms when you create a program. A second recorded example, Cedar Partners Verified, demonstrates this from a fresh creation through a full page reload. You do not need to recreate the first program just to follow the earlier commission exercise.
- From Programs, choose New Program. Enter an unused Program Name (ID); the recording uses
cedar-partners-verified-0928. Use an identifier your team can recognize later. - Set Display Name to Cedar Partners Verified, Title to Cedar print referrals, and Tagline to Share your room transformation. The saved card uses Display Name prominently and shows the tagline beneath it. Keep Status: Draft while preparing the program.
- Expand Terms & Conditions. The recorded example leaves Requires Agreement: Yes and Auto Approve New Affiliates: No, enters 12 in Max Affiliates, and 2026-12-31 in Application Deadline. These are example configuration values for a limited invitation round; choose your own future deadline when preparing a real program. An Agreement URL should point to your actual published terms; this example leaves it empty.
- Expand Payout and select Auto Credit: No. Select Create Program once. Locate Cedar Partners Verified in the Programs list.
- Reload the page, return to Programs, and open the card. Scroll down to Terms & Conditions. The saved details show Requires Agreement Yes, Auto Approve No, Max Affiliates 12, and Deadline 2026-12-31. The program remains Draft and its activity remains zero.
- Select Edit, expand Terms & Conditions, and read the same values in the inputs. Select Cancel when you are only inspecting; do not save unnecessary changes.
Check before inviting people: the recording verifies that these settings are saved. It does not establish that the current enrollment flow enforces the maximum, deadline or agreement requirement. Source review found that affiliate registration currently does not read these Terms settings and creates a pending affiliate. Keep invitations closed until the intended enrollment rules have been verified. Saving a deadline is not proof that late applications will be rejected.
An earlier local create defect dropped Display Name and Terms. It was repaired and retested with this fresh program; the historical failed take remains in research only. The first program's core commission, attribution, payout and fraud settings were already saved correctly.
The next operational test needs a fictional affiliate's enrollment and approval, a real generated referral link/code, an eligible controlled conversion, the attribution record, and the commission's state. Any payout claim needs its own verifiable result. A New, unpaid order such as J33TEUEWE is not evidence of an eligible affiliate conversion, particularly when a program requires a paid order.
Read the result as configuration, not earnings
The retained saved-program image shows Draft, a 10% commission rule, 0 affiliates, 0 referrals, and $0 commission paid. Those are the actual limits of that screenshot: it proves the displayed program configuration, not a referral conversion. Keep the first cedar-partners-0928 draft separate from the later cedar-partners-verified-0928 Terms check.
Current registration source rejects a missing or unknown program and a duplicate email within the same program. A chosen referral code is validated before a write; otherwise the service generates one. These checks do not establish enforcement of every saved Terms field. Retain the maximum/deadline/agreement limitation above until a controlled enrollment test proves it.
For the advanced audit controls later in this course, the visible toolbar buttons are Process held and Expire stale; their confirmations expand those names to Process held commissions and Expire stale referrals. Read the confirmation scope before acting, because these are batch financial/lifecycle operations, not refresh buttons.
02. Configure commission and eligibility
Why this matters
Commission can be Percentage, Flat Amount or Tiered. Product scope, caps and referred-customer reward are separate settings and should all be deliberate.
Follow these steps
Open Commission, choose its type and value, and set Max Commission where intended. Select the eligible Products. Configure Referred Customer Reward as None, Discount Code or Wallet Credit with the required reference/value. Save and inspect the persisted settings.
Check the result
A reward configuration does not prove a wallet credit or valid discount exists. Test the real consumer before promising the entitlement.
03. Publish terms and marketing resources
Why this matters
Terms govern entry and participation. Resources give affiliates the correct materials and destination; neither should be implied from the program’s display name.
Follow these steps
Open Terms & Conditions. Set Requires Agreement, Auto Approve New Affiliates, Max Affiliates and Application Deadline where intended. Enter Agreement URL/Text. Add Marketing Resources with title, type and URL, then save and inspect the public-facing program.
Check the result
Public rendering and agreement capture are unverified. Do not use a staff Program Details view as proof that a customer can enrol.
04. Set attribution, payout and fraud controls
Why this matters
Attribution selects how referral credit is assigned. Payout holds and fraud settings affect when a commission becomes available, so they need tests beyond a single accepted code.
Follow these steps
Open Attribution, set Window and First Click or Last Click, and choose Allow Self-Referral deliberately. In Payout set Hold Period, Min Payout and Auto Credit. In Fraud Prevention configure Max Referrals/Day, Min Order Amount, Require Unique Email, Require Paid Order and Block Same IP as intended. Save and reopen.
Check the result
Offered controls are not proof of enforcement. Conflicting referrals, unpaid orders and same-IP cases require separate runtime tests.
05. Enroll and create referral codes
Why this matters
An affiliate is a participant in a program. Codes and generated links identify that participant; a replaced main code can remain attributable.
Follow these steps
Add the intended controlled Customer as an affiliate and select the Program and Type. Open its Codes panel, enter an available Code and its optional purpose. Choose Make this their main code only when intended, then save and Copy link. Open that actual link as an independent referred visitor.
Check the result
The source states replaced main codes are retired rather than deleted and still credit the affiliate. A link may be unavailable when the organization has no site. Notification text is not delivery proof.
06. Verify conversion and commission
Why this matters
The referral journey must end in the actual conversion and commission record. A copied link or accepted code alone does not prove attribution.
Follow these steps
Complete the authorized disposable referred-customer journey, then open the affiliate’s referral and commission records. Match the program, code, customer and order. Inspect pending/held/approved status, then exercise the supported approval or payout operation only with authorized test records.
Check the result
Exact payout and approval buttons, destination checkout attribution and reward posting need live verification.
07. Suspend or expire and check the effect
Why this matters
Changing participant or program status should change future eligibility while retaining historical evidence. Check both the new visitor experience and the earlier referral.
Follow these steps
Suspend the disposable participant or make the test program inactive/expired using its current controls. Open the public journey again and inspect eligibility. Return to the earlier conversion and confirm its retained history.
Check the result
Do not claim historical commissions are automatically reversed by suspension without observed evidence.
08. Application decisions and individual commission overrides
Why this matters
An application decision is separate from managing an active affiliate. Decline closes an application that never started; Suspend applies to an approved or active affiliate. A commission override changes an individual's rate and needs a recorded reason.
Follow these steps
Open a pending affiliate and inspect its customer, program and submitted details. Choose Approve for the intended accepted applicant, then refresh its saved status. For the alternative branch open another pending application, choose Decline, enter the reason in Decline this application and confirm. Inspect the resulting status and recipient notification separately.
On an approved or active affiliate, use Suspend when the account should stop operating. Reopen that suspended record and use Reactivate only when the restriction should be lifted. Confirm the status after each operation. For an individual rate, choose Commission Override. Select Percentage or Fixed Amount, enter Value and Reason, then save and reopen the affiliate to inspect the persisted override.
Check the result
Approval of the affiliate is not approval of every referral. A rate override is not a manual payout. Test its effect against a later referral calculation rather than assuming it retroactively changes historical commissions.
09. Referral audit and commission lifecycle
Why this matters
A referral has its own conversion and commission state. The audit tools let an operator inspect and correct that state while recording the reason. Held commission is not the same as a wallet credit or money withdrawn externally.
Follow these steps
Open Referrals. Filter by Status, Program name or Affiliate ID, then open the specific Referral detail. Inspect its order/customer association and commission before choosing an action. Available actions depend on its state: Approve, Reject, Clawback / Hold, Reverse, Restore, Expire, Recalculate and Override Amount appear only where offered.
Use Recalculate when the eligible referral should use the configured calculation again. For Override Amount, enter New commission amount and a clear Reason. For a reversal, rejection or hold, read the action label and reason requirements before confirming. Reopen Referral detail and inspect the audit entry for the result. Do not use Reverse as a generic undo without inspecting the financial effect.
Open the audit results and inspect Zero commission on order, Past hold window, Pending past expiry and Orphaned (no order) individually. Check the underlying record before running a proposed bulk action. The Run audit bulk action confirmation states the action and number of referrals; compare both before Run action.
For matured held commissions, choose Process held commissions and review the confirmation that releases all held commissions past their window. After Process held, refresh Referrals and the affiliate's Wallet/transactions view. Expire stale referrals separately targets pending referrals past their attribution window. It is not the same operation as releasing commission.
Check the result
Batch operations affect multiple records; keep the count and scope visible. The interface's approval or credit result does not prove an external bank transfer. Inspect wallet transactions, remaining held amounts and audit history independently.
Next steps
Return to the chapter for the action you need. When you change the configuration, check the matching record, customer view or destination again. A saved setting and a successful external outcome are different observations.