Overview

Let’s break down how your affiliate program earns money (Revenue) and pays out to Partners (Payout).

This guide explains the ins and outs of Revenue and Payout, what each option means, the different Actions, Types & Models associated with both Revenue & Payout. We’ll cover custom pricing based on specific Products as well.

What Is Revenue?

Revenue sits in the Revenue & Payouts (Events) Tab within the Offer form.

Revenue is the money you earn from successful Clicks or Conversions driven by your affiliate program. It represents the value you receive when a Partner sends you traffic that converts.

For example, when someone purchases your product through a Partner’s Tracking Link, the sale amount that Everflow receives during the Conversion could be used to calculate Revenue, or you could set a fixed amount for every Conversion Event that occurs.

What is Payout?

Payout also sits in the Revenue & Payouts (Events) Tab within the Offer form.

Payout is the money you pay to your Partners (affiliates, publishers, or influencers) for driving Clicks or Conversions to your Offer.

For example, if a Partner drives a $100 sale and you've set their Payout as a 10% of the Conversion’s sale amount, their Payout would be $10.

Dissecting Revenue & Payout

Both Revenue & Payout are composed of a few core attributes - Actions, Types & Models. It’s important to understand these terms.

Actions

Revenue & Payout will always be based on a combination of these Actions. There’s 3 Types of Actions that Everflow is able to track:

1. Impression (Optional package, contact Customer Success to turn it on)
2. Click
3. Conversion Event

For example if you’d like to calculate Payout for an Offer based on Clicks, you’d select Click as your Payout Action.

Types

Revenue & Payout will always have a Type associated with them. The Type refers to one of the following Revenue & Payout calculation options:

1. Fixed: A flat, set amount.
2. Percentage: A percentage of the sale amount (Revenue Type) or revenue (Payout Type).
3. Mixed: A mix between Fixed & Percentage

Continuing the example from Actions above, if you’d like to pay a fixed amount to your Partners per Click, you’d select the Payout Type to be fixed and set it to a fixed amount.

Models

The final goal of Revenue & Payout setup is to find the right model. The Revenue Model and the Payout Model you choose are essentially built upon the Action & Type attributes.

Revenue Models

You can choose how your business earns money per Conversion, Click, or Impression. Here are your options:

Payout Models

Your Payout model determines how you compensate your Partners. Here are the various options:

The Price Per Product Setting

If you need to calculate Revenue & Payout based on individual SKUs aka Products, you’ll need to enable Price Per Product. Generally, e-commerce brands or Networks working with such brands use this option. 

Price Per Product (PPP) is a setting that is only available when the Revenue & Payout type are Conversion Event based. 

Understanding Base Revenue & Payout

Base Revenue & Payout

Think of the "Base" as the default Revenue & Payout settings for an Offer, compared to Revenue & Payout that you can attribute to any Additional Conversion Events that are being tracked on an Offer. Each Offer has it's own Base Revenue & Base Payout.

The Base Revenue & Base Payout are based on one of the three Actions already covered in-depth in this article. For example, if your Offer's Base Payout based on Clicks (the Action), the Partners will earn income based on each Click they're brought in. In this case the Base Conversion Event doesn’t need to be set up and can be ignored. 

The Base Conversion Event is useful if your Base Revenue and/or Base Payout’s Action is selected as Base Conversion Event. 

For example if your Base Conversion Event is an app install, you can set the Action of the Base Revenue to be Base Conversion Event, and choose the RPA (Revenue Per Action) Model to calculate a fixed Revenue for each Base Conversion Event that occurs. 

How Additional Events Differ

If you’re setting up Additional Conversion Events within your Offer, the Revenue and Payout Action will always be the Conversion Event. Impression or Clicks cannot be selected as the Action.

Bottom Line

Setting up the right Revenue and Payout structure keeps both your business profitable and your Partners motivated. The best approach depends on what you're trying to achieve. 

Start with something simple that works for both you and your Partners. You can always adjust your strategy as you learn what works best.

Ready to implement your chosen model? Head over to our setup article for detailed, step-by-step instructions on configuring your Revenue and Payout settings in just a few clicks.