Today we introduced the option to add Google reCaptcha V2 to all promoter sign up pages to help you prevent or stop any spam or fake sign ups to your affiliate program.

The feature is not enabled by default to not create potential friction on the signup process, but you can enable it by going to Settings > Others section. Make sure you click Save. Depending on the results we’ll have, we might enable it later for everyone.

We also added an option to randomize the referral ids generated when promoters sign up. By default the referral ids are personalized using affiliate first name and a random 2 digit number. This setting can be turned on from Settings > Others section.

Thanks to the last major update, it’s much easier for us to add different payout methods. Today we added the first Crypto payout method in Bitcoin that will collect and validate the Bitcoin wallet of your affiliates.

This can be enabled from Campaigns > menu > Edit campaign > Settings tab > click ‘change’ on the current payout method label and enable “Crypto (Bitcoin)” then save the campaign.

What other payout methods would you like to see inside FirstPromoter? Please tell us on Intercom live-chat widget.

Last weekend we pushed two big changes to FirstPromoter:

• we added bank payouts
• we revamped the payouts section

Bank payouts

Until last week, the only payout method available to FirstPromoter was Paypal. Even though it’s still the fastest and most convenient payout method, some companies and some affiliates prefer to use bank transfers, especially for larger payouts.

This payout option can be used together with Paypal and can be enabled by campaign(for ex. you can allow bank payouts only for your “VIP affiliates” campaign). If multiple payouts are enabled, affiliates are able to choose themselves from their dashboard how they want to get paid.

To enable the bank payouts go to Campaigns > Edit campaign > Settings tab and click the ‘change’ link on ‘Current payout methods’:

You can also add any payout method to an affiliate from the promoter overview page by scrolling down and clicking the new ‘Payout methods’ tab.

Note: We don’t make the payouts for you, we only collect the bank information(contact us for updated DPA) which you can use later to make the payments. Your bank app or money transfer service like TransferWise might even let you upload a CSV that we provide to process payments in bulk.

If you need other payout methods besides bank transfers and Paypal please contact us, we might add them on the next update.

The new payouts section

The new and improved payouts page gives you a clear view of your payouts and makes it easier to pay your affiliates. On the right side we added a menu that can be used to filter payouts by different payout methods and on top you have a button that lets you download and mark payouts as paid in bulk(for ex. you can download the CSV for Paypal mass payments).

Another great feature is the grouping by promoters. Click on the ‘Group by promoters’ switch on top to group payouts. This will make it easier to view and pay multiple payouts of the same promoter.

Please contact us on Intercom if you have questions or suggestions about these new features.

Setting your own “From” email address and using your own SMTP server can now be used for Bussiness plans as well, not just Enterprise.

Click here to learn more about it.

We just released the option to send emails to promoters from your own email server and to use your own sending domain(and personalize the “From” address).

Click here to see how to set it up.

Two weeks ago we added a highly requested feature that allows affiliates to manually submit leads from their own dashboard.

Based on the feedback we received from you, we added a few more functionalities:

• you’ll get notified by email when a new lead is submitted by the affiliate from their dashboard. It’s enabled by default, but it can be disabled from Settings > Notifications.
• you can disable/enable the leads form for certain affiliates on a campaign from Promotions > Edit promotion > Advanced tab > “Allow promoter to add leads manually from their dashboard” field.
• you can change the title and set up a HTML description for the lead form from Campaigns > Configure promoter dashboard > “Leads Form settings” section
• while we don’t allow custom fields on the lead form due to GDPR, we can enable a “Website” field so affiliates can submit lead’s website url together with the email. A new column called “Website” will appear on Leads section. This feature can be enabled only by request.

• your affiliates can now add leads directly from their dashboard. If you approve the new leads(from the Leads section) they will become customers and generate commission on the next charge. This option needs to be enabled from Campaigns > Configure promoter dashboard > Check “Allow promoters to add leads from their dashboard”.
  
  
• you can now change the default campaign from the Campaigns section > click on campaign menu > “Set default campaign”. A non-default campaign sign up link looks like this https://website.firstpromoter.com/signup/1234 while the default campaign sign up link looks like this https://website.firstpromoter.com
• you can add Instagram, Facebook, Youtube and Twitter fields on the affiliate sign up page

We added 7 more referral link types. Until now we used only https://website.com?fp_ref=referral_id or https://website.com#_r_referral_id , but from now on, instead of ?fp_ref= you can also use ?fpr=, ?deal=, ?via=, ?_go=, ?_from=, ?_by= and ?_get= parameters to identify the referral id on the link.

To change it go to Campaigns > Edit campaign and you’ll see the select box on the right of the “Default referral link URL” field.

The old affiliate links with ?fp_ref= or #_r_ will still work without issues, so if you change the referral parameter your affiliates won’t need to worry or change anything, it will still work as usual.

You can now assign notes to your promoters. To accomplish this we added a button called “Add note” on the promoter page(check the screenshot below). The note will appear right below the profile information.

The notes can be previewed quickly from the Promoters and Payouts section, by hovering the mouse over the yellow note icon that appears near the promoter name. The “Description” field for the profile will be removed so we moved any text you had there to a note.

We also added some new export options. Now you’re able to export commissions, leads and customers for a single promoter. Once you get to the promoter’s overview page, on the bottom sections you’ll see this export icon on Rewards, Leads and Customers tabs:

Today we added one of the most requested features, to handle multiple currencies for companies that accept direct payments in different currencies.

After much analysis, we decided the best way to support this was by doing a currency conversion at the moment of the charge.

We’re using the same API that Shopify, Etsy and Kickstarter are using for currency conversions and we update the rates daily. We know there might be exchange fees involved when you make the payouts so by request we can assign an additional exchange fee.