Welcome! 👋

We will show you how to get started with Trackdesk. This article walks you through the essential first steps so that your affiliate program is set up on a solid foundation before you start inviting affiliates.

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Before diving into settings, here is the basic flow of the system:

A visitor arrives at your website through an affiliate's tracking link. Trackdesk records the click. When the visitor completes a desired action, such as a purchase, a conversion is created. Based on the conversion type and the affiliate's tier, a commission is calculated. You then review and pay out your affiliates.

Everything you configure in the next steps feeds into this flow.

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Use this as your progress map:

You'll find conversion types in Settings → Tracking → Conversions, in the Conversion types block. Settings is the last item in the left menu.

Add the conversion types that will define what you will pay your affiliates or what you would like to track. We've added some for you. Feel free to add and customize them.

Conversion types are the foundation of everything else: your tiers, offers, and commission calculations all reference them.

For more information about conversion types, please refer to this article: Conversion Types.

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Now it's time to set up how much you will pay your affiliates using tiers. You'll find tiers in Settings → Affiliates → Tiers.

If you would like to separate affiliates, feel free to add a few tiers. The most common case is to use a VIP tier on top of the default Standard one.

Continue by defining the commission rate of tiers, in other words, how much you plan to pay your affiliates. The commission rate set on a tier is used when an offer is created, to predefine values in the offer.

For more information about tiers, please refer to this article: Tier Settings.

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An affiliate program should be legally protected and well-defined. We've prepared a set of terms & conditions with standard practices. Your affiliates will be asked to accept these when they sign up for your program, and you can require affiliates and advertisers to accept them again whenever you publish an update. You'll find the terms & conditions in Settings → Affiliates → Legal.

For more information about Terms & Conditions, please refer to this article: Terms and Conditions.

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Your affiliates will interact with Trackdesk through a branded affiliate portal; this is where they sign up, access their tracking links, and monitor their performance. We recommend setting your program name and logo early so the portal feels professional from day one.

To customize your affiliate portal, go to Settings → General → Branding.

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Before you go live, it is worth knowing how affiliate payouts work. Trackdesk supports payouts via PayPal, Wise, Tipalti, bank transfer, and other methods. You do not need to configure this before your first offer, but it is good to have in mind as you set commission rates.

For more information about affiliate billing, please refer to this article: How Do I Pay Affiliates?

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To create your first offer, go to Offers in the left sidebar and click Create new offer. Give the offer a name, set its landing page URL, and choose the payout settings.

Once the offer is created, you'll be taken to its integration instructions. Follow them on the offer's Integrations tab to set up tracking on your website.

For more information about creating offers, please refer to this article: How to Create an Offer.

When your offer and tracking are ready, invite your first affiliate. On your Trackdesk dashboard, click the quick action icon and select Invite affiliate. You can add an affiliate via form, import affiliates, invite an affiliate via link, or find affiliates in the marketplace.

For more information about inviting affiliates, please refer to this article: Invite Your Affiliates.

Once your offer is live and your first affiliates have joined, your program is up and running. To fine-tune your offers later, see Advanced Offer Creation.