What Are Programs?

Program - A set of conditions that specify how and when collaborators earn rewards, along with the amounts of those rewards.

Introduction

One of the most-fundamental building blocks of Siren are programs. A program describes what people must do in order to earn a reward. It also defines how big the reward is, based on their actions leading up to a purchase. Unlike distributors, programs revolve around the actions that take place leading up to a single transaction, whereas a distributor aggregates a collection of data and creates rewards on a set schedule.

Programs allow you to set up a system to collaborate with others and reward them for achieving specific, measurable tasks. These tasks can vary wildly depending on your business needs and strategic goals.

There’s no real limit to what a program can do, as long as you can define three key things:

What measurable things they need to do in-order to receive credit.
How much you’re going to pay them when they succeed.
You can bind a reward to a single transaction.

In other words, as long as you can measure the action they’re taking, and you can calculate how much you’re going to pay your collaborators, and the payout is triggered by a transaction, you can make a program!

Common Program Types

Affiliate Program

People are paid when someone purchases something after visiting their site using a special link, or coupon code.

Customer Loyalty Program

An existing customer gets in store credit when they recommend a product to someone else

Sales Program

A salesperson is given a commission when they close a sale.

Royalty Program

A creator is paid a percentage of sales from products created by them.

The Lifecycle of a Program

Each program you create and manage goes through a series of structured stages, from the initial engagement with collaborators to the final distribution of rewards.

Someone Triggers an Engagement

A potential customer does something that creates, or updates an engagement. A common example of this is a website visit using an affiliate link.

The Customer Converts

That customer converts in some way, usually as an online sale. This action usually generates a transaction.

Engagements Are Reset

As soon as a customer converts, all engagements related to that customer are invalidated, resetting the program for future conversions with this customer.

Winning Programs Are Selected

All programs that are relevant to this conversion are selected. When a program is a part of a program group, only one program in that group is selected.

Conversions for Each Program Are Created

This creates conversions for all winning collaborators across every selected program.

Conversions Are Reviewed

Those conversions are reviewed by a program manager. Only approved conversions move to the next stage.

Obligations Are Created

Once conversions are approved, obligations for each collaborator are calculated. The amount is based on the agreed terms of the program, such as commissions or royalties.

Fulfillment Is Created

When the manager is ready to pay out pending obligations, they create a fulfillment. This step tallies the total amounts owed to each collaborator, preparing for the final payout.

Collaborators Get Paid

Finally, a fulfillment's payouts are processed and distributed to the collaborators. Once the payments are made, the payouts are marked as paid, completing the lifecycle.

Program Structures

A program structure defines who gets paid whenever a customer converts. Some program structures dictate that only one affiliate wins, while others can dictate that many affiliates win. In cases where many affiliates win, the program structure also defines how the reward pool is divided.

Program Structure Types

Oldest Engagement Wins

Oldest Engagement Wins rewards the first collaborator to engage a customer.
Newest Engagement Wins

Newest Engagement Wins is a program structure designed to reward the last collaborator who successfully engages with a customer.
Shared Engagement Pool

The “Shared Engagement Pool” is a program structure where rewards are evenly divided among all collaborators who have interacted with a customer throughout their journey.
Performance Weighted Pool

The Performance Weighted Pool is a program structure where rewards are distributed among all collaborators based on their performance relative to each other.
Top Score Wins

The Performance Weighted Pool is a program structure where the person with the top engagement score receives the entire reward.

Incentive Structures

An incentive structure defines how much gets paid out whenever a customer converts. Structures use the transaction data to determine how much to pay out.

Incentive Structure Types

Percentage of Transaction

The “Fixed Per Transaction” incentive structure rewards collaborators with a set fee for each completed transaction that they influence, regardless of the total number of items sold or the total transaction value.
Fixed Per Transaction

The “Fixed Per Transaction” incentive structure rewards collaborators with a set fee for each completed transaction that they influence, regardless of the total number of items sold or the total transaction value.
Fixed Per Product

The “Fixed Per Product” incentive structure rewards collaborators with a predetermined amount for each unit of a product sold through their efforts, regardless of the total transaction value.

Conclusion

With Siren, you can have as many programs as you want, and they can work together. For example, you could create an affiliate program, and a royalty program, and pay out both the affiliate and the author when an affiliate refers a customer to your site, and that customer purchases the author’s book. This creates exciting opportunities, not only for you, but for your collaborators, as well!