How to Control Which Program Gets Credit

The double-payment problem

When you run more than one program, each one evaluates conversions independently. If a customer interacts with collaborators from two different programs before buying, both programs fire. Usually that’s fine: an affiliate program and a royalty program serve different purposes and should both pay out.

The issue is when two programs are variations of the same thing. A classic example: a standard affiliate program anyone can join, plus a super affiliate program with higher commissions for top performers. If a customer clicks a regular affiliate’s link and later clicks a super affiliate’s link, both programs fire on purchase and you pay two commissions for what should’ve been one referral credit.

This is the double-payment problem, and program groups solve it.

How program groups prevent double-paying

A program group tells Siren to treat several programs as one for the purpose of deciding credit. Only one program in the group activates per conversion. The winning collaborator still earns the rate defined by their specific program, but they won’t stack with or compete against other programs in the same group.

To create one, click Program Groups in the sidebar and click Add New. Give it a name, description, group structure, and the programs that belong together.

Picking a group structure

The structure decides which program wins when multiple programs in the group have matching engagements for a conversion.

Newest engagement wins credits whichever collaborator interacted most recently. If a regular affiliate shared a link Monday and a super affiliate shared one Wednesday, the super affiliate wins a Thursday purchase. This matches typical “last click wins” attribution.

Oldest engagement wins credits whoever interacted first. This protects the original referrer’s credit regardless of who engaged after.

Not sure which to pick? See Choosing a Program Group Structure for a full walkthrough.

Group them or let them stack?

Group programs together when they represent tiers or variations of the same incentive and only one should pay per conversion. The affiliate and super affiliate example is the classic case: both programs reward the same action at different rates.

Leave programs ungrouped when they reward genuinely different contributions and should pay independently. A royalty program paying course creators when their content sells serves a different purpose than an affiliate program paying the referrer. Both should fire on the same transaction because they’re compensating different people for different work.

The rule of thumb: if two programs could realistically both apply to the same conversion and you’d be happy paying both, keep them separate. If you’d only ever want one to fire, group them.