Getting Started with the Groupon Affiliate Program

Groupon Affiliate Program: Get Started Guide
Thank you for your interest in the Groupon Affiliate Program! We have put together this guide
to help you get started with your marketing efforts. You will learn how our tracking works,
where to get ad banners and widgets to put on your site, and how to access reports that will
show how much traffic and sales you are driving, and how much you have earned as a result of
your efforts.
Table of Contents
What is the Groupon Affiliate Program? 2
How to Become a Groupon Affiliate 2
Getting Affiliate Links and Banners 3
Generating a Custom Link 3
Creating a Widget 6
Getting a Banner 8
Adding Custom Tracking 9
Generating Reports 9
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What is the Groupon Affiliate Program?
What is an affiliate partner?
An affiliate partner is a person or entity that uses various marketing tactics to drive traffic to a
retailer in exchange for a commission when a sale occurs.
An affiliate can drive traffic to Groupon in many ways, via blogs, search engine campaigns,
social media platforms, mobile marketing, and more. When the affiliate refers a consumer that
completes a purchase, the affiliate earns a percentage of that sale, it’s that easy! Our
commission rate ranges from 2-15%, depending on whether or not it’s a new or existing
customer, and on your overall sales volume.
We also offer 30 return days. So if you refer a consumer to Groupon, and they don’t complete
a purchase during that initial visit, but return to Groupon within 30 days and finalize their sale,
you will still earn commission on that sale. In fact, you’ll earn commission on all purchases they
make within 30 days of your referral!
How to Become a Groupon Affiliate
To join the Groupon Affiliate program, simply go to http://www.groupon.com/pages/affiliates
and click the “Get Started” button. You’ll be prompted to set-up a free account on Commission
Junction, our third-party tracking network. If you’re already part of Commission Junction,
simply click “Get Links” and search for “Groupon.” When you see the Groupon logo, check the
box to the left, and click the “Apply to Program” button. The approval process usually takes 1-2
business days.
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Getting Affiliate Links and Banners
In order for us to know that you referred a consumer to us, the consumer will need to click
through your affiliate tracking link to get to Groupon. Once you are approved into the Groupon
affiliate program, you will be able to use a variety of links and banners to use in your marketing
efforts. Below, we’ll review a few different tools that will enable you to access whatever you
might need. But first, we’ll need to show you how to find your Commission Junction Publisher
ID (CJPID).
1) Login to your Commission Junction publisher account: www.cj.com.
2) Click “Account”, then “Web site Settings.”
3) Your CJ PID will be listed on the left.
Your CJ PID is your key to using all of our tools, so be sure to keep it close at hand.
Write your CJ PID here: _______________
Generating a Custom Link
Let’s say that you’re on the Groupon site, and you see a great deal that you want to share with
your friend. Using our Affiliate Link Generator, you can instantly create an affiliate tracking link
to that deal, which you can share via Facebook, Twitter, email, or on your own websites. The
Affiliate Link Generator sits above the Groupon site, and whenever you see a deal you want to
share, simply click a button and voila!
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To get the Affiliate Link Generator, go to: http://www.affiliatemanager.com/groupon and enter
your CJ PID in the space provided. Next, follow the instructions listed to bookmark your link.
Next, go to Groupon.com and navigate to a deal that you’d like to promote. Once you’ve found
one, click the Affiliate Link Generator bookmark you just created. You’ll see a toolbar appear
on top of the Groupon page.
Click the relevant button to share the deal via Facebook, Twitter or email, or just click “Affiliate
Link Code” if you just want the direct link. The tool will automatically create a tracking link for
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you, pre-populated with your CJ PID. All you need to do now is copy and paste that code
anywhere you want to share the Groupon!
5

Generating a Widget
If you have a blog or website, you might want to take advantage of our affiliate widget. This
piece of creative dynamically displays whatever Groupon is most relevant to your visitor. So, if
your visitor is from New York, the widget will show the daily deal in New York. If your visitor is
from San Francisco, they’ll see the daily deal in San Francisco. And, it’s as easy as apple pie!
With ice cream!
To get your widget, go to http://www.groupon.com/affiliate_widget and enter your CJ PID in
the field provided. The next thing you’ll need to do is to get an API key. The API key simply tells
Groupon that you’re using our widget. It’s an easy, instantaneous process. Simply click the
“get one” link in the API Key field, login to your personal Groupon account, and then click the
“Get My API Key” button.
Your API key will be a long alphanumeric series. All you need to do is copy and paste it into the
Groupon widget generator.
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Now, all you need to do is customize your widget! Choose your size, your ad accent color, and
city. If you would like the widget to display whatever deal is most relevant to your visitor,
choose “auto-detect.” If you would like the widget to only show deals from a specific city, you
can select the relevant city from the dropdown box. Once you’ve made your choices, simply
click “Generate Widget.” You’ll get a preview of the widget, as well as the code associated with
it. Copy and paste that code onto your site and away you go!
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Getting a Banner
We have a variety of banners in all sizes available for your use in the Commission Junction
interface. To access these, simply login to CJ, click “Get Links,” and search for Groupon. Next,
click “View Links.” This will display all the banners and links available for you to use in your
marketing efforts. If you click “Additional Search Options,” you’ll be able to filter by link type or
size. Once you’ve found a banner you’d like to use, click “Get HTML,” located on the far right.
This will generate a pop-up window that contains your affiliate tracking code. Copy and paste
this code onto your site.
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Adding Custom Tracking
If you would like to append your own variables to your tracking links, you can do so using the
parameter “SID=”. This parameter provides the capability for you to track where your sales and
leads originate so you can have a better understanding of how well each of your marketing
efforts performs. You can append any alphanumeric variable to the SID parameter, and this
value will be passed back to you in your transaction detail report. So for example, say this is the
link code you pulled from Commission Junction:
http://www.tkqhce.com/click-1234567-10820220
To add the custom tracking, simply append the SID parameter, followed by your alphanumeric
value:
http://www.tkqhce.com/click-1234567-10820220&SID=ABC123
Generating Reports
You can track all your traffic and sales through Commission Junction. All you need to do is login
to your affiliate account at Commission Junction (http://www.cj.com), then click “Run Reports.”
You’ll see two tabs, one for Transaction Reports, and one for Performance Reports. Your
transaction reports will list out each individual transaction that you drive through your affiliate
marketing efforts, your performance reports will show how many clicks you drove, how many
transactions, and how many items. For both of these reports, you are able to define and run a
variety of levers to measure the success of your marketing efforts. For more details, please
consult the Commission Junction help topics, listed below:
Performance Reports Overview
Transaction Reports Overview
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