Affiliate Wiz Software Release Notes

Version 11 -- March 22, 2013

Navigation in Admin Console has been converted to menus
Added New ad types: Rollover Ad (Right/Down), Semi-Transparent Takeover, Floating Ad, Transition Ad, HTML 5 Video Ad, Hoover Ad
Summary report in Affiliate Console has been expanded to include a SubAffiliateID drop-down menu
Summary report in Affiliate Console has been expanded to include additional date ranges including custom date range
In the event that a conversion occurs (sale/lead) and the cookie is blocked or deleted we now check for their IP in the list of recent clicks and obtain the affiliateID from there if present
The direct link tracking code (Javascript) has been updated to capture and pass the referring web page so it can be stored with the click/sale/lead
Post to Facebook feature has been updated as previous method was depreciated by Facebook
Affiliate Wiz now includes Country geo-targeting data from Maxmind for blocking sales,leads,clicks from specific countries
Country Geo-Location is displayed with sales, leads, clicks and in all summary and detail reports in admin and affiliate console
Display of Geo-location can be disabled in both admin and affiliate console under Preferences
Added option for affiliates to upload w9 form on update account page (image or pdf doc)
This feature can be disabled under Preferences
The multiple target URL option for Banners, Text Links, Products can now be Affiliate Specific so that
different affiliates can have different landing pages for a given link
When uploading an image the Width/height are now correctly pre-populated
Added option for affiliates to import contacts from gmail (Email marketing must be enabled to access this feature)
Added option for affiliates to opt out of generic email broadcasts and new banner/link email broadcasts
Tool to reset impressions/clicks has been expanded to allow doing so for a specific affiliate
Added feature to display custom html based on the referring affiliate on your web site. For example, custom 1-800 number, code, etc.
Added Export tool to export raw data such as Sales, Leads, Clicks, Recent Click Detail, Affiliates, Affiliate Types, Links, etc
Added option to avoid counting Impressions and Clicks when an affiliate is logged into the Affiliate Console (Applies to their session only)
added note in Affiliate Console to notify them of this in case they are testing, text can be customized under Preferences
Added an option to add IP Address restrictions to the Admin Console (Overall and Admin Users)
SQL database is now compliant with SQL 2012
Added additional payment method for Bank/Wire Transfer
When running tool to pay affiliates, the payment method and info is now included
Added Option to store template for email earnings data including subject and custom text to append to beginning of message
Added ability to email top-tier affiliates when they get tier 2 signups below them. Can be enabled by Affiliate Type

Version 10 -- March 19, 2012

Convert to .net 4 and VisualStudio.net 2010
Modified Sales bonus option to allow paying a different rate based on the sale amount
Renamed Sales/Lead Bonus option to Rate Change to avoid confusion
Sale and Lead Rate changes now support up to 5 levels of changes as opposed to 2
Added option to archive a banner so it still work on affiliates sites but doesn't show in affiliate console as selectable option
Tool to email links to affiliates also allows selecting active versus archived
Includes FaceBook Sharing Option (version 9.1 Users already have this feature)
In admin console added quick chart of impressions/clicks/sales/leads to Affiliate Types, Affiliates, Banners, Banner Groups, Text Links, Products and Email Creative
Admin Summary report now includes a chart of impressions/clicks/sales/leads for past 7 days
Admin trend report has been significantly enhanced with professions graphics, summary table, etc
Added Trend Graphics report in Affiliate Console
Added option for an Auto response triggered when commissions are compiled
Database connection string inside web.config can now be encrypted
Added Telerik RadEditor throughout software for editor in place of simple editor which only worked in Internet Explorer. New editor works in all browsers.
Added a new creative option called HTML landing pages to supply affiliates with landing pages
Added Support for attachments to auto-responses
Added option for Multiple target URLs to Banners, Text Links and Products to randomly redirect based on weightings of each Target URL
Expanded length of comments field for affiliates from 250 to 1000 characters
Added Option for affiliates to get daily stats summary, leads, sales, clicks, just like option in admin console. This feature is enabled per Affiliate Type
Added Support for email notifications for leads, just like sales for both Admin and Affiliates
Added option to enter additional email addresses for sales and lead notifications for affiliates.
Days to Convert is now presented in a nicer format of Days/Hours/Minutes
Added Option to prevent an email address from registering more than once, turned on under Preferences, message can be customized
When affiliates create custom links the link is now saved in the system so reporting is tied to the custom text link
Added Email and Web Site URL to “Inactive Affiliates” and “Active Affiliates” reports
Summary report in admin that appears on login has been updated to allow reporting by Entire Period, Today, Past 7 Days and Past month
Added option to choose supported payment methods (PayPal, check, other)
The above option now includes separate field for entering PayPal Email for PayPal method of payment
Option for affiliates to choose payment method and for admin to define which are allowed
Added Payment Method and PayPal Email to Affiliates/Edit Multiple Screen
Added Affiliate Type and Payment Method to Affiliates View All Screen
Banner Groups are now assigned to a category in order to support filtering in the Affiliate Console and limiting groups to specific affiliate types
Admin Reports now support selecting more than one Affiliate Type. Previously the selection was all or one
Added "Check All" option for selecting all Affiliate Types or Categories on screens with list of selections
Added option to include Notes to Affiliates when paying Affiliates. These notes appear in the affiliate console next to their payment summary
Recent payment summary in Affiliate console now includes option to view all. By default most recent 5 payments are displayed
Active and Inactive Affiliate Reports in Admin console now include filtering based on Affiliate Join Date
Added Affiliate Type to Payment Detail Report
Added Sales/Lead column to Banner Effectiveness report in admin and affiliate consoles
Clicks/Leads/Sales summary report in the affiliate console has been enhanced to include all fields and features as in the admin console
Added a new affiliate report called Commissions History that shows payments by date along with comments, amount, sales, leads, clicks and commissions
Added the Affiliate Contact Name, linked to their email on Sales and Lead View All screens
Added Totals for Count, Commissions and Revenue on Leads/Sales View All screens
Added Export to Excel option on Leads/Sales View All screens
Date filtering on Sales/Leads View All screen now supports filtering by custom date ranges
Added affiliate console help links next to each navigation option
Affiliate Help Docs can be modified under Preferences/Setup Affiliate Help Doc
On Add Flash option added drop-down menu to select Click Tracking variable name or manually type in the name
Commission summary report on login to affiliate console has been changed to table format with column totals

Email marketing enhancements
Added option to define a subject for email creative
Subject is defaulted when sending email marketing and displayed as suggested subject when copying email marketing
Allow affiliates to set the from email when sending email marketing [Affiliate type setting]
Added option for Global email Suppression/Opt Out list in admin console to prevent email marketing to specific addresses
Administrator can import to this list
Added option to Affiliate Type to force individual opt outs (under affiliate accounts) to also be added to global opt out list

Version 9.01 -- October 19, 2010

Added an option to directly upload links to a users FaceBook wall.
Added option to filter by Account Status on tool to email affiliates.
Modified Clicks/Leads/Sales Summary report to include columns for conversion percentage, Clicks to Leads and Leads to Sales percentages.

Version 9.0 -- August 27, 2010

New Features

Added support for product-specific commissions
Added option to directly pay affiliates using PayPal Mass Pay by automatically uploading commissions at the click of a button
Add Referring URL that generated the click for clicks, sales and leads.
Added a recent clicks report for affiliates, option to disable in Affiliate Type
Added option to edit multiple items at one time to Affiliates, Affiliate Types, Banners,Banner Groups, Text Links and Products.
Added an Active Affiliates report similar to the inactive affiliates report to view those generating 1 or more sale, lead, click or impression
Added option to remove total paid, balance and last commission in affiliate console (Hide earnings summary)
Created banner effectiveness report in Affiliate Console, can be disabled under Affiliate Type
Added option to paste in affiliate agreement in addition to existing option for linking to agreement
Added CAPTCHA option to default signup page and custom signup pages
Added option to make custom affiliate fields on signup page required
Added ability to customize all error messages on signup page
Added option to set which languages are supported. If only one language is chosen the language drop-down is hidden
Added option to hide subaffiliate option in affiliate console by Affiliate Type
Added Option to turn off standard welcome email which is useful if an auto-response has been defined
Added option to display a custom page in affiliate console such as instructions, etc
Added checkbox to validate target URL's of Banners, Text Links and Products in the admin console
Software now stores passwords, SSN, VAT, and TaxID's in an encrypted format using Triple DES
Expand SubAffiliateID to 25 characters from existing 10 characters
Added a dynamic affiliate variable called ##AffiliateDirectLink## to place the direct link in any of the customizable email messages
Added additional filtering when viewing affiliates including join date, sales, revenue, payout, impressions/clicks etc.
Added option for a landing page override for individual affiliates to override all links on their site
Added option under Affiliate Type to allow affiliates to view "invalid" sales and leads along with the reason they are invalid
"View All" pages with navigation at the bottom also now have the same navigation at the top
Modified these reports to include a summary of totals at the end: Payment Summary, Impressions/clicks, Sales Summary, Lead Summary, PPC Click Summary, Inactive Affiliates Report, Banner Effectiveness Report
Added BannerID on link creation screen in Affiliate console
Added Leads/Clicks and Sales/Clicks to banner effectiveness report in both admin and affiliate consoles
Added option on view sales/leads screen in admin console to include valid/invalid reason
Added an option to limit the TargetURL for custom redirects to specific domains to prevent links being used for Phishing scams

Other Fixes/Enhancements

When adding a new affiliate, the option to receive sales notifications defaults to checked
Fixed help links so they work on 64-bit servers
Improved speed of stats delete query
Fixed issue with announcement created in editor not sent as html when it contained html tags
When using direct links and entering flash banners the direct link is overridden so clicks can be tracked

Version 8.0 -- April 29, 2009

New Features

Application is now multilingual and ships with 8 languages. Includes support for English, French, Italian, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and Norwegian. Language files can also be converted to other languages.
Added Direct link option to support direct links instead of redirects. This option is enabled under Preferences/Setup and can be overridden for specific Affiliate Types and specific links. There is also an option to check if the web page being linked to contains the proper direct link code.
Added feature for Affiliates to post sale or lead information to a custom script on their web site. This feature is enabled under each Affiliate Type.
Added option to define email creative for affiliates
Added email marketing option for affiliates to send email creative. Setting is specified under Affiliate Type. Features include limiting # of messages, allowing/disallowing custom content, and specifying opt out text to be included in each message
Added option to email auto-responses based on these triggers: Affiliate Joins, Affiliate Refers another Affiliate, Updates account makes Nth sale or nth lead during specified period
Automated daily, weekly and monthly reports now available for admin and users as HTML or CSV attachments
Added audit log option to audit all tasks performed by admin, users and affiliates
Added option to use a custom non-numeric AffiliateID which is then translated to the actual numeric value
Added Customizable clicks/leads/sales summary report with date grouping, breakdown by affiliate, affiliate type, banner, catetory, SubAffiliateID. Report includes Sales, Leads, Clicks, PPC Clicks, CTR, EPC, Revenue, Commissions, etc. This report replaces the previous clicks/leads/sales reports
Added Recent Clicks report in admin console for viewing clicks during past 72 hours
Added support for these affiliate statuses: Pending Approval, Activated, Rejected, Deactivated
Added Ability to specify a custom default landing page for each affiliate type and each affiliate. In past versions the Web Site URL specified under Preferences/setup was used for default redirects
Updated PayPal export option to allow specifying currency and which field to use for the email address
Option to block registrations containing certain text as well as display custom message
Option to specify PayPal IPN URL so the standard URL of https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr can be overridden for testing
Affiliate password is now masked when editing an affiliate in the administration console
When viewing the affiliate list in the admin console, the Web Site URL is now displayed and displayed as a hyperlink
Add option to send email messages using SSL and specify port in order to work with Gmail
When uploading a banner or product image, software now automatically populates width/height of image
Changed Make Checks Payable to a generic "Payable To" for those who use PayPal for payment instead of checks
Changed view affiliate types screen to include #Categories, PPS, PPL, PPC
Added Option to display Optional fields including country when viewing sales and leads
Added Option for affiliates to change link text when creating a custom link
Added Cross Site Scripting and injection code to Affiliate Console to prevent malicious behavior
When logging into the admin console, the summary report of pending sales/leads is now a quick link to view those items
Modified PPC Click Detail report to include commission and paid status
Added option to add "how did you hear about us?" to signup page
Added ability to choose actual date of sale when manually adding a sale or lead
Added Web.config variable called OldURL1 to redirect from an old domain to new to keep cookies valid in the event of URL change
Added an option to preferences/setup to define a custom character set for all email messages

Other Fixes/Enhancements

Fixed caching issue, creating new affiliate then clicking the new affiliate is not yet recognized until edit/update
On signup, if AffiliateTypeID is invalid the value from the Preferences is now used.

Version 7.0 -- January 31, 2008

New Features

Added option to pay affiliates for affiliate signups and register as sale or lead.
Added option to assign a bonus for Nth sale or lead during a given month, year, or entire period.
Added option to limit users to specific Affiliate Types to limit what data they can view.
Added option to block sales/leads from specific countries. IP addresses must be purchased to use this feature.
Added clicks/leads/sales by Day by Affiliate Report.
Added Sales Performance Report to Affiliate Console which includes EPC, Conversion Rates.
Added option to import notes field when importing products.
Added option to define which fields appear on standard join form (join.aspx) and which fields are required.
Added option to leave off Task=Click in direct link code to simplify the links.
Added Highlight/Copy button so Affiliates can easily copy the link code when creating a link in the affiliate console.
Added checkbox list for approving/rejecting multiple affiliates at once.
Added checkbox list for approving multiple sales and leads at once.
Increased username/password from 10 characters to 50 characters.
Added option to not overwrite cookie so first affiliate always gets credit for the conversion.
Added option to search banners, products and text links by BannerID in admin console.
Affiliate Wiz now uses the standard Windows mail component rather than a 3rd party product so uncompiled users no longer need to purchase the 3rd party component.
Added option for administrator to specify a From Name and From Email for all email messages.
Added option to specify multiple email addresses for sales notifications and administrative messages.
Altered import options to support XLSX files which are the Excel 2007 format.
Added nolock to all SQL statements, queries, and procedures to enhance performance and prevent locking
Added email address validation in all possible locations, most important signup form

Other Fixes/Enhancements

Added error trap to catch error that occurs when emailing affiliates and an address is bad
Added check on URL in Preferences/setup are to make sure it has http:// otherwise direct links do not work, same for banners/links/etc.
Fixed bug affecting marking tier 2 commissions as paid in the case where the Tier1 affiliates meets the minimum commission payout and the tier 2 affiliate does not.

Version 6.0 -- November 30, 2006

Converted to .net 2.0/Master Pages/Visual Studio.net 2005
Added Sub Affiliate ID tracking option so affiliates can track sub affiliates
Added Announcements option, any dynamic affiliate variables can be embedded
Announcements can also be emailed to Affiliates as a broadcast
Added option to filter affiliates when sending an email broadcast. Can filter by sales, leads, clicks, impressions and join date
Added Option to save email message as a template when sending an email broadcast
Change all delete options to checkboxes and include "Check All"
Added drop-down menu to select # records displayed on View All screens
When a banner, link or affiliate does not exist and a link is clicked we now redirect to the web site URL from the preferences/setup area
Added support for international characters in any field
Added option to email a report after it has been created for both the administrator and affiliates
Added login link when viewing list of affiliates to provide direct login as the affiliate
Added HTML Editor for preferences fields and tool to send mass email to affiliates
Added Support for Optional Fields for Recurring Sales
In the affiliate console when viewing links the paging is now displayed at both the top and bottom
Added option to search by AffiliateID in administration console
Added BannerID, Width and Height to Banner Effectiveness Report
Added description to Banner Groups which is also displayed in Affiliate Console
Added Banner Group Name in Affiliate Console when viewing a list of Banner Groups
Banner Group size is now displayed in Affiliate Console when viewing a list of Banner Groups
Added option to determine which page is displayed first when logging into Affiliate Console
Added option to pass all querystring parameters to destination TargetURL
Added option to cookie all fields/values passed when clicking an Affiliate Link
Added Option to include AffiliateType on Custom Signup Form to allow affiliate to select a type
Added Administrator Tool to re-index all tables in SQL database
Added Administrator Tool to search/replace all banner/link URL's and Target URLs in the event that you move the software from one URL to another
option to delete old stats prior to specific date including impressions/clicks, commissions
Added option to display actual banners/links on Banner Effectiveness report
When viewing a list of banner, text links, products or groups in admin console the total impressions/clicks are now displayed

Version 5.0 -- September 23, 2005

Added option to create sub-users with specific tasks such as reporting, etc.
Added summary report in affiliate console that shows sales, lead, click, impression charts, overall earnings, etc.
Added report on inactive affiliates. You can report on affiliates with no clicks, impressions, sales or leads during a selected period.
Created a report for viewing the effectiveness of banners in terms of sales, leads, revenue.
Added session tracking in addition to the existing cookie tracking. This option is defined in preferences.
Option to notify an affiliate of a deleted/rejected sale
Added option for Affiliates to add tracking to any web page or any HTML content
Added Banner option for Data Feeds. A data feed is basically a feed of a web page where all links are tracked for affiliates.
Added option for administrator to be notified when an Affiliate updates their account
Added option to display a custom message to affiliates when they login to the affiliate console
Option to run tool to pay affiliates in "preview" mode only to view your payout liability
When running tool to pay affiliates, start/end dates that were chosen are now stored.
Add column to sales, leads, clicks commissions to store date when marked as paid. This allows an individual payment record to be deleted and the commissions are unmarked accordingly.
Option to display custom html message to affiliates after signup
Affiliates can now login using their email address or username
Added option to search links in affiliate console
Added option to pay only on first sale or lead, then delete cookie
Name of cookie can now be defined and changed at any time
Option to block specific IP's from sale/lead tracking to prevent manually entered sales from being recorded
Option to select paid/unpaid commissions on reports
Option to define footer text and link in admin console
Added option to use a 301 redirect when redirecting affiliate links
Added option under Affiliate Type to turn off option for affiliates to create their own links
List of affiliates is now sorted by date as the default sort
Added Sales Tracking code option for recurring sales. Options is found under Sales tracking code.
Added option for administrator to specify generic linking instructions for affiliates
Program now uses server.transfer if relative URL is specified.
This eliminates the redirect which search engines typically do not index.

Version 4.0 -- August 9, 2004

New Features

Newly designed ASP.NET web-based interface.
Commissions are now specified by Affiliate Type
Sales and Leads are now set to be automatically accepted or manually approved at the Affiliate Type level rather than in the tracking code.
A minimum payout amount can now be set by Affiliate Type.
A progress bar is now shown for long running tasks.
Added an option to specify target window for banners. For example Target="_Blank.
Option to email links to affiliates. This is useful to email new banners/links to your affiliates when you add them into the system.
Program now uses a single mail object for sending email -- Quicksoft Easymail.net
Added Option to import sales/leads/Affiliates/Banners/Links/ and Products from any ODBC-compliant database
Additional 3 additional user-defined fields for tracking sales and leads.
Added enhanced filtering options to filter by affiliate, affiliate type, category, etc throughout the interface.
Added wizard for adding Flash banners.
Added wizard for adding Popup/Pop Under banners.
Sales and leads are now tracked by banner to see which banners are most effective.
Conversion time in days is now tracked to see how long each conversion took.
Impressions are now tracked on all types of media including banners, text links and products.
All email messages can now contain all available affiliate parameters. The subject of each email message can also be set in the preferences.
Added file upload utility to view uploaded banners and upload new banners to server.
Enhanced tool to pay affiliates. You can now pay by Affiliate Type, all affiliates, or specific affiliates. The payment history record now records commissions paid at all tier levels rather than the total payout amount.
Added preferences to set compact P3P privacy policy
Added preference to define record set paging size
Added option to automatically refresh a banner group every X seconds to reload a new banner while sitting idle on a page.
Ability to block clicks from spiders
Added VAT Number as Affiliate Field
Added option to pass AffiliateID on to site using ##AffiliateID## within any Target URL.
Product Now Supports Euro Currency
Added better display of tiered affiliates so entire diagram of Tier X affiliates is displayed
Option to create form option for signup page so people can ignore some fields and customize the signup form.
Option to include Affiliate agreement on signup form
Allow affiliate Type to to be set on signup form
Affiliate List report now displays signup date
All reports can now be exported to Excel and CSV files
Supports reporting by AffiliateType
Some reports can now be broken down by category
Created a Sales/Clicks/Leads report broken down by Day.
Added an option to create Trend Graphs in the admin console.
Added an option to increase the sales, lead, or per click commission rate for
Tier 1 affiliates based on specific thresholds. Two thresholds can be defined.
Added option to export payment data to PayPal, Quicken, and Quickbooks for
easy payment and check writing
Added option to define and collect up to 5 additional affiliate parameters.
Added option to determine how banners are sorted in the affiliate console.
Added option to allow affiliates to view pending sales/leads. This field is set by Affiliate Type. If this option is set affiliates will also get a sales notification for pending sales.
Added option to allow affiliates to view sales/lead detail. This field is set by Affiliate Type. You can also select what sales detail fields are shown to the affiliate including the 3 optional sales/lead tracking fields.
Added option for affiliates to view Tier X affiliates that have signed up under them.
Tool in affiliate console to create a link to any page in a web site

Version 3.0 -- October 10, 2002

New Features

Added support for running a multi-tier affiliate program of up to 5 tiers. [More Information]
Added option to mark affiliate commissions as paid. [More Information]
Added support for recurring commissions.
Added payment history report listing all previous affiliate commission payments.
Added option to specify a minimum payout amount. Affiliates will continue to accrue commissions until the minimum payout amount is reached.
Added daily report breakdown in affiliate area for past 60 days showing clicks, sales, leads and commissions for each day.
Added option for affiliates to report on traffic by banner.
Added search functionality in affiliate area for Products. Added paging to Products, Text Links, and Banners in the Affiliate Area.
Affiliates are now categorized into different affiliate types. This allows you to provide unique marketing materials to each affiliate type. Affiliate rates can also be changed by affiliate type or by individual affiliates. [More Information]
Program now tracks all statistics on a daily basis. All reporting is now to the nearest day.
Reports can now be sorted.
Added search functionality for all affiliate objects in the administration console (Affiliate Types, Affiliates, Banners, Links, Products, Categories, Sales and Leads).
Added support for HTML email messages to affiliates. This includes New Member message, Pending Member message, Rejected Member message, and the message sent when a new sale has been made. Other HTML messages include the email broadcast tool
Added option to embed certain affiliate fields in the messages such as Affiliate ID, Username and Password.
Added option for specifying a pending member message sent to new affiliates when the system is set to require manual approval of all accounts. A separate message is also included for rejecting applications.
Added report which lists all affiliates and their AffiliateID.
Added support for all currencies.
Added support for Pay Pal for paying affiliates.
Added support for Pay Pal for recording sales of products purchased through Pay Pal using their Instant Payment Notification (IPN) system. [More Information]
Added an automated email reminder when it is time to pay your affiliates. Messages can be sent up to twice per month.
Added a tool to embed the Affiliate ID in a form as a hidden field. This is useful to store the AffiliateID in your database if you are doing your own affiliate tracking. [More Information]
Affiliate console now uses Cascading Style Sheet to define look and feel rather than images.

Enhancements/Bug Fixes

Added better control of size of clicks table. Clicks are deleted after the unique click hour. For example, if the Unique Click Hour is 3, all clicks more than 3 hours old are deleted.
Better cache defeating in the administration console by tagging time onto querystrings.
Added cross-site scripting code to prevent affiliates from embedding Javascript to try and gain access to the administrator account.
Changed table names to start with tblaff_. Also changed stored procedures to start with spafw_.
Added code to handle requests from deleted affiliates.