Aeion Affiliates for B2B SaaS Referral Programs
B2B referrals operate differently from D2C creator programs — sales cycles are weeks to months, "conversion" is contract signature not checkout, and the partner ecosystem includes customers (as advocates), agencies, system integrators, and resellers. Aeion Affiliates handles the commission math — code-based attribution, per-program commission rules, automatic clawback on refund — while your sales/CRM process handles the parts that are inherently people-driven in B2B (deal ownership, multi-stakeholder credit). Three operating-model walkthroughs below.
Why B2B Referrals Are Different
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Walkthrough 1 — Customer Advocate Program
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Walkthrough 2 — Agency Partner Program
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Walkthrough 3 — Reseller / VAR Program
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B2B-Specific Attribution Challenges
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FAQ
Not as a dedicated object today. Attribution is code-based — whichever partner's code is on the order gets the commission. If two partners claim the same prospect, that's resolved by your partner manager as a process decision (typically tracked as a CRM note), not by a system-enforced exclusivity timer.
Not automated — Aeion doesn't run a per-touch credit-splitting engine. One code lands on the order; that partner gets the commission. Splitting credit between partners on the same deal is a manual ledger adjustment, not a configurable attribution model.
Different programs. Customer advocates: external, tax-reportable. Employee referrals: internal, typically HR-managed, not 1099. Aeion supports both (separate programs in same module).
Aeion tracks the commission math the same way regardless of partner location — `payoutMethod` and `payoutDetails` are free-text/JSON fields, so international bank details, PayPal, or Wise details all fit. Actual disbursement, currency conversion, tax-treaty handling, and W-8BEN collection are your team's responsibility today — Aeion doesn't automate any of those.
Aeion LMS can host your training content and track course completion generally, but there's no built-in link between LMS completion and affiliate program tiers today — gating a tier on certification status is a manual process on your side, not a system rule.
There's no dedicated MDF allocation/claims feature in Aeion Affiliates or Billing today. Teams typically track MDF commitments as a manual ledger adjustment or handle it outside the platform entirely.
Not as a built-in hierarchy — there's no master/sub-account rollup structure in the affiliate record today. Most teams work around this by giving the agency one affiliate record per sub-client and reporting on them as a group manually, or by tracking the agency as a single partner and letting them manage the relationship on their end.
Aeion Affiliates handles the commission side (attribution, ledger, payouts); Aeion CRM covers deal tracking, partner pipeline, comms history, and account-management notes. Industry-leading PRM platforms (Impartner, Salesforce PRM) have specialized features — QBR scheduling workflows, partner co-marketing fund management, and the like — that Aeion doesn't replicate out of the box; for those, integrate via Singularity.
Aeion BI can model: "if I add 10 more agencies and tier them at Silver, what's projected ARR + commission cost?" Useful for program design.
Configurable per program. Self-service for high-volume, low-touch partners. Managed for strategic partners (with dedicated AE / partner manager).
Yes. Reseller programs have specific tax + legal considerations (often involves resellers as "merchant of record" in their region). Aeion Tax + Legal modules support this.