Promoters and Affiliates: How to Track Who Sells Your Tickets

Why is it hard to know who sold which ticket?

Because the sale and the claim happen in different places. A promoter sends a link in a chat, the buyer pays somewhere else, and at the end of the night the only evidence is a screenshot and a memory. Add ten promoters and a shared spreadsheet and the totals never agree.

The fix is to make attribution part of the purchase. If the checkout knows which promoter the buyer came through at the moment they pay, there is nothing left to reconcile.

What is the difference between a promoter and an affiliate?

Mostly the relationship. A promoter is usually a person on or near your team who sells to people they know, which is how club nights and concerts in Lebanon are often sold. An affiliate is a partner with an audience, such as a community page or a venue, who sends buyers your way and earns on what they buy.

The tracking is the same for both: a code, a link and a rule for what they earn. On Blend they are set up in one place, and you can treat a street team and a media partner differently just by giving them different commission rules.

How do promoter codes and tracked links work?

A code is something the buyer types. A tracked link is something the buyer taps. You want both, because buyers arrive both ways.

• The code credits the sale to the promoter and can give their buyers a discount you choose, so there is a reason to use it.
• The tracked link is made per event. The tap is recorded on Blend's side before the buyer lands on your event page, with the promoter's code already applied.
• One code works across your events, and you can add event specific links when you want them.
• A promoter can be switched off without deleting their history.

See the promoter dashboard

What should you measure for each promoter?

Five numbers settle almost every conversation: tickets attributed, the revenue those tickets brought in, commission earned, what you have already paid, and what is still owed. Blend shows all five for every promoter, and you can open one to see their sales event by event.

Look at them during the campaign, not after it. A promoter whose sales have stalled may need a better offer for their buyers. A promoter who sold out their circle in the first week deserves more to work with. Referrals that do not qualify under your rules are listed separately with the reason, so a number that looks too good can be checked.

How should you set promoter commission?

Pick the rule that rewards what you actually want. A share of the sale rewards selling the expensive tickets. A flat amount per sale rewards volume and is easier to explain. Tiers that change the commission once a promoter passes a number of sales reward the people who keep going after the first weekend.

Whatever you choose, agree it before the first link goes out and write it down in the same place the sales are counted. On Blend you set the rule for each promoter once and the arithmetic is done for you.

What happens when two promoters claim the same buyer?

It will happen, so decide the rule in advance. First touch credits the promoter the buyer came through first. Last touch credits the most recent one. Neither is wrong, but changing the rule after the event is.

Two more settings keep the numbers clean: a campaign window, so a code only earns between the dates you choose, and a cap per buyer, so one buyer cannot inflate a promoter's count.

How do you pay promoters and keep a record?

Blend does not pay your promoters. You pay them the way you already do, and you record each payout against the promoter with the amount, the currency and a note. The history stays with the promoter and the amount still owed moves as you go.

That record is the point. When a promoter asks what they are owed, the answer is a figure built from sales that were credited at checkout, minus payouts you both can see.

Should promoters see their own numbers?

Yes. Promoters stop asking you for their numbers when they can see them. Send each one a private link to their own dashboard: it is read only, it shows their performance and nothing else, and you can revoke the link at any time. If you sell from a white-label ticketing website, the dashboard link uses your domain.

How do you set up promoter tracking for your next event?

Four steps, and the first can be done before the event is announced.

• Add each promoter in the organizer console with a code. Create an event first if you are new to Blend.
• Set what each promoter earns and what their buyers save.
• Copy each promoter's tracked link for the event and send it to them with their dashboard link.
• Follow tickets per promoter as they sell, then record payouts against what is owed.

Where does promoter tracking fit with the rest of your ticketing?

It works best as part of the system that sells and scans the ticket, because then a sale, a promoter and a guest at the door are one record. Promoters are part of Blend's paid plans: see how pricing works. Read how the same codes are used for concert ticketing and for ticketing in Lebanon, or contact us to move your promoter team over.