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GHL Customer Care Affiliates Program

How to Set Up Affiliate Program Postbacks to Run Automations (FirstPromoter Webhooks)

In this article, we will cover how to set up webhooks for your affiliate links so that you can run automation off sales when someone signs up using your affiliate link.

4 min read991 wordsUpdated Tue, 16 Jun at 12:57 AM
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On this page
  1. Step-by-step guide on setting up affiliate program postbacks (webhooks).
  2. 1. Initial Setup & Navigation
  3. 2. Workflows
  4. Step 1: Lead Subscribed Postback
  5. Create the Postback
  6. Connect the Workflow
  7. Send Test Data
  8. Step 2: Trial Signup / New Referral
  9. Create the Postback
  10. Connect the Workflow
  11. Finish Setup
  12. Step 3: First Payment Customer
  13. Create the Postback
  14. Connect the Workflow
  15. Finish Setup
  16. Step 4: New Commission
  17. Create the Postback
  18. Connect the Workflow
  19. Finish Setup
  20. Step 5: Cancelled Customer
  21. Important
  22. Create the Postback
  23. Connect the Workflow
  24. Finish Setup
  25. Publish Your Workflows
  26. Adding a SubID
  27. Email Notification Settings

In this article, we will cover how to set up postbacks (webhooks) for your affiliate links so that you can run automation off sales when someone signs up using your affiliate link.

NOTE: 

This Article is for the GHL Customer Care Affiliate Program, NOT Affiliate Manager Feature found in your sub-accounts.
Update
You can now opt-in to receive email notifications for referral activity in the portal.

To do so...
- Click your profile name in the top-right of the Affiliate Dashboard.
- Open Notification Settings.
- Turn notifications on and customize
Video 1 Open in a new tab
By default, these notifications may be turned off, so it's worth checking this setting. Turning notifications on is highly recommended. It’s the easiest way to stay informed without needing to check your portal every time something changes.

Video 2 Open in a new tab


Step-by-step guide on setting up affiliate program postbacks (webhooks).

You'll need a few things to get started:

  • Download The Core Postback Snapshot - this provides the templates for you to follow this tutorial step-by-step in order to set up postbacks.
  • Open your Affiliate Dashboard

1. Initial Setup & Navigation

  • Open your agency account
  • Go to a sub-account specific for affiliates or one that is dedicated and will not trigger other campaigns or flows.
  • Click on the Affiliate Portal tab.
  • Click on Promoter Reports
  • Scroll down to Postbacks and click it

2. Workflows

For each Postback, you will need a corresponding Workflow that starts with an Inbound Webhook trigger.

That means for every workflow, you'll need to...

  1. Create the postback
  2. Send a test postback
  3. Fetch the sample request inside the workflow
  4. Save the mapping reference
  5. Save and publish the workflow

Without a sample payload, the workflow trigger will not save correctly.

WorkFlow 

Postback name

Campaign

Trigger Name

Referral State

Purpose

1 - Lead GHL Customer Care

1- Lead (Step 1)

GHL Customer Care Affiliate Program

Lead Subscribed

Subscribed

Captures the Lead that Fills out step 1 of checkout form

2 - Trial Postback GHL Customer Care

2 - On Trial (Step 2)

GHL Customer Care Affiliate Program

New Referral

Signup 

Captures when a customer completes checkout and start a trial

3 - GHL Customer Care Customer

3 - GHL Customer Care Customer

GHL Customer Care Affiliate Program

New Customer

Lead Becomes Referral 

Captures when a customer makes a charge in-app (Might not be a commissionable)

4 - Paying Affiliate Commission

4 - Paying Affiliated Customer

GHL Customer Care Affiliate Program

New Commission

Reward Created

Captures when a trial ends or when the customer makes a commissionable payment

5 - Cancelled Customers

5 - Cancellation

GHL Customer Care Affiliate Program

Lead Cancelled

Lead Cancelled

Captures when a customer cancellation is triggered and subscription ends

The 5 Core Postbacks

Following along with the table above, you will set up five postbacks to correspond with the five workflows included in The Core Postback Snapshot

  1. Lead Subscribed
  2. New Referral (Trial Started)
  3. First Payment Customer
  4. New Commission
  5. Cancelled Customer

Step 1: Lead Subscribed Postback

This triggers when someone completes the first step of the affiliate signup form but has not started a trial yet.

Create the Postback

Inside Postbacks:

  • Click Create Postback
  • Name: 1 - Lead Subscribed
  • Campaign: GHL Customer Care Affiliate Program
  • Trigger: Lead Subscribed

Connect the Workflow

  1. Open the corresponding workflow
  2. Copy the Webhook URL
  3. Paste it into the Postback URL field

Send Test Data

  1. Click Test Postback
  2. Go back to the workflow trigger
  3. Click Fetch Sample Request
  4. Save the mapping reference
  5. Save the trigger
  6. Save the workflow

Step 2: Trial Signup / New Referral

This triggers when someone starts a trial.

Create the Postback

  • Name: 2 - Trial Signup
  • Campaign: GHL Customer Care Affiliate Program
  • Trigger: New Referral

Connect the Workflow

Paste the second workflow webhook URL into the Postback URL field.

Finish Setup

  • Click Test Postback
  • Fetch the sample request
  • Save the mapping reference
  • Save the workflow

Step 3: First Payment Customer

This triggers the first time a user becomes a paying customer.

This can happen when:

  • A trial user makes an in-app payment
  • A trial converts into a paid customer

Important: This trigger only fires once per customer.

Create the Postback

  • Name: 3 - First Payment Customer
  • Campaign: GHL Customer Care Affiliate Program
  • Trigger: New Customer

Connect the Workflow

Paste the webhook URL from the third workflow.

Finish Setup

  • Click Test Postback
  • Fetch the sample request
  • Save the mapping reference
  • Save the workflow

Step 4: New Commission

This triggers every time a commission is generated.

Unlike the previous trigger, this can happen multiple times for the same customer.

Create the Postback

  • Name: 4 - New Commission
  • Campaign: GHL Customer Care Affiliate Program
  • Trigger: New Commission

Connect the Workflow

Paste the webhook URL from the fourth workflow.

Finish Setup

  • Click Test Postback
  • Fetch the sample request
  • Save the mapping reference
  • Save the workflow

Tip: If you do not want contacts repeatedly re-entering workflows every time a commission occurs, disable workflow re-entry or use tagging logic instead.


Step 5: Cancelled Customer

This triggers when a customer account is cancelled.

Important

The cancellation postback fires when the account actually closes, not when the cancellation request is submitted.

Examples:

  • Trial users remain active until the trial ends
  • Paid users remain active until the billing cycle finishes

Create the Postback

  • Name: 5 - Cancelled Customer
  • Campaign: GHL Customer Care Affiliate Program
  • Trigger: Lead Cancelled

Connect the Workflow

Paste the webhook URL from the fifth workflow.

Finish Setup

  • Click Test Postback
  • Fetch the sample request
  • Save the mapping reference
  • Save the workflow

Publish Your Workflows

After all five workflows are configured:

  1. Open each workflow
  2. Click Publish
  3. Click Save

If workflows are not published, postbacks will not trigger.

Adding a SubID

Understanding and Setting Up Sub IDs

Sub IDs are crucial for tracking the origin of your leads, sources, or trials. They help you pinpoint exactly where your traffic is coming from.

Recommendation: Since creating a unique link for every piece of content is tedious, it is recommended to create one Sub ID to use for the entire platform (e.g., Instagram) to track its overall performance.

Understanding and Setting Up Sub IDs (video 3) Open in a new tab

Email Notification Settings

You can enable automated email notifications from FirstPromoter. These emails help you track new leads and payments directly through your inbox.

Email Notification Settings (video 4) Open in a new tab

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