Introducing WP Affiliate Manager 1.4

When you write software, there’s always going to be a list of features you want to add. We’ve been keeping a list of features we want, and more importantly, a list of what our users want. While we didn’t clear off the entire list, we did make a pretty big dent!

Here’s a list of the new features that were added in version 1.4:

• Change affiliate payout amounts
• Manually create an affiliate account
• Customize the From name/email on outgoing messages
• Combined the welcome email and new user account email in to one
• Sorting for My Affiliate reports
• Admins can deactivate/reactivate affiliates
• Added upload field to new/edit creatives screen
• Transaction views for affiliates with a date selection: Payment History & Sales
• Profile screen for affiliates where they can edit their contact information
• Running balance to ‘My Affiliates’ transaction view for admins
• Date selection for PayPal Mass Pay screen
• Changed Mass Pay screen to highlight records that are inactive, and deselect items that are less than minimum payment amount

Where to get 1.4

Existing users of WP Affiliate Manager can login and grab the latest version from the dashboard. Or, you can purchase the latest version right here.

More to Come

Yep, this was a big update. But, there’s still plenty more we plan to add. If you have a feature you’d like us to add, let us know by adding it to the user’s forum. We’ll do what we can to get your request added in an upcoming release.

• Added check for WP 3.1 or greater
• Changed cookies to string instead of binary to avoid browser incompatibilities
• Fixed possibility of affiliateId of zero (0) being returned
• Fixed ‘Closed Transactions’ stats from being recorded twice for one purchase

Two things to keep in mind:

• If you have a cookie length set, you will need to reset it after upgrading to version 1.3.3
• If an affiliate is using a incorrectly formatted url, they will see an error when they click the link.

We’re still cranking away on the next major release, but wanted to get these minor updates out to fix the handful of you who’ve requested these updates.

Cheers!

A couple months back there was an update to jquery that resulted in some conflicts between the Affiliate Manager plugin and how it interacted with WordPress. We had put out an update to solve a number of the conflicts, but unfortunately, not all of them. We’ve been testing vigorously and today’s update should take care of any remaining conflicts. As always, if you run in to an issue, please let us know. It’s worth mentioning that we’ve already tested the updates against WordPress version 3.2 (beta 2), so there shouldn’t be any new issues popping up once the next version of WordPress is released.

Login here to download the latest version. Or, if you’re an existing user and don’t have an account here, check out the customer lookup page for instructions.

The other news that I’m excited to report, development is already underway for a pretty substantial update that will introduce several new features. We’re working on enhancing the reporting and creative management as the big features, and there’s a handful of over items on the list as well. I should have some more news on that front in a few weeks.

Stay tuned for more info!

Here’s the list of updates
- Fixed javascript incompatibility with recently upgraded jquery or WordPress installations
- Added cookie length to affiliate settings
- Added login_redirect filter to send affiliates that need to confirm to the affiliate front-end page
- Fixed affiliate sign-up link for existing WP users to bring them right to the registration page
- Added affiliate control panel shortcut to admin menu for affiliates
- Fixed creatives link for new affiliates

Easy Upgrades
One of the other things we’ve been working on is making it easier for users to get access to the latest version of the software. I’m happy to announce that we’ve made a huge step forward on that front.

If you are already using WP Affiliate Manager, visit the Customer Lookup page. Type your email address in the form and the system will create an account for you. Then, log in to your account and on the dashboard you’ll see the following:

If you run in to any trouble with the customer lookup page, or the dashboard download, let us know.

In version 1.3 we have added a handful of new functionality, modified the way affiliates will view their stats & creatives, and cleaned up a handful of bugs.

What’s new in 1.3

• Pay all affiliates at one time using Paypal MassPay
• System messaging is now editable from the admin screen
• Ability to add custom fields to the affiliate registration form
• Terms and Conditions added to the affiliate registration form
• Affiliate reporting is displayed on the front end rather than in the dashboard
• Updated affiliate decline process to allow for permanent deletion
• Declined affiliates are hidden from affiliate list

Notes about upgrading
There are two significant changes that you should be aware of if you are upgrading from a previous version.

#1 Directory name change
In version 1.3 we changed the name of the plugin directory from ‘wp-ecommerce-affiliate-plugin’ to ‘wpaffiliatemanager’ to match the plugin’s official name. You do not need to change your directory structure, but can simply unzip the file to your local machine and open the ‘wpaffilatemanager’ folder and upload the files to the ‘/wp-content/plugins/wp-ecommerce-affiliate-plugin’ folder on your server. If you are unsure how to do this or have any questions, feel free to contact us.

#2 Affiliate stats and creatives
One of the most frequent requests we’ve received has been to move the affiliate pages to the front end so affiliates don’t need to visit the WordPress dashboard to see their stats and get creatives, etc. In version 1.3, we have made that change which means, once you upgrade, if your affiliates log in to the WordPress dashboard, they will no longer see the ‘Affilite CP’ sidebar menu item. Instead, they will need to access the “Store Affiliates” page on the front end of your site. To avoid confusion, you may want to contact your affiliates prior to the upgrade.

As excited as we are about this release, we’ve just as excited about what we’ve got planned for version 1.4. Plus, we’re adding a new set of hands to the development team to help speed up the production.

Stick around, we’ve got exciting things in store!