Ambassadors & Referrals
Set up an affiliate / ambassador programme to recruit creators, customers, and partners who promote your store. Swft integrates with Partnero (the partner platform we recommend) and surfaces a referral prompt on the checkout confirmation screen.
What it does
Section titled “What it does”Two pieces:
- Ambassador applications — interested partners visit
yourstore.com/ambassadors/apply(a small form Swft hosts), submit their details, and get a referral link they can promote. - Confirmation referral prompt — after a shopper completes a purchase, Swft Checkout shows a “Refer a friend and get £X” prompt with a copy-link button. The shopper becomes a casual referrer without needing to apply formally.
Successful referrals are tracked via Partnero, which handles commission calculation and payout.
1. Create a Partnero programme
Section titled “1. Create a Partnero programme”If you don’t have one already:
- Sign up at partnero.com.
- Create a programme. Set commission rate (a percentage of GMV) and tracking parameters.
- Copy your API key and Program ID from the Partnero dashboard.
2. Configure Swft
Section titled “2. Configure Swft”Add these env vars to your Swft API deployment (or paste them in your Swft Dashboard’s Settings → Integrations):
| Var | What |
|---|---|
PARTNERO_API_KEY | Your Partnero API key. |
PARTNERO_PROGRAM_ID | The Partnero program identifier. |
Once these are set, ambassador applications are auto-approved and instantly issued referral links.
3. Configure the confirmation prompt
Section titled “3. Configure the confirmation prompt”Swft Dashboard → Checkout Editor → Modules → enable Referral prompt.
Set the reward amount (the message shown to the shopper, e.g. “Refer a friend, you both get £5”). The actual reward fulfilment is handled by Partnero — Swft is just the surface.
Customer experience
Section titled “Customer experience”Ambassadors
Section titled “Ambassadors”A partner visits yourstore.com/ambassadors/apply. They submit:
- Name
- Optional promotion notes (“I run a TikTok with 100k followers in the running niche…”)
If Partnero is configured: they immediately receive their referral link by email. If Partnero is not configured: their application is stored as pending. You can review and approve in the Ambassadors page of your dashboard (manual handoff to Partnero).
Referrers (informal)
Section titled “Referrers (informal)”A shopper completes a purchase. The confirmation screen shows:
Refer a friend and get £5 [Copy referral link]
The link is unique per shopper (encoded in the URL as a referral code). When a friend clicks through and purchases, the system reports the transaction to Partnero with the referrer’s code; Partnero credits the referrer per your programme rules.
Dashboard
Section titled “Dashboard”Swft Dashboard → Ambassadors:
- Applications — pending and approved ambassador applications.
- Stats — clicks, conversions, GMV per ambassador (proxied from Partnero).
- Top performers — highest-converting ambassadors this month.
How it works under the hood
Section titled “How it works under the hood”POST /api/ambassadors/apply accepts the application. If PARTNERO_API_KEY and PARTNERO_PROGRAM_ID are set, the application is forwarded to Partnero’s POST /v1/partners endpoint. Partnero returns a referral_url; Swft stores the application as approved and emails the link.
If Partnero is not configured, the application is stored in ambassador_applications (status: pending) with no auto-issued link. You can later run a manual upload to Partnero.
On every order completion, the Swft webhook posts to Partnero’s POST /v1/transactions with: the partner key (referral code from the order’s UTM / cookie), customer key, sale amount, currency. Partnero handles commission tracking from there.
For the informal confirmation-screen referrer: Swft generates a per-shopper referral code on the fly when the prompt renders, encodes it in the share URL, and reports any resulting orders back to Partnero.
The GET /api/ambassadors/stats?ref=CODE endpoint proxies stats from Partnero (clicks, conversions, GMV) so you can show partners their own stats from your dashboard.
Gotchas
Section titled “Gotchas”- Partnero is optional but recommended. Without it, ambassador applications pile up as pending and you have to handle referral tracking manually.
- Commission payouts are Partnero’s job. Swft doesn’t move money — Partnero does. Configure your Partnero programme’s payout schedule and method directly there.
- Referral attribution is cookie-based. If a referee clears cookies between clicking the link and purchasing, the referral is lost. Cookies last 30 days by default (configurable in Partnero).
- One referrer per order. If a shopper clicks links from multiple ambassadors, only the most recent one gets credit.
- The confirmation-screen prompt is opt-in only. It’s only shown if you enable it in the Checkout Editor. Turn it off if your verticals (B2B, regulated) shouldn’t have casual referral programmes.