Introduction
The Content partners page allows you to add a list of content providers within the platform and assign courses to them. Courses assigned to these partners are generally courses in which the course content comes from the partners.
Once added to the platform by a Superadmin, partners can display their marketing banners on a course’s player page and overview page as well as in course catalogs. They can also use referral links to track user logins from the link as well as purchases.
Please note that at this time, only Superadmins can create and manage Content partners in the platform.
Please note: This functionality is intended to be managed by the Superadmins of the platform, not as a way for content partners to enter the platform and add content to various courses.
Prerequisites
The Content partners feature is available with the e-commerce pack. Contact your Docebo representative for information about how to obtain it.
Adding a content partner
To add a content partner to your platform, access the Navigation menu, then find the Configuration (spanner icon) and select Content partners item under E-commerce section. On the next page, press the plus button in the top right corner to add a partner. In the slideout panel, add a name and description for the partner.
Then, press Create and edit. You will then be redirected to the Settings page, where you can add and manage details related to the partner.
In the General settings table, add a code and logo for the content partner. You can also edit the name or description that you first inserted when creating the partner, if desired. While the code is used for your platform management purposes, the name, logo, and description will all appear on the partner’s banner.
Then, in the Partner banner section, choose if and where you want to display the banner by selecting whether you want it to appear on the course player page, in the course’s page in a catalog, or both. When choosing to display the banner with any of these options, the banner will be visible to all users, including those not affiliated with the content partner. Leave both options unselected if you do not want the banner to appear anywhere on the platform.
In the Referral link section, a link for content partners to share for user referral is automatically generated. By sharing this link directly with the content partner point-of-contact (using the Copy link button), they can then use this link to publish an ad on their website.
Every time a user logs into the platform using the link, the platform tracks that the access point is the referral link. The platform also tracks when the user purchases a course from this link, meaning that the content partner can be paid royalties. Please note that the platform uses cookies to manage the validity period of referral links, and keeps them valid for 30 days by default. During this period, all of the user's access to the platform, as well as all of his/her purchases, will be associated with the referral link. You can manage the cookie validity period in the platform Advanced settings, Advanced options tab, Cookie referral expiration option.
Please note: In order for the platform to properly track this information, the user accessing the link must already exist in the platform, or must register into the platform upon using the link. For this purpose, it’s recommended to set up user self-registration or quick registration in case the content partner is sharing the link with an audience of users that may not be registered into the platform already.
Then, move to the Additional info table to add the content partner’s contact info and any additional fields that you want to associate with it. To learn more about additional field associations for content partners, refer to the corresponding section of this article.
Finally, move to the Discount and affiliate code section. Here, set the default discount amount for affiliates of this content partner. For example, by writing 20 in the field, affiliates will automatically receive a 20% discount when purchasing this course from a catalog. If you don’t want to set a discount for affiliates, simply type “0” into the field.
Please note: When you change the discount percentage rate associated to the content partner, the discount will not be automatically updated for the courses linked to the content partner. In order to activate the new discount, you have to unassign the courses from the content partner, and assign them back again.
Then, you can enable affiliate codes by switching the toggle from grey to green. Once enabled, you can manually create the code directly in the field, or you can press the Autogenerate button to let the platform automatically create the code for you. Press the Copy code button to copy the code, so you can send it directly to affiliates. Learn more about affiliates in the next section.
Once you’ve configured all of the details and settings for the new content partner, press Save changes. The new partner will now appear in the list on the main page of content partners.
By default, the new content partner will be published, meaning even if you have associated users and courses to it, the associated users will be able to see it. To publish an unpublished content partner, press the checkmark icon in the partner’s Status column, switching it from grey to green. To unpublish a published content partner, simply press that same checkmark, switching it from green to grey. If you unpublish a content partner, the discounts will not be valid anymore, but all previous transactions will still be recorded in the platform.
Adding affiliates to content partners
Once you’ve created a new content partner in your platform, the next step is to associate users with the content partner. These associated users are called affiliates. By affiliating a user with this content partner, the user will be able to see the content partner’s banner on a course’s player page or in the course’s details page within a catalog.
They can also use the affiliate discount when purchasing a course assigned to a content partner if you’ve set up a price that differentiates for affiliates and non-affiliates when creating or editing the content partner. Users who are not affiliated with a content partner can still see courses that are assigned to a content partner and the content partner banner (if visible), but they will not be able to use the default discount for affiliates.
There are two ways to add affiliates to a content partner: assigning them manually or distributing the affiliate code to users. To affiliate users manually to the content partner, access the main content partners page, then find the partner in the list on this page.
Press the item in the partner’s Affiliates row to redirect to the content partner’s Affiliates page. On this page, you can add, monitor or delete affiliated users. To add new affiliates, press the plus button in the top right corner of the page.
In the slideout panel, select which users you want to affiliate to the content partner. Switch between the Users, Groups, and Branches tabs at the top of the panel to select between individual users, user groups, or branches from the organizational chart. Once finished, press Confirm.
All affiliates will appear on the content partner’s Affiliates page. To unaffiliate a user from the partner, simply press the X icon in the user’s item on this page.
To allow users to manually add themselves as an affiliate, create an affiliate code using the steps outlined in the previous section. Once you’ve created the code, distribute it to the users that you want to affiliate with the content partner. When users have received the code, they can manually add the code to their user profiles.
To edit profile information, users should press the pen icon at the top of their main menus. On the next page, in the Content partners affiliation section, users can add affiliate codes into the corresponding section to affiliate themselves with a content partner, then press the Add code button. Once users affiliate themselves, you will see them appear on a content partner’s affiliates page.
Users can be affiliated with multiple content partners. If you as the Superadmin have already added a user as an affiliate for a content partner, the user will also find those associated in the list in the Content partners affiliation section.
To unaffiliate themselves from a content partner, thus losing the possibility of using the affiliate discount, users should press the trash can icon. Please note that users cannot unaffiliate themselves from a content partner if they belong to a group or branch that has been affiliated to the partner by the Superadmin.
Assigning courses to content partners
Once you have created a new content partner in your platform and affiliated users with it, you can associate courses to the content partner. Generally speaking, these courses may have learning material related to or sponsored by the content partner, but not always.
To associate courses to a content partner, access the main Content partners page, then find the partner in the list. Press the item in the partner’s Partner courses row to redirect to the content partner’s Partner courses page. On this page, you can add, check or delete associated courses. To associate a course, press the plus button in the top right corner of the page.
In the slideout panel, select the courses you want to associate to the partner, then press Confirm. The course will then appear on the content partner’s Associated courses page.
You can check the content partner associated to courses at course level, from the course Properties area, Content partners tab.
Once you match a course with a content partner, the course will inherently receive the same additional fields as the content partner. However, you can select the option to enable custom additional field settings. Once selected, use the corresponding fields to customize the content partner additional fields for the course. Learn more about content partner additional fields in the next chapter of this article.
When finished, press Save changes.
To unassign a course from a content partner, hover your mouse over the course in the list on the partner’s Associated courses page, then press the ellipsis menu, and select Delete from the dropdown menu.
Managing additional fields for content partners
Additional fields for content partners can be used to display additional information to users about the content partner or can be used for platform management purposes. When you create an additional field and assign it to a content partner, any course that is also assigned to that content partner will inherit the additional field.
To add an additional field, access the main Content partners page from the main menu. Press the Additional fields button in the top right corner to access the main Additional fields page for the content partner. At the top of this page, press the Add button. In the slideout panel, use the Field type dropdown menu to determine which kind of additional field you are creating.
Then, add a name and create the field. This will vary depending on the type of field you are creating. Next, determine the field settings. Select whether this field is mandatory for Superadmins to complete. Additionally, select whether the additional field is invisible to users.
Finally, select whether this additional field can be changed using course custom settings. If you select this option, Superadmins can access the course Properties area, move to the Content partner tab, and select the option to enable custom additional field settings to change this additional field for a specific course.
Once you’ve added all of the details and configured the settings for the new field, press Confirm. The new field will appear in the list on the Additional fields page for content partners. For each additional field, the row will display the field name and category, and whether the field is mandatory, invisible, or customizable.
When you hover your mouse over the field’s row in the list, use the ellipsis icon on the right in order to edit or delete the field.
Managing content partners
Once you have created a content partner, you can edit or delete it at any time by accessing the main Content partners page from the Configuration (spanner icon)> E-commerce. On this page, every content partner is listed along with all the details and settings you configured when creating each partner.
By hovering your mouse over the partner’s row, you can press the ellipsis menu. From the dropdown menu, press the Edit item to edit any details or settings that you configured when you created the content partner, or press the Delete item to delete the content partner from your platform.
Managing content partners for e-commerce
If a course associated with a content partner is available for sale through e-commerce, an affiliate price for the course is automatically calculated by applying a percentage discount to the full price of the course.
- The percentage discount applied is the value that you set in the Default discount field when configuring the content partner.
If required, you can override the default discount and set a custom affiliate price, at the level of the individual course.
To check or configure the affiliate price of a course:
- Select Navigation menu > Content and delivery (folder icon) > Courses and click the name of the course to open its configuration page.
- Now select the Properties tab and, in the vertical navigation, select Advanced settings > E-commerce.
- In the Course price area, you will see the standard Price of the course. This is what non-affiliated users will pay.
- In the Affiliate price section, the check box Set a custom affiliate price for this course is deselected by default. This means that affiliates will pay a price computed by applying the Default discount configured for this content partner.
- If you instead want to apply a different affiliate price:
- Select the check box Set a custom affiliate price for this course.
- The Custom affiliate price field will be initially populated with the affiliate price computed based on the default discount.
- You can now edit this value to customize the affiliate price.
- When you are finished click Save changes.
Please note that the custom affiliate price you enter must be greater than zero and less than or equal to the full price of the course.
Please note: If a user wants to use the affiliate discount when purchasing a course that is assigned to a content partner of which he or she is an affiliate, a coupon from the platform cannot be used in conjunction with the affiliate discount. When purchasing courses, users can only use one or the other.
Once an affiliated user has purchased a course that is assigned to a content partner, you can view the transaction history by accessing the content partner’s Affiliates page. Find the affiliate in the list, hover your mouse over the affiliate’s row, press the ellipsis menu, and then press the View transactions item.
When viewing a transaction of a user, the Content partner column will appear if the course is assigned to a content partner for which the user is an affiliate.
Automation rules to show or hide content partners courses
Two automation rules are available to automatically manage the visibility of content partner courses in catalogs upon the activation and deactivation of the content partner. Further information on how to set up automated rules.