Use PartnerStacks application forms to have full control over who can join your program
Quick links:
Enabling Application Forms
Customizing Your Application Form
The Partner Experience with Application Forms
Enabling Application Forms
Once application forms have enabled for your plan, you can access them by logging in to your account and selecting "Groups" in the menu on the left-hand side of the page.
Click into the group you wish to enable application forms to open it up. Select the Applications tab in the top menu, and then select "Enable Applications":
Note: Application forms are group-specific. If you'd like to have application forms for multiple groups in your program, you'll need to enable it for each group.
Customizing Your Application Form
You can add a custom title for the application or a short description to help your partners understand what they are applying to.
Example
Title: Become a {company_name} partner today!
Description: As a {company_name} partner, you'll gain access to exclusive resources, have the opportunity to connect with the {company_name} team, and earn rewards for successful referrals, Apply today to become a {company_name} partner!
You can then customize the application fields and add your own. When adding a field, it can be an input field, text area, dropdown, checkbox, country, or region. It can also be required or hidden.
- Required: The application form cannot be submitted without being filled out.
- Hidden: The field is not visible on the partner side of the application form, but it is visible when reviewing applications and can be filled out then. Hidden fields can be used to pass information into your CRM if you are integrated with one.
If you wish to create and customize your own application forms, this would require hosting your own form outside of PartnerStack.
Hosting Your Application Form Outside of PartnerStack
You can consider hosting your application form externally using a form builder such as Typeform or Formstack or your own custom made form.
The Create Partnerships API can be used to create partnerships from the information provided in the externally-hosted application form.
This would require some developer lift from your team.
Sharing Your Application Form
To share your application form with partners, you have two options:
- Share a group join link
- Share the application form URL
1. Group Join Link
To access a group join link, open the Group you are wanting to share the URL for. Next go to the Group settings tab and click on the copy button next to the URL.
This link will land your partners on your company page:
If you have an application form enabled on your Default group and you are listed in the Marketplace, any partners joining from the Marketplace will be prompted to fill out your application form first.
Important note: This link will change if you change the group name at any time. Be sure to check you are sharing an updated link.
2. Application form URL
If you want your partners to land straight on the application form, you can get the URL for the application form easily by clicking View Live Application form here:
Then you can copy the URL of the form:
You can email or share either of the options above with potential partners directly, or you can add it as a Call to Action button on a landing page.
Reviewing Applications
When an application has been submitted, you will be able to easily view any pending applications from your home page :
At this time, PartnerStack does not send emails to you when applications are submitted. You'll need to log in to your account to view new applications regularly, or integrate with Zapier to receive emails or Slack notifications. If you wish to discuss this, email Support@PartnerStack.com or your Customer Success Manager.
Note: Regardless of which group the partner applied to, partners with pending applications are temporarily held within your default group.
Partners with pending applications do not receive any email campaigns from your program until after approved, but they do receive emails about their application status.
Approving and declining applications
To approve or decline an application, click on the pending application to open it up.
These can be accessed either on the home page as pictured above, or by locating the partner within the Partners page and clicking on "Applications" in the menu along the top:
Then, you can choose to "Approve" or "Decline". If you choose "Decline", you may provide a reason that is sent to the partner.
Currently, you cannot bulk-approve or decline applications, they must be approved one at a time.
If the partner applied to a non-default group, after they are approved they will be automatically moved to the group they applied to.
If the partner is declined, they will remain "held" in the default group, and are not automatically removed from your program. Partners with declined applications do not have access to any program details such as a referral link, offer details, etc.
Once you have approved or declined the application, the partner will receive an automated email from PartnerStack. If the application was declined, we will provide the decline reason in the email along with within the partner's dashboard.
The Partner Experience with Application Forms
Once a partner has submitted their application form, they are prompted to create a PartnerStack account or sign in to their existing account.
Partners will also receive an email from PartnerStack notifying them that their application has been received.
If they click away without signing in, that is fine. They can return and log in to their account at dash.partnerstack.com/handshake at any time.
When a partners application is pending, they can see within their partner dashboard that they have an application that is being reviewed:
Partners with pending applications do not have access to program details such as referral links, offers, etc.
Once they have been approved will they get full dashboard access.
If you decline the partners' application they will see a message that their application has been declined and any reason you provide. They also are able to re-apply from within their partner dashboard if they wish:
They will not have access to program details such as partner link, offer structure, etc.
We always recommend that you test the application flow yourself, so you can become familiar with how looks for your partners and how it looks within your program.
Questions or concerns? Reach out to Support@PartnerStack.com and we'll be happy to chat.