A discount code for each influencer: how to track which creator sold
Why Saudi brands give every creator their own code, how to set the discount and the commission, and the mistakes that make code tracking lie to you.
If five creators post about your store and sales go up, which one should you hire again? Views won’t tell you. A discount code for each creator will, at least for the sales that use it.
This guide covers how to set codes up, what to pay on them and where code tracking misleads you. It draws on what we see in Saudi brand videos in Trendly Studio and in campaigns posted on Trendly.
How common codes are in Saudi brand videos
Codes are less common than you might think. In the brand videos Trendly Studio had recorded by 2 November 2026, about 3% showed a discount code in the caption or on screen. Shares were higher where people buy online on impulse, and lowest for restaurants:
| Category | Brand videos | With a code shown |
|---|---|---|
| Home | 287 | 21 (7%) |
| Fashion | 606 | 39 (6%) |
| Beauty | 1,953 | 101 (5%) |
| Food and restaurants | 2,541 | 18 (under 1%) |
That makes sense. A restaurant visit sells a trip to the branch, not an order online. For home goods, perfume and fashion sold on a website, a code is often the only way to know which video sold.
Why one shared code doesn’t work
Many brands start with one code, say SUMMER15, for every creator. It tells you that creators sold something. It can’t tell you which creator, so you can’t pay commission fairly or know who to hire again. Once one code is shared on a coupon site, it is everyone’s code.
A separate code for each creator fixes both problems. Make it easy to say out loud and type on a phone: the creator’s name plus a short number works well, such as NOURA10.
Setting the discount
- Same discount for everyone in the campaign. If one creator’s code gives 20% and another’s 10%, you are measuring the discount, not the creator.
- Big enough to type. Under about 10%, many viewers won’t bother.
- An end date. Codes with no end date leak to coupon sites and keep costing you margin long after the campaign.
- One use per customer if your store supports it.
Paying on the code
There are three common ways to pay creators who share a code:
- A fixed fee for the video. The code tells you who sold but doesn’t change what you pay.
- A fee plus commission on each order. The most common mix: the creator is paid for their work and shares in the results.
- Commission only. Cheapest on paper, but hard to recruit for. Our guide to commission campaigns explains why most creators turn it down.
Commission is usually a percentage of the order value after the discount, before VAT, and only on orders that were not returned. Write all of that down before the campaign starts.
Where code tracking misleads you
- Codes undercount. Some buyers watch the video and buy later without the code, or in a shop. Treat code sales as the minimum each creator brought.
- Leaks overcount. Once a code reaches a coupon site, its orders have nothing to do with the creator. Watch for codes that suddenly sell far more than the creator’s views would explain.
- Returns. If an order is returned after you have paid the commission, recovering it is awkward. Pay commission after your return window closes, or reverse it automatically.
- Codes nobody owns. Sales sometimes arrive on codes that aren’t in your spreadsheet, such as an old code or a typo. Someone has to decide who gets the credit.
What it takes to run by hand
With five creators, a spreadsheet works: create the codes in your store, export orders monthly, filter by code, subtract returns, work out commission and send five transfers.
At thirty creators it becomes a job. Codes leak and need replacing, creators ask what they’re owed, transfers need IBANs checked, and a late payment costs you the creator’s trust. Late payments are one of the main complaints creators in Saudi Arabia have about working with agencies.
How Trendly Affiliate handles it
Trendly Affiliate is built for this:
- A code is issued for each creator when you approve them, and reissued if it leaks. If your store can’t create codes, you register them by hand.
- Orders reach Trendly through your store’s commerce API or are entered manually. Each order is credited to the code that brought it, at the rate that applied when the sale happened.
- Commission tiers let you pay more to the creators who sell more.
- Orders on codes nobody owns wait in a queue, with the revenue at stake shown.
- Returns reverse the commission before it is paid. Each period ends in one payout run you approve, and one transfer file for your bank. Creators see the orders behind their statement.
Prices for Saudi stores are on the affiliate pricing page.
Before you start
- Decide what you will pay: a fee, commission or both.
- Set one discount and an end date for the campaign.
- Create a code for each creator and send it with the brief.
- Agree when commission is paid and what happens on returns.
- After a month, compare creators by orders and by orders per thousand views. Hire again whoever sold.
To find creators who already share codes for brands like yours, browse Trendly Studio.
About the data
Studio counts come from the top videos recorded for each brand in the snapshot of 2 November 2026: 6,023 brand videos, of which 194 showed a discount code. Studio only sees what is visible in a public post, so codes shared in stories or bios are not counted. A video appearing in Studio does not prove that it was paid.
Questions you might have
Why give each influencer a separate discount code?
So every order that uses the code can be credited to the creator who shared it. One shared code tells you that influencer marketing sold something, but not who sold it.
How big should the discount be?
Big enough for viewers to bother typing it and small enough to keep your margin. Many Saudi brands use 10% to 15%. Keep it the same for every creator in a campaign so you are comparing creators, not discounts.
Do discount codes capture every sale an influencer brings?
No. Some buyers forget the code, find a better one or buy in a shop. Treat code sales as the minimum a creator brought you, and compare creators against each other rather than against your total sales.