Automation
Set the program up once. Let Flows run the hand-offs.
Flows start from partner and lead events, wait, branch on live conditions, send your email templates and create tasks for your team. Auto-approval admits partners, leads, commissions and invoices that match rules you write with the same condition builder.
Partner admin is done on someone's Friday afternoon
Welcome emails, nudges to finish onboarding, kickoff calls, approvals, commission sign-off: none of it is hard, and all of it slips when the person who owns it is in a deal. Partners notice the silence.
Partner.io runs these hand-offs from the events that already happen in the program, records every run, and leaves anything that does not match your rules for a person to decide.
Flows. Trigger, emails, tasks, delays and yes/no conditions on a canvas. Drag steps around; select one to read what it does.
Flows
Partner onboarding
Flow Actions
Drag and drop an action into your workflow
Trigger Send Email Condition Task
Condition
Reads live data when the step is reached: course status and badges, lead value and stage, partner type, score and total leads.
Tip: drag any step to rearrange the canvas.
ActiveImport JSONSave
Workflow TriggerPartner ApprovedRuns when a partner application is approved.
Send Automated EmailSelected email:Welcome to the Acme partner program
ConditionCourse Status = CompletedCourse: Partner onboarding
Create TaskSchedule kickoff callAssignee: Jordan Blake · Due in 2 days
Send Automated EmailSelected email:Finish your onboarding course
Watch · 0:48
Stop chasing manual hand-offs. Flows sends the welcome email, waits, creates the onboarding task and follows up, with auto-approval rules for the rest.
Flow triggers
Start a Flow from what partners and leads do
- TriggerPartner accepted / rejected
- Fires whenYour team approves or rejects a partner application, or auto-approval admits one.
- TriggerPartner rep invited / joined
- Fires whenA rep is invited to the portal, or signs in for the first time.
- TriggerPartner rep earned a badge
- Fires whenA badge is awarded, by a course, a tier or your team.
- TriggerPartner rep enrolled in / completed a course
- Fires whenA rep starts or passes one of your courses.
- TriggerPartner rep completed a survey
- Fires whenA survey response is submitted from the portal.
- TriggerProspective partner added / enters stage
- Fires whenA prospect is added to your recruitment pipeline or moved to a stage.
- TriggerLead referred / accepted / rejected / updated
- Fires whenA referral arrives, is approved, is rejected, or changes.
- TriggerLead enters stage
- Fires whenA synced lead moves to a pipeline stage in your CRM.
- TriggerPayment rejected
- Fires whenA commission is rejected.
- TriggerPartner inactive
- Fires whenA partner has not been active for four weeks.
Building a Flow
Trigger, steps, branches, done. Flows are built on a canvas. Each partner who meets the trigger is enrolled and moves through the steps, with the scheduler checking every few seconds.
- [01]Choose a triggerPick one of the events above. Only partners who meet it are enrolled, and the same partner is not enrolled twice for the same lead event.
- [02]Add emails and tasksAn email step sends one of your templates. A task step creates a task for a team member with a due date, and the Flow waits until it is completed.
- [03]Add delaysWait seconds, minutes, hours or days between steps, so the nudge arrives three days after the welcome, not three seconds.
- [04]Branch on conditionsYes and no branches on course status, course badge, lead value, lead status or stage, partner type, partner score, total leads, whether the partner has signed in, or whether a task was completed.
- [05]Activate and watch the statisticsTurn the Flow on. Each partner's enrolment shows the path they took, which step they are waiting on, and when they completed.
Auto-approval
Four decisions you can write down as rules
- RulePartner auto approval
- What it doesApprove applications the moment they arrive when they match conditions on the partner type and your application form answers. The partner is emailed their sign-in link immediately.
- RuleLead auto approval
- What it doesApprove referrals matching conditions on your referral form answers, the referring partner and the rep. Leads you add yourself or sync from a CRM are never touched.
- RuleCommission auto approval
- What it doesApprove new commissions matching conditions on the payment, the partner and the rep. SPIFFs are excluded.
- RuleInvoice autopay
- What it doesPay generated invoices matching conditions on the invoice and the partner, using your default Stripe payment method. Invoices created with Invoice now are treated as manual.
Conditions everywhere
One condition builder across the whole program. The properties available to a rule come from the record itself: your custom fields, partner and lead attributes, revenue, commission, courses, badges and referral links.
Preview any rule against a real partner or lead before it goes live.
- Perks on program tiers
- Partner, lead and commission auto-approval
- Invoice autopay
- Newsletter and announcement audiences by partner type, tier and attributes
Lead auto approvalOn · 2 conditions
Matching referrals are approved the moment they arrive.
- Estimated deal value is greater than $5,000
- Partner type is any of Reseller, Agency
Recent activity
- Fjord AnalyticsApproved
- Lumen HealthLeft for review · deal value $2,400
- Atlas LogisticsApproved
Seventeen triggers.
From partner approved to lead enters stage to partner inactive, with conditions on course status, badges, lead value, partner type and score.
Partner approvedWelcome emailwait 3 daysKickoff task
Every run recorded.
See who went where and why. Auto-approval applies the same rules to applications, referrals, commissions and invoices.
Partner onboarding· 128 runs · last: Beacon Optics, 2h agoApproved
“After evaluating several solutions for our partnership programme, we chose Partner.io and have been delighted with the results. Since implementation, we've seen a 40% increase in sales attributable to the platform, making it a key driver of our commercial growth.”
FAQ
Questions about this capability
Can a Flow reject a partner or a lead?
No. Auto-approval rules can only approve; anything that does not match waits for a human. Flows branch on conditions and act with emails and tasks, and never change a status.
What happens if there are no conditions?
With auto-approval on and no conditions, everything gets in. Partner.io warns you before that can happen and keeps warning while it is the case.
Can I see what an automation did?
Yes. Every auto-approval run is recorded with the conditions it passed or failed, and each Flow shows how many partners are enrolled, in progress and completed, with the path each one took.
How do emails get their content?
From your email templates under Automations → Emails. Each template has a type, Partner, Prospective Partner, Training or Event, which decides the merge tags available. Send a test from the editor before using it in a Flow.
Can I send from my own domain?
Yes. Verify a custom from address with DKIM records and partner emails are sent from your domain.
Guides and templates
Running this part of your program? Free guides and templates on the same topic.
- GuidePartner onboarding: the process from approval to first referralA step-by-step partner onboarding process for B2B SaaS, from approved application to first referral, with a 90-day timeline, what to automate, where partners stall and a worked example.
- TemplatePartnership email templatesTen free partnership email templates for B2B SaaS: outreach to agencies, technology partners and customers, follow-ups, a call recap, a welcome email, a first-referral nudge and check-ins.
- GuidePartner program KPIs: 12 metrics, their formulas and what they tell youThe partner program KPIs worth tracking, grouped into program health, pipeline and revenue, and partner engagement, each with its formula and review cadence, plus a worked example and the five to show leadership.
Platform
Every part of the program, in one system. Pick up where this page leaves off.
- [01]Partner portalWhere partners find their next step, their leads and what they have earned.
- [02]Leads & deal registrationSee where every referred lead and registered deal stands, synced with your CRM.
- [03]Reseller managementResellers work deals through your pipeline in their portal. You see every open deal, its value and its stage.
- [04]Tiers, commissions & payoutsKnow what is owed, approve it, and pay it through Stripe.
- [05]Tax complianceCollect W-9s before payouts, track the 1099 threshold and generate 1099-NEC forms at year end.
- [06]Training & certificationAI-drafted courses with scored lessons, badges and verifiable certificates, inside the portal.
- [07]AutomationFollow-ups and approvals that run on rules you set once.
- [08]Partner.io MarketplaceFind, rank and recruit partners who already work with your ideal customers.
- [09]Deal Surround & account mappingFind the partner who can open a target account, and the accounts you share with each partner.
- [10]Partner engagementAnnouncements, newsletters, events, surveys and a Partner Room for agreements, material and assets.
- [11]User referralsLet your users refer other companies from inside your product, and pay them automatically.
- [12]MCP for AI toolsTwo MCPs: partners send deals from AI, and you run the program from AI.
- [13]IntegrationsHubSpot, Pipedrive, Salesforce, Slack, Shopify, Stripe, Claude, ChatGPT, API and MCP.