How to Send and Manage Messages for Affiliate Store Owners

The Messages feature lets you view notices sent to you by DecoNetwork and create messages for your affiliate store owners. Messages are shown to affiliate store owners when they log in to their stores, and you can optionally send the same message to the store owner’s email address. DecoNetwork also keeps a history of received and sent messages so you can review previous communications when needed.

Messages help you keep affiliate store owners informed about important updates, actions, or announcements. Message settings also let you control whether DecoNetwork messages are passed on to affiliate stores automatically or require approval first.

In This Article

• Prerequisites
• Why Use Messages
• Create a Message to All Affiliates
• Create a Message to a Single Affiliate
• View Your Messages
• Best-Practice Tips
• Troubleshooting
• FAQs
• Additional Resources

Prerequisites

Why Use Messages

Messages provide a central communication workflow between DecoNetwork, your business, and your affiliate store owners. They help ensure important information is visible inside the system, rather than relying only on external email communication.

• Communicate with all affiliates: Send one message to a selected store group so multiple store owners receive the same information.
• Communicate with one affiliate: Send a targeted message to a single store owner from the Websites page.
• Control downstream visibility: Message settings act as business instructions that determine whether DecoNetwork messages can be sent to stores automatically or must be approved first.
• Keep a communication history: Review messages you have received, sent, or need to approve from the View Notices page.

Create a Message to All Affiliates

1. Browse to Admin.

2. Click on the Messages icon in the blue bar at the top of the page.

   

   Messages icon

   The messages drop-down is displayed, showing unread messages sent from DecoNetwork that are one year old or newer.

   

   Messages drop-down

3. Click Create new message.

   The New Message popup is displayed.

   

   New Message popup

4. Enter a Title for the message.
5. Enter your message in the Body field.
6. Select the store group that you want the message to be visible to.
7. Tick the Send message to store owner's email checkbox if you also want the message to be sent by email.
8. Click Create.

Create a Message to a Single Affiliate

1. Browse to Admin → Websites.

   

   Websites menu item

   The main work area shows a list of affiliate store attached to your account.

   

   Websites List Page

   Click the image to enlarge.

2. Click the Send button beside the store you want to send a message to.

   The New Message popup is displayed.

   

   New Message Popup

3. Enter a Title for the message.
4. Enter your message in the Body field.
5. Tick the Send message to store owner's email checkbox if you also want the message to be sent by email.
6. Click Create.

View Your Messages

When a notice from DecoNetwork is flagged as Needs Acknowledgement, it appears in a popup. Clicking OK acknowledges the notice.

Notices requiring acknowledgement appear separately for each staff member. Each staff member must acknowledge the notice individually so important communications are not missed because another team member dismissed the popup.

Once acknowledged, older messages can be viewed on the View Notices page.

1. Browse to Admin

2. Click the Messages icon located in the blue bar at the top of the page.

   

   Messages icon

   The messages drop-down is displayed, showing unread messages sent from DecoNetwork.

   

   Messages drop-down

3. Click View All Messages.

   The View Notices page is displayed with the Received Messages tab selected. The number in brackets in the tab header indicates the total number of messages in that tab. You can also create a message from this page by clicking New Message to Stores.

   

   View Notices page

   Click the image to enlarge.

   • Received Messages: Displays messages sent from DecoNetwork.
   • Sent Messages: Displays messages you have created.

   • Messages to Approve: Displays messages that need approval before they are sent to your affiliate stores.

     Messages require approval if you select "No" from the Send DecoNetwork messages to stores without my approval dropdown in the Message Settings tab.

   • Message Settings: Lets you choose whether messages from DecoNetwork require your approval before being sent to affiliate stores.

4. Open the Message Settings tab if you need to control whether DecoNetwork messages are sent to stores automatically or require approval.

   Select the required option from the Send DecoNetwork messages to stores without my approval dropdown, then click Save.

   

   Message Settings tab

   Click the image to enlarge.

Best-Practice Tips

• Use clear message titles so store owners can quickly understand the purpose of the message.
• Use store groups when a message applies to multiple affiliates, rather than sending the same message one store at a time.
• Tick Send message to store owner's email for urgent or time-sensitive communications.
• Review Messages to Approve regularly if DecoNetwork messages require approval before being sent to stores.
• Keep message bodies concise and action-focused so affiliates understand what they need to do next.

Troubleshooting

• I cannot see the Messages icon: Confirm that you are logged in with administrator access.
• A store owner did not receive an email: Confirm that the Send message to store owner's email checkbox was selected and that the store owner’s email address is correct.
• A DecoNetwork message has not been sent to affiliates: Check the Messages to Approve tab. The message may be waiting for approval based on your Message Settings.
• A notice keeps appearing for another staff member: Notices that require acknowledgement must be acknowledged by each staff member individually.

FAQs

• Can I send a message to all affiliate stores at once?
  Yes. Create a new message from the Messages menu and select the store group that should receive it.
• Can I send a message to only one affiliate store?
  Yes. Go to Admin → Websites and click Send beside the required store.
• Can messages also be sent by email?
  Yes. Tick Send message to store owner's email when creating the message.
• Why do some messages require approval?
  Messages require approval when your Message Settings are configured so DecoNetwork messages are not sent to stores without your approval.
• Are acknowledged notices still available later?
  Yes. Acknowledged and older messages can be reviewed from the View Notices page.

Additional Resources

• Create an affiliate store