The affiliate program sends its own notifications — a welcome message when someone joins, a confirmation when they become an affiliate, and an alert to you when an affiliate asks to be paid. Affiliate and Referral Program for WooCommerce lets you rewrite the subject and the wording of each one, and switch any of them off. This guide covers the email screen, what each message is for, and who receives it. Part of the plugin documentation.
Where the emails are managed
↑ Back to topGo to: WooCommerce > Affiliate & Referral > Email Setting. Every message the program can send is listed with its Email type, its current Subject, an Activate/Deactivate switch and an Action column.
Edit a message
↑ Back to top- Press Edit email on the row you want to change.
- In Customize Your Required Email From Here, set the Subject.
- Write the message in Email Content — the familiar WordPress editor, so you can format text, add links and insert media.
- Save.
Write these messages so they read correctly for every recipient: there are no merge tags, so a name or an order number cannot be inserted into the text. Where an amount is relevant, the program adds it to the end of the message for you.
What each message is for
↑ Back to top- Signup Email – welcomes someone who has just registered through your affiliate signup form. Goes to the new member.
- Become an affiliate Email – confirms that an existing customer is now an affiliate. Goes to the affiliate; if you review applications with Affiliate Verification, it goes to you instead so you know an application is waiting.
- Email on Withdral Request – tells you that an affiliate has asked to be paid, with the amount. Goes to your store’s admin address. (The spelling of this label is the plugin’s own.)
- Email on Generating Commission – announces a new commission. See “Commission notifications” below.
- Email on Generating MLM Commission – the same for a commission earned from someone’s multi-tier network.
Use the Activate/Deactivate switch on any row to stop that message being sent. Switching a message off never affects the commission itself — earnings are recorded and approved exactly the same way.
Commission notifications
↑ Back to topTo be told whenever the program creates a commission, turn on Mail to Admin at WooCommerce > Affiliate & Referral > Advanced Features > General, and leave Email on Generating Commission (and, for network earnings, Email on Generating MLM Commission) active. You then receive a message with the subject you set here and the commission amount each time one is generated.
On a busy store this is one email per commission, sent as the order completes. If your affiliate program is active, leave Mail to Admin off and review earnings on the Manage Referrals screen instead.
Withdrawal requests
↑ Back to topWhen an affiliate submits a withdrawal request from their dashboard, they can tick Activate referral emails alongside it, which sends you the Email on Withdral Request message with the amount they asked for. It is the fastest way to know there is something waiting on your Payouts screen.
How these emails are delivered
↑ Back to topThey are sent by WordPress itself rather than through WooCommerce’s email system, which has two practical consequences: they do not carry your WooCommerce email header, footer or colours, and they are not listed under WooCommerce > Settings > Emails. Everything you want the reader to see needs to be in the message you write here.
Messages are sent immediately by your site. If your store has trouble with email delivery generally, an SMTP plugin fixes it for these messages just as it does for WooCommerce’s own.
FAQ
↑ Back to topCan I use the affiliate’s name in a message?
↑ Back to topNo — there are no merge tags, so write copy that works without personalization. Amounts are appended automatically where they apply.
Do these emails look like my other WooCommerce emails?
↑ Back to topNo. They are sent outside WooCommerce’s templating, so they arrive as plain messages without your store header and footer.
Does switching an email off stop the commission?
↑ Back to topNo. The switches control notifications only. Commissions are still calculated, recorded and approved as usual.
Can I restore the original wording?
↑ Back to topThere is no reset button, so copy the original text somewhere safe before you rewrite a message you may want back.
