To set up a refer a friend program in WooCommerce, Affiliate and Referral Program for WooCommerce includes a complete customer referral module: ordinary customers share a personal link, the friend gets a discount at checkout, and the referrer earns store credit they can turn into coupons. It runs alongside your affiliate program but is a separate system with its own settings, rewards and dashboard — affiliates use the affiliate program; everyone else can refer friends. Part of the Affiliate and Referral for WooCommerce documentation.
Turn the program on
↑ Back to top- Go to: WooCommerce > Affiliate & Referral > Customer Referral > Settings.
- Turn on Enable Customer Referral System.
- Set the two rewards (next section) and Save Changes.
A floating Refer & Earn button now appears on your storefront for every visitor who is not an affiliate — logged in or not. Prefer to place the button yourself? Turn on Enable Referral button shortcode — the floating button is replaced by the [rtwapwcm_cust_ref_button] shortcode, which you can put on any page. The button’s colors are set on the same screen with Refer Button Backround Color (the plugin’s own spelling) and Refer Button Text Color; Use default color puts them back.
Set the two-sided rewards
↑ Back to top- Customer Commission Type and Customer Commission Amount – what the referrer earns as store credit when a referred friend’s order completes. Percentage or Fixed, calculated on the friend’s order total.
- Friends Discount Type and Friends Discount Amount – the discount the friend gets at checkout for arriving through a referral link. Percentage or Fixed, applied to the cart’s product subtotal.
The two rewards use different bases: the referrer’s credit is calculated on the friend’s order total, while the friend’s discount applies to the cart subtotal — keep that in mind when you balance the two amounts.
What your customers see
↑ Back to topClicking Refer & Earn opens a small panel that asks for an email address; Get Referral Link then displays the customer’s personal referral link with a Copy Link button. The friend opens the link, shops, and sees the discount in their cart. After the order, the referrer’s credit appears in their referral dashboard — a tab in My Account showing their credit balance, referral link, referral history, and a coupon generator that converts credit into a store coupon.
Approve referral rewards
↑ Back to topReferred orders appear under WooCommerce > Affiliate & Referral > Customer Referral > Customer Referrals, where you approve or decline each reward, or mark several and use Confirm Marked Customer Referrals or Decline Marked Customer Referrals. To skip the manual step, set Customer Referral Automation to Completed or Processing — rewards then approve themselves when the friend’s order reaches that status, and the referrer’s credit is available immediately.
From store credit to a coupon
↑ Back to topReferrers spend their balance by generating a coupon from the referral dashboard. The coupon’s value is deducted from their balance when it is created. It is locked to the customer’s own email address, has no expiry date and can be used once, so it is best spent on an order worth at least its value.
Keep it separate from your affiliate program
↑ Back to topThe separation is enforced by the plugin: affiliates do not see the Refer & Earn button, customer store credit is a separate balance from the affiliate wallet (see Pay Affiliates with Store Credit and Wallets), and the customer program’s referral link uses its own slug (Slug in Customer Referral Link, default rtwapwcm_cust). If you are looking for the feature where the affiliate’s referred customer gets a checkout discount, that is the Affiliate Referral Discount for Referred Customers — part of the affiliate program, not this module.
The customer program has no minimum-order requirement, no reward cap, and no self-referral prevention — a customer using their own link is rewarded. If your margins are tight, factor that into the reward amounts you choose.
FAQ
↑ Back to topCan a customer be in both programs?
↑ Back to topNo. A customer who becomes an affiliate switches tracks: they use the affiliate dashboard and earn commissions, and the Refer & Earn button no longer shows for them. Their referral rewards do not merge with affiliate earnings.
When does the referrer receive their credit?
↑ Back to topWhen you approve the referral — or, with Customer Referral Automation on, as soon as the friend’s order reaches the chosen status.
Can customers spend credit directly at checkout?
↑ Back to topNo — credit is spent by generating a coupon from the referral dashboard and applying that coupon to an order. More questions are answered in the Affiliate and Referral Program: FAQ.
