How to pay affiliate commission as a coupon

Affiliate for WooCommerce helps add and manage affiliates and track performance from a single place – commissions, sales, payout, leaderboard, etc. Earn money without hard work. Increase your brand outreach, and get potential customers.

You can test the plugin on our live demo.

The plugin offers multiple payout options, including:

• PayPal
• Stripe
• Coupons (Fixed cart discount)
• Store Credit Coupons
• Manual Payout

This doc explains, step by step, how to pay affiliate commissions as coupons, starting with fixed cart discount coupons.

Paying commissions with coupons not only rewards affiliates but also encourages them to shop at your store in the future.

This approach boosts their connection with your brand and helps build long-term loyalty and engagement.

Currently, it’s supported for fixed cart discount coupons.

We’ll keep updating this section as new coupon types are supported.

A fixed cart discount subtracts a fixed amount from the entire cart total.

For example, if the cart contains 5 t-shirts at $10 each ($50 total), a $10 fixed cart coupon reduces the total to $40.

This makes it a straightforward way to reward affiliates while bringing them back to your store.

1. Select the desired coupon type (Fixed cart discount for now) in the Payout via Coupons settings.
2. Click on Save changes.

This will activate the option to pay affiliate commissions via the selected coupon type for future payouts.

1. Go to WordPress admin > WooCommerce > Affiliates > Dashboard.
2. Select an affiliate to send a payout.
3. Click on the Referrals tab (default tab).
4. Select the commission records to process payouts, and the amount will accumulate only for orders with an Unpaid commission status.
5. Once done, click on Send Payout (the total amount of commission to be paid is displayed next to it), located above the Referrals list table header.
6. It opens up a popup, where you can choose Coupon: Fixed Cart as Payout Method from the dropdown.
7. Add Notes if you want, which can be used for your reference.
8. Click on Send.

This record of commission payout will be visible under the Payouts tab.

Also, selected commission records’ commission status will be marked as Paid.

Upon sending the payout, it will create a fixed cart discount coupon for the affiliate and the affiliate will receive their payout details along with the coupon code in the email.

Once the payout is processed, the affiliate will receive the coupon code via the Affiliate – Commission Paid email.

This email goes to affiliates when their commission is processed and it contains information about the commission amount, payout method, etc.

If you have the WooCommerce Smart Coupons plugin installed and activated, your affiliates can also check their coupon in their My Account > Coupons section.

Affiliates can find Payout records under their My Account > Affiliate > Reports > Recent Payouts section. It will show the payout method as Coupon: Fixed Cart.

It’s the Affiliate – Commission Paid email that goes to affiliates when their commission is processed. This email contains information about the commission amount, payout method, etc.

In the case of payout via coupon, email will also show the coupon code.

Setting a default payment method helps the store admin understand the preference of the affiliate for receiving a commission.

Also, it’s required for automated commission payouts – as it sends the payout automatically via the selected payout method.

Affiliates can set specific coupon type as their default payout method by following these steps:

1. Log into their My Account > Affiliate > Profile > Payout Setting.
2. Select the desired coupon type (e.g., Coupon: Fixed Cart) from the Select payout method dropdown.
3. Click on Save.

As a store admin, you can view affiliates’ payout preferences under the Payout Details section in the Profile tab of the affiliate on the WordPress Admin > WooCommerce > Affiliates > Dashboard.

Also, you can check it on the Pending Payouts dashboard for the selected payout method of each affiliate.

Automatic payouts ensure timely, accurate commission payments without manual effort.

To set up automatic payouts:

1. Enable payout via coupons.
2. Affiliates need to set the desired coupon type (e.g., Coupon: Fixed Cart) as their default payout method.
3. Enable the automatic payout for the affiliates.

Visit this doc to learn more.

Yes, the coupon will have usage restrictions by email of the affiliate. So, it can only be used by the affiliate to whom the payout was sent.

Also, the usage limit per coupon, and per user will be set to 1.

So, effectively, once a customer uses this coupon, it can no longer be used by anyone else, including the original user, because the coupon’s total usage limit is reached.

You can visit here to learn more about usage limits for any WooCommerce coupon.

It will not have any coupon expiry date set, so will be valid till it gets applied.

You can modify any coupon by following these steps:

1. Go to WooCommerce > Marketing > Coupons
2. Select the generated coupon.
3. Adjust the restrictions from Usage restrictions and the Usage limits tab.

The coupons that are generated for commission payouts will have a description stating that the coupon was created as an affiliate commission payout.

Have a feature request or enhancement suggestion for Affiliate For WooCommerce? Submit it from here: Submit a feature request.