Affiliate Program

The Affiliate Program template helps you set up a campaign where affiliates (partners, influencers, or content creators) promote your business and earn rewards for driving conversions. It’s designed for structured partnerships with a performance-driven focus.

Campaign Goals

Affiliate Programs support one goal type:

• Conversion events – Reward affiliates when their referrals complete your defined conversion goal(s). Example: affiliates earn commission when referred customers make a purchase

Participation Rules

In an Affiliate Program, the admin controls whether referrals receive affiliate privileges.

Admin can choose to:

• Convert referrals to affiliates (manually or automatically) so they can generate their own referral link

• Keep referrals as customers only, without affiliate privileges

For referrals without affiliate privileges:

• Their profile shows no referral code and no referral link

• Admin sees a Convert to Affiliate button to upgrade them at any time

Referrals can become affiliates in two ways:

1. Manual conversion by the admin using the Convert to Affiliate button

2. Self-activation by completing the Advocate Dashboard widget (if already in the campaign or cookied)

👉 If a referral without affiliate privileges tries to log in to the Advocate Dashboard widget, they will see this error: "You are currently not an advocate for this campaign. Please sign up or contact the campaign manager for access."

Widgets & Activation

ReferralHero provides three widgets for Affiliate Program campaigns:

• Advocate Dashboard widget – For affiliate signup, login, and management

• Signup widget – A customizable signup form to capture referrals

• Referral Welcome Banner – A banner-style signup option to engage referrals

In Affiliate Programs:

• If a referral fills in the Advocate Dashboard widget, they are automatically converted into an affiliate (referral link created, affiliate automations triggered)

• Automatic conversion does not occur through the Signup widget or Referral Welcome Banner

Rewards

• Supports the following reward types: Conversion Bonuses, Rewards for Advocates, and Manual Rewards

• Does not support the Organic Signup Bonus

• Conversion Bonuses can only be configured for referrals

Automations

Affiliate Programs support most automation flows, except:

• Welcome Flow → Activation email/SMS is not available

When to Use

Use the Affiliate Program template if you want to:

• Build a structured network of affiliates, partners, or influencers

• Reward affiliates strictly based on conversions

• Control whether referrals themselves can become affiliates

• Manage affiliate activation more carefully compared to open referral programs

Key Features

Alongside features available in all templates (e.g., customizable rewards, automated tracking, double-sided rewards), Affiliate Programs offer:

• Performance-driven structure – Rewards are tied only to conversions

• Admin-controlled referral rights – Decide if referrals can be converted into affiliates

• Controlled activation – Only the Advocate Dashboard widget triggers automatic affiliate activation

• Manual conversion option – Admin can upgrade referrals to affiliates at any time with the Convert to Affiliate button

• Cross-campaign flexibility – When the “Add referred subscribers to a second campaign” option is enabled, referred subscribers are automatically added as organic subscribers to the selected secondary campaign