Affiliate Marketing: Setting Up Affiliate Discounts

The Affiliate Marketing app lets you offer exclusive discounts to customers who enter your store through an affiliate link. Customers will see the discount code in a pop-up, copy it, and apply it at checkout to receive their discount. 

This guide explains how to set up a base discount for all affiliates, create exclusive discounts for specific commission groups or individual affiliates, and troubleshoot cases where a discount code does not apply as expected.

Setting Up a Base Discount

The base discount is shown to all customers who visit your store through any affiliate link. To set it up:

• In the Affiliate Marketing app, go to Coupons & Rewards > Customer Discounts.

• Click Modify Rules in the Discount module.

  

• Select a discount type:

  

• Configure the settings for the discount type you selected:

Percentage or Fixed Amount: Set the discount value and the minimum purchase requirements (no minimum, minimum item quantity, or minimum purchase amount).

Buy X Get Y: Define the items the customer must purchase (product, category, or minimum order value or quantity), the reward they receive, the discount type (percentage, fixed amount, or free), and the maximum number of times this discount can apply to a single order.

Free Shipping: Set the minimum purchase requirements, the countries or regions this applies to, and an optional cap on the maximum shipping cost this discount will cover.

• Choose whether this discount can be stacked with other automatic discounts in your store.

  

• Click Update to save.

Setting Up Specific Group Discounts

group, replacing the base discount for customers they bring in. If an affiliate in the group has their own specific affiliate discount set, their customers will see that instead.

Adding a Group Discount

To create a discount for a specific commission group:

1. In the Affiliate Marketing app, go to Coupons & Rewards > Customer Discounts.

2. Click Add Discount in the Specify Group Discount module.

   

3. Search for and select the commission group(s) you want to configure. You can select up to 10 groups at once. Groups that already have a discount assigned will appear grayed out.

   

4. Select a discount type and configure its settings. The discount types and settings are the same as those described in the Setting Up a Base Discount section above.

   

5. Choose whether this discount can be stacked with other automatic discounts.

   

6. Click Create to save.

Editing a Group Discount

To update an existing group discount:

1. In the Affiliate Marketing app, go to Coupons & Rewards > Customer Discounts.

2. Find the group you want to update and click the pencil icon in the Action column.

   

3. Adjust the discount settings. You can modify the discount value and conditions, but the discount type cannot be changed. To change the discount type, delete the group discount and create a new one.
4. Click Update to save.

Deleting a Group Discount

To remove a group discount:

1. In the Affiliate Marketing app, go to Coupons & Rewards > Customer Discounts.

2. Find the group and click the trash bin icon in the Action column.

   

3. Click Delete in the confirmation pop-up.

How Affiliate Discount Priority Works

When a customer enters your store through an affiliate link, the system applies discounts in the following order of priority:

1. Specific Affiliate Discount (highest priority): if the affiliate has their own discount, customers see that.
2. Specific Group Discount (second priority): if the affiliate belongs to a group with a group discount and has no individual discount, customers see the group discount.
3. Base Discount (default): customers see the base discount if neither of the above applies.

How Affiliate Discount Priority Works

When a customer enters your store through an affiliate link, the system applies discounts in the following order of priority:

1. Specific Affiliate Discount (highest priority): if the affiliate has their own discount, customers see that.
2. Specific Group Discount (second priority): if the affiliate belongs to a group with a group discount and has no individual discount, customers see the group discount.
3. Base Discount (default): customers see the base discount if neither of the above applies.

Enabling Automatic Discount Code Application

By default, customers must manually copy the discount code from the pop-up and apply it at checkout. To have the discount applied automatically when a customer arrives through an affiliate link:

1. In the Affiliate Marketing app, go to Settings > Transaction Fee Calculation.
2. Under Discount Code Tracking, enable Automatically Apply Affiliate Discount Code in Checkout When Users Visit Your Store Through Referral Links.

Troubleshooting: Discount Code Issues

If a customer reports that their affiliate discount code did not apply, or if the discount amount is different from what you expected, use the checks below to identify the cause.

The Discount Code Did Not Apply at All

Work through the following checks in order:

Check that the discount code has not been modified or deleted. Go to the Discount Codes page in your store admin and confirm the affiliate discount code is still active and unchanged. The affiliate system generates these codes automatically; editing or deleting them will break the discount.

Check the discount type is not set to None. If the discount type for the affiliate, their group, or the base discount is set to None, no discount code will be shown to the customer.

Confirm the customer entered through an affiliate link. The discount pop-up only appears when a customer arrives via a valid affiliate referral link. Direct visits to your store will not trigger the discount.

Check the minimum purchase requirements. If the discount has a minimum item quantity or minimum purchase amount requirement, the customer's order must meet those conditions before the code can be applied.

Check the applicable product or region scope. Some discount types are limited to specific products, product categories, or shipping regions. If the customer's cart or shipping address falls outside the configured scope, the code will not apply.

The Discount Amount Is Different From What Was Expected

If the discount code was applied but the amount does not match:

Free Shipping discounts: the amount saved depends on the shipping method selected. A Free Shipping discount waives the actual shipping cost for the order. If a customer viewed an abandoned cart with one shipping method and then completed the order with a different shipping method, the shipping cost; and therefore the discount amount; will differ between the two. This is expected behavior and is not an error.

The wrong discount level is being applied. Confirm which discount is active for this affiliate: individual, group, or base. The system applies them in priority order (individual > group > base). If the affiliate belongs to a group with a group discount, their customers will see that group discount rather than the base discount.

Stacking with other automatic discounts. If the discount is configured to stack with other automatic discounts in your store, the combined result may differ from the affiliate discount alone. Check the stacking settings for the relevant discount.

The Discount Code Was Not Applied Automatically

If the discount code is showing in the pop-up but is not being applied automatically at checkout, confirm that the Automatically Apply Affiliate Discount Code in Checkout setting is enabled. Go to Settings > Transaction Fee Calculation > Discount Code Tracking and verify the toggle is on.