With lifetime commission enabled, once someone uses the affiliate’s coupon code, that customer will be linked to the affiliate, and all future purchases from that customer will count as a referral, even if they do not re-use the coupon code.

Even if the coupon code is not used, the commission and sales will still be tracked on the coupon’s affiliate dashboard. All future orders by that customer, even with different coupon codes, will only apply to the original coupon affiliate. Editing or removing a lifetime link only affects future orders. Commission already granted on past orders is not changed.

You can set lifetime commission globally for all affiliate coupons, or individually on a per-coupon basis.

There is an option to set an expiry period (in days). If you set this, lifetime commission only applies for that many days after the initial order, after which the affiliate and customer are unlinked. If the customer re-uses the coupon code, the expiry date refreshes. Leave the expiry at 0 for no expiry.

You can also enable an option to track user registrations as a lifetime referral. With this enabled, if someone follows a referral link and registers (creates an account), they are linked to that affiliate even without placing an order. See User Registrations as Lifetime Referral.

Lifetime tab (View Affiliate)

When lifetime commission is enabled, each affiliate’s View Affiliate page includes a Lifetime tab (Lifetime Customers). This is the quickest way to see and manage who is linked to that affiliate.

The tab lists every linked customer, with columns for Customer, Linked Coupon, Expiry Date, and Status (Active, Expired, or Never Expires). You can edit the linked coupon and expiry date on an existing row.

To assign a lifetime referrer by hand, without waiting for an order:

1. Go to Coupon Affiliates → Affiliate Users and open the affiliate.
2. Open the Lifetime tab.
3. Click Link a Customer.
4. Search for the customer by name, username or email.
5. Choose which of the affiliate’s coupons to link.
6. Optionally set an expiry date. Leave blank for no expiry.
7. Click Link Customer.

If none of the affiliate’s coupons have lifetime commission enabled, you will see a notice that a link made here would never earn anything. Enable it on the coupon itself, or for all coupons under Settings → Commission.

For the full walkthrough, see How do I manually connect an affiliate to an existing customer as a lifetime affiliate?

From the customer’s WordPress user profile

You can also assign a lifetime affiliation by editing the customer in Users, then opening the Coupon Affiliates – Lifetime Affiliate Settings section. Set the lifetime affiliate referrer coupon and an optional expire date, then save.

Under what conditions is a user assigned lifetime affiliation?

A lifetime affiliation is set in these cases:

• If lifetime commission is enabled, when a customer places an order it checks whether they already have a lifetime affiliate. If not, it checks for a referral coupon. If that order has a referrer, it sets the lifetime affiliation to that coupon, unless the customer is already assigned to one that has not expired.
• If Track user registrations as a lifetime referral is enabled, clicking a referral link and then registering an account sets that referrer’s coupon as the lifetime affiliation, even without an order.
• From the affiliate’s Lifetime tab, using Link a Customer.
• By editing the customer in the admin area and setting the Lifetime Affiliate Referrer (Coupon Code) field.