Setup Guide – How to get started!

Updated October 1, 2026

Need help getting started with the plugin? Here is a quick setup guide:

More guides: Affiliate Registration / Commission Payouts / Multi-Level Affiliates

Interested in hands-on support where we take care of everything for you? Check out our plugin setup services.

Or view a detailed step-by-step written guide below.

(1) Installing the Plugin

First, you need to install the plugin. If you’ve not done this yet, see this guide.

(2) Complete the Setup Wizard

Once you’ve installed the plugin, the first thing you will see is the setup wizard. This will guide you through setting up the core features of Coupon Affiliates in a few short steps: Dashboard, Registration, Commission, Emails and Finish. If you have taxes enabled in WooCommerce, there will also be a Taxes step.

Click “Save & Continue” to move on to the next step. If you would rather set everything up yourself, click “Skip Setup Wizard / Go To Settings Page” at the bottom of the page. You can come back to the wizard at any time with the “Setup Wizard” button at the top of the plugin settings page.

Step 1: Affiliate Dashboard Page

The first step is to create the affiliate dashboard page. This is the page where your affiliates will view their statistics, commission, referral links and more.

If you don’t have a dashboard page yet, simply click the “Generate Dashboard Page” button, and a new “Affiliate Dashboard” page will be created for you with the [couponaffiliates] shortcode already added.

Alternatively, you can add the [couponaffiliates] shortcode to a page yourself, then select that page in the “Affiliate Dashboard Page” dropdown, so the plugin knows which page to use.

Coupon Affiliates setup wizard step 1, showing the Affiliate Dashboard Page dropdown and the Enable Affiliate Portal toggle

On this step you can also choose to enable the “Affiliate Portal”. This is an alternative to the normal dashboard page: a standalone full-screen page with its own modern design. It is turned off by default. Learn more about the affiliate portal.

Step 2: Affiliate Registration System

The next step helps you set up the affiliate registration system, where users can fill out a form to apply to become an affiliate. When you accept an application, the plugin automatically creates their account (if needed), creates their affiliate coupon, and assigns them to it.

Make sure “Enable Affiliate Registration Features” is turned on (it is by default). Then, if you don’t have a registration page yet, click the “Generate Registration Page” button to create it automatically, or add the [couponaffiliates-register] shortcode to a new page yourself and select it in the “Registration Form Page” dropdown.

Coupon Affiliates setup wizard step 2, showing the Enable Affiliate Registration Features toggle, Registration Form Page dropdown and Template Coupon field

You will also need to set the “Template Coupon”, which is required. When a new affiliate is added, their coupon is created with the same settings as this template coupon. Learn more about the template coupon.

If you don’t have one yet, click the “Generate Coupon” button. Choose the coupon type and discount amount, click “Generate”, and a template coupon will be created and selected for you. You can go back and edit the coupon later to customise more options. Otherwise, enter the exact code of an existing coupon in the “Template coupon code” field.

The “Save & Continue” button stays disabled until a valid template coupon has been entered.

Step 3: Commission Amounts

Next, set your default commission rates. You can use any combination of:

Percentage Commission (% Of Total Order)
Fixed Commission (Amount Per Order)
Fixed Commission (Amount Per Product)

Coupon Affiliates setup wizard step 3, showing the percentage, fixed per order and fixed per product commission fields

If you enter more than one, they are combined. For example, 10% of the order total plus an extra fixed amount per product. Enter 0 to disable a type. With the PRO version, you can also set different rates per affiliate coupon, product, category or group.

Taxes (if enabled in WooCommerce)

If taxes are enabled in your WooCommerce settings, a “Taxes” step lets you choose how tax is handled in the commission calculations. You can customise more calculation settings in the plugin settings later.

Step 4: Emails

Enter the “From” email address and name used for the plugin’s emails, and the email address that should receive admin notifications. You can also enable and customise the “New Order Referral” email, which tells your affiliates when someone uses their coupon.

Finish

That’s it! The final page shows some of the next steps you can take, such as customising more settings, managing your affiliate coupons, and adding your first affiliate.

Coupon Affiliates Setup Wizard Complete page, listing next steps: customise your program, manage coupons, template coupon, add new affiliates, explore PRO features and commission payouts settings

From here, click “Continue to Settings Page” to customise everything further, or “Create Your First Affiliate” to add an affiliate straight away (see step 5 below).

(3) Customise the Settings

Once you’ve got the basic setup wizard done, you can go ahead and customise the settings further if required. Go to Coupon Affiliates > Settings and select the tabs on the left to customise everything to meet your requirements.

Coupon Affiliates plugin settings page, with the settings tabs (General, Commission, Registration, Referral Links and more) down the left side

Here are some of the main tabs:

General: The general tab contains some of the “general” settings that don’t have any particular category, including the affiliate dashboard page and the affiliate portal.

Commission: You can set your flexible commission rates under the “Commission” tab.

Registration: Customise the affiliate registration form, the template coupon, and how new applications are handled.

Referral Links: Enable referral URLs, set the URL variable, and cookie duration.

Email Notifications: Enable and customise the different emails sent by the plugin.

Currencies: If you’ve enabled multi-currency support (in the “Commission” tab), a new “Currencies” tab will appear for you to set the conversion rates.

Design: Customise some of the design for the plugin, including colours and layout.

Debug: A few options to enable/disable certain features, mainly things that may be affecting performance or having conflicts with your theme / other plugins.

You will also find the “Fraud Prevention”, “Floating Widget”, “Privacy & Cookies” and “Help & Support” tabs, along with the “PRO Modules” tab. When you enable a PRO module (such as Payouts, Creatives or Multi-Level Affiliates), its own settings tab will appear in this menu.

(4) Coupon Codes Enabled in WooCommerce

The plugin needs the “Enable the use of coupon codes” option to be turned on in WooCommerce > Settings > General. You don’t need to do anything here: if it is turned off, the plugin turns it back on automatically when you visit the plugin settings page.

(5) Add Your Affiliates

There are two main ways to add affiliates:

Add them yourself: Go to Coupon Affiliates > Add New Affiliate. Enter a username (this can be an existing user, or a new one, in which case you will also enter their email address and name), and the coupon code you want them to have. Then choose which email to send them, and click “Add New Affiliate”.

The plugin will then automatically create their coupon (using your template coupon settings), assign them to it, and send them the email you chose.

Coupon Affiliates Add New Affiliate admin page, with Username, Email Address, First Name, Last Name, Coupon Code, Affiliate Group and Send Notification Email fields

Learn more about adding affiliates manually.

Let them apply: Share your affiliate registration page so people can apply to join. You can review applications on the Coupon Affiliates > Registrations page, and when you accept one, the coupon is created and assigned for them in the same way. Learn more about affiliate registration.

Already have a coupon? You can also assign a user to an existing coupon. Simply edit the coupon, go to the “Coupon Affiliates & Commission” tab, and enter their username in the “Affiliate User” field.

Editing a WooCommerce coupon, with the Coupon Affiliates & Commission tab open showing the Affiliate User field and custom commission fields

The custom commission fields shown here are available with the PRO version.

(6) View the Coupons List & Dashboard Links

Next up, go to Coupon Affiliates > Coupons. Here you can see all of your affiliate coupons, along with their usage, sales, commission, and the affiliate user assigned to each one.

The “Dashboard Link” column gives you a “View Dashboard” link for each coupon, so you can view the affiliate dashboard and statistics for any of your affiliates.

Coupon Affiliates Coupons admin page, listing affiliate coupons with usage, sales, commission, payouts, affiliate user and a View Dashboard link for each

The normal WooCommerce coupons list also shows an “Affiliate Dashboard” column with the same link.

(7) Direct Users to the Affiliate Dashboard

Once your affiliates have been added, you can link/direct them to the affiliate dashboard page (maybe add this to your menu/site somewhere). They’ll log in and see the dashboard for the coupon(s) they are assigned to directly on this page.

On the dashboard, they will then be able to view their affiliate statistics, referred orders, referral link generator, and more.

If you are using the PRO version, they can also see extra tabs such as the monthly summary, creatives, and payouts.

Here’s an example of the affiliate dashboard, shown with the Affiliate Portal enabled:

Coupon Affiliates affiliate dashboard shown in the Affiliate Portal layout, with coupon info, sales and commission statistics and a commission graph

Once you’ve got everything set up, now it’s time to start promoting your affiliate program, and get users to sign up via your affiliate registration page.

Your affiliates can then share their coupon code with others, or share their referral URL (generated on their dashboard) to automatically add the coupon code to the customer’s cart.

Whenever someone uses their coupon code, the affiliate earns commission!

(9) Using the PRO version?

If you are using the PRO version, here are some more simple guides on setting up some of the main features:

(10) Need help? Contact us.

If you need help with anything at all, please contact us.

Using the free version? Please check out previous support posts on WordPress forums or submit a new ticket!

(11) Upgrade to PRO

If you want more advanced features, including advanced affiliate registration forms, unpaid commission tracking, commission payout requests, one-click Stripe/PayPal payouts, store credit payouts, affiliate email reports, invoices, PDF statements, and much more, feel free to check out the PRO version of the plugin.

Try PRO now with a 7 day trial!

If you are already using the PRO version, then you can get started by enabling PRO features in the plugin settings, under the “PRO Modules” tab.