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Automating tier based commission structure for affiliates via trigger webhooks

This article describes how to automate tier based commission structure via triggers

Nikhil Kandpal avatar
Written by Nikhil Kandpal
Updated over 2 weeks ago

Overview

Tapfiliate allows you to automate the process of rewarding high-performing affiliates by assigning them to higher commission tiers based on their performance.
By combining Affiliate Groups, Trigger Webhooks, and the Tapfiliate REST API, you can automatically move affiliates into higher-paying groups once they reach a specific conversion milestone.

This setup helps you:

  • Reward affiliates as soon as they hit conversion milestones

  • Reduce manual group management

  • Ensure fair and automatic commission scaling

  • Maintain consistent tracking and reporting inside Tapfiliate


What are Tier-Based Commissions?

Tier-based commissions are a way to offer progressive incentives to affiliates. Affiliates start in a standard commission group and can move up to higher tiers (with higher commission percentages) when they meet specific performance targets, such as reaching a set number of conversions.

For example:

Affiliate Group

Commission Rate

Tier 1

15%

Tier 2

20%

As affiliates generate more conversions, Tapfiliate can automatically move them to a higher tier.


Setting up Affiliate Groups

To automate tier promotions, you first need to create Affiliate Groups in Tapfiliate.

To do this:

  1. Navigate to Settings → Affiliate Groups in your Tapfiliate dashboard.

  2. Click “Create Affiliate Group”.

  3. Add groups such as Tier 1 and Tier 2.

Once created, these groups ids can be referenced when setting up your commission structure.


Assigning Different Commission Rates

Next, assign a unique commission rate to each group.

  1. Go to Settings → Commission Structure.

  2. Select your program or campaign.

  3. Under Commission Groups, assign rates like:

    • Standard: 10%

    • Tier 1: 15%

    • Tier 2: 20%

  4. Save your settings.

Going forward, each affiliate in a group will automatically earn the commission rate set for that group.


Creating Webhook Triggers for Tier Automation

The next step is to set up a custom webhook trigger to detect when an affiliate reaches a performance milestone (e.g., 10 conversions).

To set up the webhook trigger:

  1. Go to Triggers / Webhooks in your Tapfiliate dashboard.

  2. Click “Create Trigger” and choose the event “Conversion Created”.

  3. Add a Filter:

    • Filter: Affiliate total conversions

    • Operator: = (equal to)

    • Value: e.g., 10

  4. Choose the action: Send webhook request.

  5. Enter the URL of your automation endpoint (this could be your own backend or a webhook handler service).

Whenever an affiliate reaches 10 total conversions, Tapfiliate will automatically fire this webhook.


Using Tapfiliate’s API to Update Affiliate Groups

Your webhook endpoint should call the Tapfiliate REST API to move the affiliate to the next group.

You can use the API endpoint:
Tapfiliate API - Affiliate Groups

You can create additional webhook triggers (for example, at 50 conversions) to move affiliates from Tier 1 → Tier 2 automatically.


Testing the Automation

To ensure your automation works correctly:

  1. Use Tapfiliate’s test conversion feature or create a test affiliate.

  2. Manually fire test conversions until the affiliate reaches your milestone (e.g., 10 total conversions).

  3. Check whether:

    • The webhook fired successfully

    • Your endpoint called the API correctly

    • The affiliate’s group was updated to the next tier

If everything works, new conversions from that affiliate will now use the new tier’s commission rate.


Managing Affiliate Tiers

You can manage affiliates and their tiers directly in the Affiliates section.

From here, you can:

  • Edit: Manually move an affiliate to another group if needed.

  • Pause: Temporarily suspend an affiliate’s tracking or commission changes.

  • Monitor: View which affiliates are in which groups and how they’re progressing through tiers.

Keep in mind:

  • Group changes affect future conversions only.

  • Previous conversions retain the commission rate of the group at the time they occurred.


Summary

By using Tapfiliate’s Trigger Webhooks and REST API, you can automate your tier-based commission system. This ensures your affiliates are instantly rewarded when they hit milestones, without any manual updates.

Your automation flow should look like this:

  1. Create groups (Standard → Tier 1 → Tier 2)

  2. Assign different commission rates to each group

  3. Create trigger webhooks for conversion milestones

  4. Use the Tapfiliate API to move affiliates automatically

This setup streamlines your affiliate management, increases fairness, and rewards performance in real time.

​You can reach out to our team at support@tapfiliate.com for any further queries.

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