Are you looking to leverage the trust of your existing customers to drive new business? Referral programs are one of the most powerful and authentic ways to grow your brand.
In this guide, you will learn how to structure a successful referral program using Tapfiliate. We will cover the key differences between an affiliate and a referrer, discuss the referral journey from prospect to full affiliate, and show you two primary methods for setting up and automating your program.
The key to running a successful referral program is shifting your focus from professional marketers (affiliates) to your existing customer base (referrals).
_______________________________________________________________
Affiliates vs. Referrals: Understanding the Approach
While both affiliates and referrals aim to drive growth, their motivations, expectations, and methods of promotion are fundamentally different. The choice of program type must align with your core business goal: do you want scale and volume or loyalty built on trust?
Referral Program for Loyalty and LTV: Referral marketing focuses on harnessing the power of word-of-mouth from your existing customers. It is highly effective for acquiring new, loyal customers who have a higher lifetime value.
Example: Brands use this model to encourage sharing through trusted recommendations, like the dual-sided rewards popularized by services such as Uber or Dropbox.
Affiliate Program for Scale and Volume: Affiliate marketing is a performance-based sales channel. It is ideal for reaching new audiences and driving a high volume of sales through a network of skilled marketing partners.
Example: Large SaaS companies or digital service brands (like ApexStream Software or similar high-volume platforms) use open programs to maximize overall sales volume and market reach.
Case Note: The Closed Invite-Only Program
Your program doesn't have to be open to everyone; you can run a highly controlled, invite-only program for maximum quality control. For instance, Optmyzr, a specialized PPC software company, specifically chose Tapfiliate because their existing software did not support the exclusivity and control required for their closed invite-only affiliate program. This highlights the necessity of choosing a platform that meets specific needs for quality assurance and program structure.
The table below breaks down the core distinctions between these two partner types, helping you understand how to manage and communicate with each one effectively.
Partner Type | Motivation & Mindset | Actionable Consequence |
Affiliate | An active partner, often a professional marketer, who uses their channels to drive traffic and conversions. | They are expected to log into the platform and manage their assets. |
Referral | A customer willing to recommend your product to friends and family. They are typically not professional marketers. For a detailed strategic guide on the motivations, rewards, and long-term outcomes of Affiliates, Referrals, and Creators, please check our comprehensive article: Affiliate, Referral, or Creator (Influencer) Program? Choosing the Right for Your Brand | Crucial: You must automatically send them their unique referral link and information on their reward via email. |
Why Referral Programs Are Powerful: Referral programs harness the power of word-of-mouth from your existing customers. They are built on trust and personal relationships, making them incredibly effective for acquiring new, loyal customers who have a higher lifetime value. This model accelerates growth by leveraging your most loyal customer base.
__________________________________________________________________
The Referral Journey: Prospect to Full Affiliate
The lifecycle of a referral is defined by their access level in the platform. This journey ensures that customers are rewarded and gain full management access only after they have successfully driven their first conversion.
The table below breaks down the distinct stages of a customer's relationship, highlighting the crucial difference in platform access between a simple prospect and a fully onboarded affiliate.
Status | Definition | Access to Affiliate Portal |
Affiliate Prospect | A customer who has received a referral link to promote your business but has not yet officially joined your affiliate program. Think of them as a "potential affiliate." | ❌ NO ACCESS. They do not need to log in; they only need the referral link to share. Prospects has a link to share, but they don't have access to the full Tapfiliate platform.
|
Full Affiliate | A partner who has been promoted and has full access to the Tapfiliate platform. | ✅ FULL ACCESS. They can set their payout method, retrieve assets, and review performance. |
How an Affiliate Prospect Becomes a Full Affiliate
A Prospect is automatically promoted to a Full Affiliate in one of two ways:
They Drive a Conversion: When a prospect's referral link generates the first successful purchase or conversion, the system automatically promotes them to Full Affiliate status. This grants them access to the portal to claim their reward and manage future referrals.
Manual Promotion: You manually promote them from your List of Prospects within the platform.
_________________________________________________________________
Three Ways to Onboard Your Referrals
To launch your referral program, you need to add your existing customers as "Affiliate Prospects" to your program. In Tapfiliate, every partner—whether a professional marketer or a loyal customer—is managed through the affiliate system. You have three primary ways to add your customers, each suited for a different scenario:
1. Manually: Individual Addition
Core Function: You can create an affiliate prospect account one by one by manually inputting the details directly in your Tapfiliate dashboard.
How It Works | You navigate to Affiliates > Add New Affiliate and manually create the account, which is automatically added to your program as a prospect. |
Best For | White-Glove Service or Testing. Ideal when a single, highly valued customer proactively requests a referral link outside of the automated process, or for internal testing purposes. |
2. Bulk: Importing via CSV/Excel
Core Function: You can quickly import a pre-compiled list of your customer emails and names into your program using a CSV file. This method is used for a targeted, one-time enrollment of existing contacts.
How It Works | You upload the CSV file, map the columns, and the system creates the accounts in bulk. |
Best For | Launching with an existing VIP list. Ideal for migrating partners from an old system or for quickly enrolling a targeted list of "VIP" customers. |
3. Automated: Using the Affiliate Recruitment Feature (Recommended)
Core Function: This is Tapfiliate's main feature for converting customers into partners. It automatically invites customers from your integrated sources (Stripe, Shopify, etc.) and assigns them a unique referral link upon a successful charge.
How It Works | Upon a successful charge from an integrated source, the customer automatically receives their referral link and is added to your List of Prospects. |
Best For | Scaling with minimal administration. Ideal for SaaS or e-commerce businesses with a large, active customer base where you want every customer to have an automatic referral option. |
_________________________________________________________________
How to Set Up Your Referral Program Using the Affiliate Recruitment Feature
The Affiliate Recruitment feature is the recommended method for setting up an automated referral program. This core tool effortlessly turns your existing customers into a powerful team of referrers, accelerating your business growth by leveraging their loyalty and instantly providing them with trackable referral links.
Note on Availability: The Affiliate Recruitment feature is a standard feature and is available with all of our plans. The process relies on connecting a source (like Stripe or Shopify) or a technical source (like Zapier or the REST API).
1. Indicate Your Affiliate Prospect Sources
To start gathering affiliate prospects, you must enable a source. You can link Tapfiliate to a number of automated sources. These integrations already support affiliate recruitment:
Supported Sources:
Stripe
WooCommerce
Memberful
Moonclerk
Shopify
Simply enable your chosen source in the Sources tab or in the integration's Settings section.
Technical Sources: If you don't have an integration that automatically supports affiliate recruitment, you can also create affiliate prospects manually via Zapier or the REST API. All prospects will be automatically added to your List of Prospects.
2. Set up Your SPF record and Sender's Address
You must set up an SPF record in your DNS settings. This is a prerequisite for enabling notifications and using the affiliate recruitment feature. Once set, you must also set your Sender's Address in your Branding page.
3. Set Up Your Actions
After your sources are enabled and your SPF record is set up, you can configure email notifications to communicate with your prospects. You'll set up two notifications for two specific events:
Affiliate prospect created
Affiliate prospect promoted
You have three communication options:
Enable and send pre-made trigger emails.
Create your own custom trigger emails inside the Tapfiliate platform.
Connect your Tapfiliate account to Mailchimp and manage all communication through there.That’s it! You have successfully activated the core communication engine for your referral program.
Now that your customer base is equipped with trackable links and personalized messaging, you have implemented a powerful tool to effortlessly accelerate the growth of your business. You are ready to move on to managing the performance of your new affiliate channel.
__________________________________________________________________
How to promote your affiliate prospects to a full-fledged affiliate?
An affiliate prospect becomes a full-fledged affiliate in one of three ways:
Automatic Conversion: They drive a conversion or a customer with their referral link.
Manual Promotion: You manually promote them from your List of Prospects.
Self-Service: They log in to their account using the temporary password sent in the first email.
Manual Promotion: Actionable Steps
If you want to manually approve a prospect before they generate a conversion, follow these steps in the Affiliate prospects tab (this process will be shown in the GIF):
Select: Check the box next to the prospect(s) you wish to promote.
Promote: Click the "Promote to affiliate" button located above the list.
Managing Prospects: Bulk Actions (Set Group & Export)
When you select one or more prospects, you gain access to bulk management tools useful for efficiency and segmentation:
Set affiliate group: This allows you to immediately assign a selected prospect or group of prospects to a specific Affiliate Group.
Use Case Example: You can assign a high-traffic blogger (identified via their sign-up data) to a "VIP Commission" group immediately upon promotion, ensuring they receive a higher rate from day one.
Export: This allows you to export the selected prospect data (Name, Email, Country, Referral Link, etc.) into a CSV file.
Use Case Example: You might export this data to import into your CRM (Customer Relationship Management) or mailing list to send them a customized marketing sequence before they become a full affiliate.
NOTE on Communication: Remember to set up trigger email notifications to inform your affiliates that they can access the account. You can use the event "Affiliate prospect promoted" for this purpose.
__________________________________________________________________
Still need help?
If you have any questions or if something in this guide is unclear, please don't hesitate to contact us at support@tapfiliate.com-we're happy to assist!
FAQ
❓Is this feature available with all plans?
Affiliate recruitment is a standard feature and available with All of our plans.
❓Can I create affiliate prospects via the REST API?
Yes, you can create affiliate prospects using the REST API. You may use this endpoint.
❓Why do I need to set up an SPF record?
Setting up an SPF record ensures that your welcome emails go directly to your prospects' inboxes, helping you make a great first impression. To set up your SPF record and Sender's Address, please refer to our SPF set up guide.
❓Why are my affiliate prospects not being added to the list?
When a charge is recorded, the customer must have a name consisting of at least a first and last name (e.g., “Jane Doe”). Having only a first name will not work.
Next Steps
You have successfully defined the strategy and automated the process for gathering prospects. To continue building and managing your full program efficiently, here are the next recommended steps:
Technical Automation: If you are using the REST API to manage your prospects, check the technical guide on REST API/Developer Docs to ensure your integration is robust and scalable.
Affiliate Management: Learn how to handle the partners you've recruited by moving to the guide How to invite Affiliates to a program? This covers manual approval, organization, and setting up their accounts.
Communication: Ensure you have high-converting welcome emails by reading How to create a welcome email for the affiliates? This is crucial for guiding your newly promoted partners to their portal to manage their rewards.