How to invite affiliates

You can bring people into your program in two ways.

Both ways are live and accessible on the Affiliates page.

The first is the registration link.

Anyone with that link can apply through your portal.

You can put it on your store as a button, or only send it to people you actually want.

The second is via the Add New Affiliate button where you can create the person yourself, set their commission, and (optionally) email them a login invite.

You can use the latter when you already know who they are and you do not want them filling out a public form.

For what happens after someone is approved, see the Affiliate management guide and the Affiliate portal guide.

The registration link

At the top of Affiliates there is a highlighted box: Affiliate Registration Link. Click it to copy.

It looks like affilitrak.com/register/your-shop.

When someone opens it, they create an account in your affiliate portal.

When you paste this into a store button, email, or bio, use the full address.

If the copied text does not start with https://, add that in front so the button actually works.

After they register, they may need to verify their email.

If Auto-approve new affiliates is off (that is the default, under Settings → New Affiliates), they land on the Needs Attention tab until you approve or reject them.

If auto-approve is on, they go straight to Active Affiliates.

You can also auto-assign a program there so new signups get a commission structure without you picking one each time.

If you have turned on the Affiliate registration form in Settings, they will answer those extra questions during signup. That is optional. The link still works either way.

For those settings, see the Settings guide.

Put it on your store as a button

Affilitrak does not inject a button into your theme for you.

You copy the registration link, then add a normal Shopify button (or menu item) that points at it.

A typical setup:

1. Copy the Affiliate Registration Link from Affiliates.
2. In Shopify, open Online Store → Themes → Customize.
3. Add a button wherever shoppers will actually see it: homepage, header, footer, or a dedicated “Affiliates” page.
4. Set the button URL to your registration link.
5. Label it something obvious, like Become an affiliate or Join our affiliate program.

You can do the same in Navigation and add a menu item instead of a button. Same link.

Use this when you want people to find the program on their own.

Customers who already like the brand, content creators browsing the site, and so on.

You are not emailing each person first.

They click, apply, and you review them (unless auto-approve is on).

Send it only to affiliates you choose

You do not have to publish the link.

If the program is invite-only, leave it off the store and just send it to the people you want: email, Instagram DM, WhatsApp, a spreadsheet of creators, whatever you already use.

They still go through the same registration page. The only difference is who has the URL.

That is often enough.

You do not need to add each person in the app first if you are happy for them to apply themselves.

Add them by hand only when you want the account created on your side immediately, with commission already set.

Add someone yourself (Add New Affiliate)

Use this when you already have a name and email, and you want them in the program as soon as possible.

For example, a partner you already agreed terms with, a friend, a creator you negotiated with off-platform.

On Affiliates, click Add New Affiliate in the top right.

If you have no affiliates yet, the empty state button says Add affiliate and goes to the same place.

You will get a form where the name and email fields are required.

Send invite email to affiliate is checked by default.

Leave it on if you want Affilitrak to email them a link to set up portal access and log in.

Uncheck it if you are going to tell them some other way, or if you are creating the record before they are ready.

You can resend the invite later from their profile if you need to.

Notes are internal. The affiliate does not see them.

Then set commission.

That part is required for a store program:

• Program Template: drop them into an existing program (rate, coupons, and other program rules come along).
• Manual Configuration: set a percent, a fixed amount, product rules, and coupons just for this person.

Then hit save. They are created as an active affiliate right away.

They do not sit in Needs Attention the way a public applicant does. If the invite email was on, they get that message and can open the portal from it.

This is the faster path when you already chose the person.

You skip the public form, you skip the approval queue, and you control the commission before they ever log in.

For how programs and rates work, see the Programs guide.

Which one should you use?

• Registration link on the store when you want an open program and you are fine reviewing (or auto-approving) whoever applies.
• Registration link sent privately when you want applications, but only from people you picked. Same form, smaller audience.
• Add New Affiliate when you already know the person and the deal. You create them, set the rate, and invite them to log in.

Most stores do a mix: a button on the site for inbound interest, and Add New Affiliate for the partners they recruited themselves.

After they are in

Open Affiliates again:

• Active people are on Active Affiliates.
• Public applicants waiting on you (or on email verification) are on Needs Attention.

From there you can approve, reject, or open a profile to fix commission, coupons, or payout details.

If this is your first invite and you want a hand writing the message, the empty Affiliates page also offers a walkthrough with the Affilitrak team.