Tapfiliate is a cloud-based affiliate platform that connects to your WooCommerce store. It’s not as simple to use as some alternatives, but it provides a deep set of features for businesses that need more control.
In this detailed Tapfiliate review, we'll break down its features to see if the added complexity is justified by the features it provides.
Table of Contents
- Set Up Your Tapfiliate Account
- Tapfiliate Core Features and WooCommerce Integration
- Using Tapfiliate to Manage Your WooCommerce Referral Affiliates
- Data Ownership and Handling with Tapfiliate
- Tapfiliate Pricing
- Customer Reviews and Feedback on Tapfiliate
- Final Thoughts on Tapfiliate
Set Up Your Tapfiliate Account
Getting started with Tapfiliate is a different experience from a typical WordPress plugin because it is a hosted SaaS platform. The configuration is a two-part process that starts on the Tapfiliate website and finishes with a connection to your WooCommerce store.
The process starts by creating an account on the Tapfiliate website, where a Getting Started guide walks you through the initial steps.
This is where your main dashboard lives and where you will manage all aspects of your referral program. You'll define key details like your program's name, the landing page for affiliate links, and the default commission structure, which can be a percentage or a fixed amount.
You also have full control over the look and feel of your affiliate sign-up page. From the dashboard, you can upload your logo, customize the colors to match your brand, and edit all of the text, including the welcome message and program rules.
Connect Tapfiliate with Your WooCommerce and WordPress Site
The next step is to connect your website to Tapfiliate. This is done by installing the free Tapfiliate plugin from your WordPress dashboard.
This plugin is very lightweight and acts as a simple bridge between your website and the Tapfiliate platform.
You'll head to Settings › Tapfiliate, enter your Tapfiliate Account ID, and enable the WooCommerce integration.
Once the settings are saved, click Connect, and you'll be taken to a page where you must specify your Tapfiliate domain:
Click Continue. You'll then be asked to allow the connection on Tapfiliate.
Once you've clicked the Approve button, you'll see the message: WooCommerce was successfully connected with Tapfiliate.
This integration will also handle tracking clicks, cookies, and conversions on your WooCommerce site, which will be sent to Tapfiliate. You must verify the connection and perform a test purchase (you can use a 100% discount coupon in this case).
Tapfiliate Core Features and WooCommerce Integration
Tapfiliate is a cloud-based platform that gives granular control over its affiliate and referral programs. While it shares some similarities with other hosted services, its feature set is deeper and offers more advanced tools for customization, automation, and tracking.
Flexible Commission Structures
Beyond a standard percentage or fixed-rate commission, Tapfiliate allows you to build complex reward systems. You can create different commission rates for specific products or categories.
The platform also supports recurring commissions for subscription-based businesses using WooCommerce Subscriptions. For more advanced programs, you can create affiliate groups to offer higher rates to top performers or set up multi-level marketing (MLM) structures.
Workflow Automation with Triggers
One of Tapfiliate’s most powerful features is its automation engine, called Triggers. This lets you create "if this, then that" rules to handle tasks automatically.
For example, you can set up a trigger to send a custom welcome email the moment an affiliate is approved, or to notify a partner as soon as they’ve earned a new conversion. For more technical users, this can be extended with webhooks to connect with other services.
Branding and Customization
Tapfiliate includes various customization options, so your affiliate program feels like a natural part of your business.
You can host your program on a custom domain (like affiliates.yourstore.com) and, on higher-tier plans, fully white-label the affiliate portal to remove all Tapfiliate branding.
WooCommerce Integration
The connection between Tapfiliate and your store is handled by a lightweight WordPress plugin, but the integration itself is deep.
It can automatically handle events like refunds and recurring subscription payments. If an order is refunded in WooCommerce, Tapfiliate can automatically adjust the commission and protect your revenue. It also allows you to track conversions using affiliate coupon codes.
Using Tapfiliate to Manage Your WooCommerce Referral Affiliates
Once your program is live, you can start recruiting affiliates and managing your program from the Tapfiliate dashboard.
Enable Affiliate Recruitment under Affiliates
Tapfiliate offers both automated and manual methods for recruiting affiliates. As an automatic option, it can invite new customers to join your program and turn them into affiliate prospects.
For a more hands-on approach, you have several options. You can manually add new affiliates by filling out a form or importing a CSV file. You can also generate a unique invitation link to share with potential partners.
When setting up your program, you also have direct control over the approval process. You can create an open program with instant access, a curated one where you approve each applicant manually, or an exclusive, invite-only program for pre-vetted partners.
How Tapfiliate Supports Your Marketing Affiliates
Tapfiliate provides a unique and very useful dashboard for each of your affiliates. Using your same Tapfiliate unique URL, they'll be able to log in and see the following.
Tapfiliate offers a dedicated and highly customizable portal for each of your affiliates.
This dashboard is where they can track their performance in real-time, including clicks, conversions, and pending commissions. For advanced affiliates, the portal also supports SubID reporting, which allows them to track the specific sources of their traffic. The portal can be fully white-labeled and hosted on your own custom domain, which creates a seamless brand experience.
To help with promotions, you can upload a wide range of assets for your partners to use. This includes standard images and HTML5 banners, but also text links, social media posts, and YouTube and Vimeo videos.
Affiliates can also create their own deep links to specific product pages, which allows them ot create targeted campaigns. For communication, the platform includes a built-in messenger, allowing you to stay in touch with your partners directly.
Tapfiliate Reporting Tools
Tapfiliate provides a reporting dashboard that gives you an overview of your program's health, with key metrics like total affiliates, total conversions, and commission amount available at a glance.
For a deeper dive, the reporting section allows you to apply various filters. You can analyze performance by affiliate, date range, landing page, and even the country of origin for your traffic.
For more advanced analysis, you can generate custom reports. All of this data can be easily exported as a CSV file to use with external tools.
Payout Management
The payout process gives you flexibility over how and when you pay your affiliates. Payouts are not fully automated by default; instead, you initiate the process from the Payments page.
This page gathers all of your affiliates' approved commissions into a single view. From here, you can settle all balances at once or handle them individually. When you settle the balances, the system generates a CSV file that you can upload directly to your chosen payment provider, such as PayPal, to execute the payments. You can also set a minimum payout amount that an affiliate must reach to be included in a payment cycle.
For a more streamlined workflow, Tapfiliate's Pro and Enterprise plans offer an integration with a service called Trolley. This allows you to automate the payout process by connecting directly to a payment processor and saves you the manual step of uploading a CSV file.
Data Ownership and Handling with Tapfiliate
As Tapfiliate is a hosted platform, it's important to understand how it handles your data. Unlike a native WooCommerce affiliate plugin that stores everything within your WordPress database, all of your affiliate and conversion information is stored on Tapfiliate's servers, not your own.
This situation has its own benefits and drawbacks, as well as legal implications depending on your store's jurisdiction.
We checked how to export data from Tapfiliate, and it seems pretty straightforward. You can export your affiliates, the reporting data, the conversion data, and the customer data. On each screen, you'll find an Export button to create CSV exports with your affiliate data.
If you want to control and handle the referral data on your own servers, you may be better off with another option, such as Solid Affiliate.
Tapfiliate Pricing
Tapfiliate uses a straightforward subscription model based on a flat monthly or annual fee.
The platform is available in three main tiers to support different stages of business growth. Here is a breakdown of their primary plans:
| Feature | Essential Plan | Pro Plan |
| Monthly Price | $89 per month | $149 per month |
| Annual Price | $74 per month | $124 per month |
| Tracking Limits | Up to 20,000 clicks/mo | Up to 100,000 clicks/mo |
| Conversion Limits | 2,000 conversions | 10,000 conversions |
An Enterprise plan with custom pricing is also available for larger businesses that require features like a fully white-labeled platform and a dedicated account manager.
Customer Reviews and Feedback on Tapfiliate
When picking any plugin, it's paramount to check the customer reviews and what people say online about the plugin you're choosing.
When we checked Tapfiliate, we didn't find much on WordPress.org. Despite having nearly 500 installations, they only have 5 total ratings, 4 with five stars and 1 with a single star.
On Capterra, they have 65 reviews with an average score of 4.5 stars. If you look at G2, they have 17 reviews and an average 3.6-star score. On Trustpilot, it’s a whole different story. They have 11 reviews and an average of 3.3 star score. Most
While the numbers aren't huge, we read all of these reviews, and most people seem to enjoy how well-built However, a few people on Trustpilot complain of payments even after cancelling the subscription.
Final Thoughts on Tapfiliate
Tapfiliate makes sense if you're ready to invest both money and time into building a sophisticated affiliate program. Unlike plugins that work directly on your website, Tapfiliate is an external service that requires you to create and manage a connection.
The platform works best when you already know how affiliate marketing works. It provides advanced features such as automation triggers, custom commission structures, and an advanced affiliate portal it provides.
Data ownership is another key factor to consider. All of your affiliate information lives on their servers, which can streamline day-to-day management but limits your direct control. For stores prioritizing data ownership and a predictable, fixed cost, a native plugin like Solid Affiliate offers a clear alternative, providing comparable core features while keeping all your data within your WordPress database.
Frequently Asked Questions - Tapfiliate Review
Is Tapfiliate free?
No, Tapfiliate is not free. It offers paid subscription plans for affiliate marketing, typically starting around mid-tier monthly pricing, but you can try any plan free on a limited trial period before paying (typically 14 days).
How much does Tapfiliate cost?
Tapfiliate’s pricing varies by plan. Its Essential plan starts around $89/month, the Pro plan around $149/month, and an Enterprise plan has custom pricing. All include a free trial, but there’s no permanently free tier.
Does WooCommerce have an affiliate program?
WooCommerce does not come with a built-in affiliate program. To run one, you need to install a dedicated affiliate plugin. These plugins integrate with your store to track referrals from your partners, manage commissions, and handle payouts, giving you a complete system within your WordPress dashboard.
What is the best affiliate plugin for WordPress?
- Solid Affiliate
- AffiliateWP
- SliceWP
- Tapfiliate
- ReferralCandy
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