Running a successful affiliate program takes work. You’re responsible for recruiting partners, tracking sales, and managing payouts. ReferralCandy is a platform that automates almost all of it, acting as a "set it and forget it" marketing tool for your store. But does this high level of automation come at the cost of flexibility?
In this detailed review, we'll dive deep into ReferralCandy's features to see if its automated approach is the right fit for a hands-on WooCommerce store owner.
Table of Contents
- Setting Up ReferralCandy
- ReferralCandy Core Features
- WooCommerce And ReferralCandy Integration
- Managing Your WooCommerce Affiliates
- Data Ownership and Portability with ReferralCandy
- ReferralCandy Pricing
- Customer Reviews and Feedback
- Final Thoughts on ReferralCandy
Setting Up ReferralCandy
The setup process for ReferralCandy is a bit different from a typical WordPress plugin, as it’s a hosted service. This means the process is split into two parts: one on the ReferralCandy website and one within your WooCommerce dashboard. This also means that there’s no setup wizard to guide you through setting up the program in your store.
You'll start by creating an account on the ReferralCandy website. This is where your main dashboard lives and where you will manage all aspects of your referral program. After creating an account, you'll navigate to your profile to find your unique set of API keys (an Access ID, App ID, and Secret Key).
Next, you’ll go to your WordPress admin area and install the free ReferralCandy for WooCommerce plugin. This plugin acts as a bridge that connects your store's data to the ReferralCandy platform. After the plugin is installed, you will simply paste the API keys you got from the ReferralCandy site to create the connection.
To finalize the setup and to make sure everything is working correctly, you can place a test purchase on your store. Once that purchase is detected in the ReferralCandy dashboard, it means your affiliate program is live.
Setting Up ReferralCandy's Rewards and Campaigns
Once your store is connected, all of the actual campaign setup happens within the ReferralCandy dashboard. When you create a new campaign, it provides you with two options. You can either create a reward program designed for your customers to refer their friends or a more traditional affiliate program for marketers and content creators to earn cash commissions.
The Reward Campaign is the classic 'refer-a-friend' model and is the most common setup. Here, you'll configure a two-sided incentive: one reward for your existing customer (the advocate) and a separate offer for their friend to encourage a purchase. This is perfect for encouraging your customer base for word-of-mouth marketing.
When creating your Affiliate Campaign, it lets you decide how you want to recruit your partners. It gives you three options, as you can see from the screenshot below.
After you select the best approach, you'll move on to the campaign dashboard to set your commission rates and finalize the details.
ReferralCandy Core Features
ReferralCandy operates less like a traditional affiliate plugin and more like a fully managed referral marketing machine. Its features let you automate the entire process, from inviting customers to paying out rewards.
Flexible Reward Options
You have a lot of flexibility in how you reward your participants. For the reward campaign, you can set up a two-sided incentive, giving one reward to the advocate and a different one to their friend. For the affiliate campaign, you can set cash commission rates. You can also implement tiered rewards (FlexiTiers) to offer better commissions as your top partners hit performance milestones.
Automated Recruitment and Onboarding
ReferralCandy automates much of the work in growing your programs. For the customer reward program, it can automatically send post-purchase emails inviting new customers to join. For your formal affiliate program, you have direct control over the onboarding process, with options for instant access, a curated application process, or an invite-only system.
Centralized Dashboards and Tracking
All of your program's data is available in the ReferralCandy dashboard, which provides a real-time view of performance. You can track key metrics like referral sales, traffic, and your top performers. Your partners also get their own portals: advocates get a simple page to track their shares and rewards, while affiliates get a more detailed dashboard with data on clicks and conversions.
Built-in Fraud Detection
A major benefit of a managed platform is its built-in fraud detection. ReferralCandy automatically flags suspicious activity like self-referrals, advocates posting codes on coupon sites, and other common issues. This helps protect the integrity of your program with minimal effort on your part.
WooCommerce And ReferralCandy Integration
While ReferralCandy offers an integration with WooCommerce, it's important to understand that they don't focus solely on WooCommerce and that all of their features and code are executed outside of your WooCommerce store.
In some cases, this may not provide the level of control and customization that some users look for. Because the platform doesn't have direct access to your data, your ability to modify the core experience is limited when compared to a native plugin built to work exclusively within the WooCommerce environment. For users who require that level of deep, seamless integration, a plugin like Solid Affiliate is for that purpose.
However, the advantage with ReferralCandy is that you get a platform that's feature-rich, works automatically, and is backed by a dedicated team. For some, this balance between the native WooCommerce store and the hands-off capabilities of ReferralCandy might be the right choice for their business.
Managing Your WooCommerce Affiliates
Once your reward and affiliate campaign are live, all your management tasks, such as supporting affiliates and paying them, are handled within the ReferralCandy dashboard, not your WordPress admin area. This centralized approach is a core part of their service.
Supporting Your Advocates
For the Reward campaign type, ReferralCandy provides a hosted portal where advocates can easily grab their unique referral link and share it directly on social media. They also get a rewards page where they can see the friends they have referred.
Supporting Your Affiliates
For your formal affiliate partners, ReferralCandy provides a more advanced and data-rich portal. This affiliate dashboard gives them the professional tools they need to track their performance.
In their dashboard, affiliates can see key metrics like the number of clicks their links have generated, the total sales they've driven, and the commissions they’ve earned. They also get a clear breakdown of their payments, showing both the cash rewards that have already been paid out and any commissions that are still pending.
Monitoring WooCommerce Affiliates
The ReferralCandy dashboard acts as your command center for monitoring the program's health. Your primary tool for this is the Referral Report page, which provides a clear overview of your entire referral funnel within any date range you choose.
Here, you can track key activity metrics, from the number of invitation emails sent and opened to the total link clicks and resulting purchases. The report also shows how much money you're making from referrals and gives you valuable insight into how your partners are sharing, with a breakdown of activity across different social media channels.
For a more granular view, the Purchases & Referrals page allows you to see a detailed log of every individual purchase that came through your partners.
Payout Management
For cash commissions, ReferralCandy streamlines the payout process primarily through PayPal. The system works by first billing you, the merchant, for the total amount of the rewards earned by your affiliates during a billing cycle.
Once you pay your monthly invoice, ReferralCandy handles the distribution of those cash rewards directly to your affiliates' PayPal accounts. It's important to note that ReferralCandy charges a transaction fee on these cash payouts. It also gives you other payout options like discount coupons and custom rewards, where you offer incentives like products or gift cards.
Data Ownership and Portability with ReferralCandy
When it comes to data ownership, ReferralCandy operates as a hosted platform, which means your referral data resides on their servers, not yours. This could be problematic and raise concerns for some regarding data portability, as well as laws and regulations concerning how your customer data is stored and handled.
ReferralCandy does provide options to export your information. From the dashboard, you can download a CSV file of your existing customers and a separate file for your referral report.
On their documentation, they don't mention much about data portability, but they do caution users to back up and download all of their data before canceling or deleting their accounts.
If you ever decide to switch platforms, ReferralCandy provides those two export options we've just mentioned. Both data pieces can be downloaded in CSV. If you need some other data piece not available there, you may be able to get it by contacting their support, though we're not certain about this.
ReferralCandy Pricing
ReferralCandy's pricing model is a bit different from most WordPress plugins. It's a subscription service that combines a flat monthly fee with a commission-based "success fee" on every referral sale your program generates.
This pay-for-performance model can be appealing, but it's important to understand the total cost. Here is a breakdown of their primary plans:
| Feature | Basic Plan | Grow Plan | Scale Plan | Enterprise Plan |
| Monthly Fee | $29 | $79 | $249 | $799 |
| Success Fee | 10.5% | 3.5% | 1.5% | 0.25% |
| Campaigns | 1 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
There’s also a separate Boost add-on that costs $29/month on top of the monthly plans.
To understand the true cost of using ReferralCandy, you have to look beyond the monthly fee and calculate the impact of the success fee. For example, if your store generates $12,000 in referral sales in one month on the Grow plan, your total cost for that month would be $499 (79 monthly fee + $420 in success fees).
This variable cost is a major difference when compared to native plugins like Solid Affiliate that charge a fixed annual fee regardless of your sales volume. For stores with high referral revenue, these commission fees can add up to a significant expense over time.
Customer Reviews and Feedback
Before choosing any service, it's a good idea to see what existing users are saying. For ReferralCandy, the public feedback is mostly positive.
On the official WordPress.org plugin repository, its WooCommerce integration has a nearly perfect 5-star rating from close to 200 reviews.
On major software review sites like G2 and Capterra, it has a 4.5-star rating from 105 and 382 users, respectively.
Final Thoughts on ReferralCandy
The most important question to ask before choosing ReferralCandy is a financial one: are you comfortable with a variable, performance-based cost?
Unlike native WooCommerce affiliate plugins with a fixed annual fee, ReferralCandy's cost is directly tied to the revenue the platform helps you generate. This model makes it a low-risk entry point for new stores, but it can become a significant operational expense for high-volume stores.
This creates a clear choice. ReferralCandy is the right solution for the store owner who values a fully managed, hands-off service and sees the success fee as a justified customer acquisition cost. For those who prefer a fixed annual fee and want a tool that integrates deeply within their own website, a native plugin like Solid Affiliate is built for that exact purpose.
Frequently Asked Questions - ReferralCandy for WooCommerce
1. 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.
2. How to add affiliate products in WooCommerce?
To add an affiliate product, go to Products > Add New in your WordPress dashboard. In the Product data section, choose External/Affiliate product from the dropdown menu. This will allow you to enter the product's external URL (your affiliate link) and customize the button text.
3. What is the best affiliate plugin for WooCommerce?
Solid Affiliate is our top recommendation for WooCommerce stores. It is built exclusively for WooCommerce and offers deep integration, a modern user-friendly interface, and all the powerful features you need to run a successful program without any add-ons.
4. How to get affiliates for your product?
A great place to start is with your own happy customers; they often make the best advocates. You can also directly reach out to bloggers and influencers in your niche who align with your brand. Make it easy for them by having a clear affiliate sign-up page on your website.
