Running a WordPress website is a hard nut to crack. Other than designing the entire thing and adding content, you must manage your site, and most importantly, drive traffic to your site.
Now, marketing is challenging for WordPress site owners. If you don’t know your way around SEO, you must invest in paid ads. If that’s not your cup of tea, you must reach out to other sites and write a ton of guest blogs just to get the word out.
In other words, marketing a WordPress site successfully can drive you crazy unless, of course, you have other people doing it for you. Here’s where an affiliate program comes in.
An affiliate program is like having a sales team, without actually having a sales team. What I mean is you have people marketing your products/services, but you only pay up when they make a successful sale.
Typically, businesses hire an entire sales team or buy adverts, but either method is costly. An affiliate program on the other hand is quite cost-effective. You only pay your affiliates once they make a sale. If the affiliate doesn’t make the sale, you don’t pay a single dime.
But creating the perfect affiliate program is an uphill task especially if you cannot code to save your life. That’s where an affiliate plugin such as SliceWP – the subject of today’s review – comes in.
SliceWP is a brilliant WordPress plugin that helps any website owner, beginner or experienced, to create a robust affiliate program that works on autopilot. If you want to add an affiliate program to your marketing strategy, SliceWP offers you exactly what you need.
Without further ado, let us get started because there is a lot to cover.
What is SliceWP?
So, guys, what’s this animal we’re calling SliceWP? And what does it do exactly? Well, SliceWP, as we’ve hinted in the intro, is a WordPress plugin that helps you to create an affiliate program. It only works with WordPress, meaning you can’t use the plugin to create an affiliate program for other website builders such as Wix or Squarespace.
The brainchild of two brothers – the Mihai’s – SliceWP is a lean and uncluttered affiliate marketing solution meant for online stores and membership sites built on WordPress. Unlike many affiliate marketing solutions currently in the market, SliceWP is easy to set up and use. It comes with beautiful user interfaces that you and your affiliates will love.
Still, the plugin offers you all the features and options you need to run and manage an affiliate program like the pros. Whether you need to pay your affiliates in bulk or grow your business with detailed reports, SliceWP offers you just the tools you need to soar high like an eagle.
Love the simplicity and the ease of use of SliceWP. I managed to set it up very quickly and everything works like a charm! – Roland Murg from WP Booking System
I took the plugin for a ride and I was quite impressed. On top of the core plugin, you also get a ton of amazing add-ons to supercharge your affiliate program, and, consequently, grow your online business. I’m confident you’ll love this bad boy.
With that out of the way, let us have a look at the features you get with a WordPress affiliate plugin like no other.
SliceWP Affiliate Plugin for WordPress: Features
So, what does SliceWP offer in terms of features? Well, the plugin is packed to the brim with everything you’d expect from an affiliate marketing program. You have tons of features, but nothing gets in your way as you try to grow your business.
Here’s what to expect.
- Unlimited affiliates – The sky is the limit with SliceWP. The plugin helps you to manage as many affiliates as you can. There are absolutely no limits. Add 10 or 1000 affiliates to the program, and SliceWP will handle the workload just fine.
- Customizable affiliate registration form – SliceWP allows you to customize your affiliate registration form to capture the data you need without going back and forth. Whether you need bank account details, phone number, email address, and more, you have the option to add unlimited fields to your registration form.
- Affiliate approval process – The SliceWP affiliate plugin for WordPress offers you the chance to vet affiliates manually. That means you can work with only the best affiliates and keep jokers and scammers away. The best part is that you can auto-approve affiliates with a simple switch to save time and make more money.
- Affiliate social sharing – Social media is big business. Thanks to SliceWP, you can add social share buttons to your affiliates’ account pages so your affiliates can promote your products directly from their accounts. How suave?
- Affiliate coupon codes – Coupons work like magic by incentivizing your buyers. SliceWP allows your affiliates to offer customers discounts, which drives more sales for you. It’s a win-win kind of thing.
- Seamless integration with your favorite tools – You can integrate SliceWP with WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads, MemberPress, Paid Member Subscriptions, Paid Membership Pro, GetPaid, and Studiocart
There’s more…
- Affiliate custom commission rates – Not all affiliates are built the same. There is that one guy who drives a lot of business your way and could benefit from a higher commission. SliceWP allows you to create custom commission rates for each affiliate with just a few clicks. On top of that, you can offer custom commission rates for specific products.
- Dedicated affiliate pages – Keep your affiliates in the loop and excited with dedicated pages. Your affiliates can track how their affiliate efforts are going and keep track of everything thanks to beautiful and well-organized pages.
- Mass PayPal payouts – Paying your affiliates is a nuisance if you don’t have the right system. The SliceWP affiliate plugin for WordPress allows you to pay all affiliates with a single click from the comfort of your WordPress admin dashboard.
- Recurring commission rates – Keep your top-tier affiliates for longer by offering them a commission each time a subscription is renewed. This works great for membership sites or any subscription-based business.
- Lifetime commissions – If offering recurring commissions isn’t your thing, SliceWP allows you to link customers to affiliates and reward the latter for all future purchases made by the linked customers.
- No commission fees – Once you install SliceWP on your WordPress site, you won’t any extra fees
And more…
- Customizable email notifications – SliceWP allows you to create custom email notifications that reflect your brand. Keep your affiliates in the loop and make them feel like part of your family.
- Accurate tracking – SliceWP offers you real-time statistics and reports so you know how your affiliates are performing. You can filter your reports by date to have an overview of how your affiliate program is performing.
- Custom affiliate links – Your affiliate links needn’t look bland. Thanks to SliceWP, you can create custom affiliate links that help your affiliates to shine no matter where they share the links.
- Custom cookie duration – Now, you can set custom cookie duration, which acts as an incentive for top affiliates to join your program.
- 30-day moneyback guarantee – You can test drive SliceWP for 30 days without any risk.
- World-class support – Stuck? The team behind SliceWP offers amazing and quick customer support.
With the features out of the way, let us discover how much SliceWP costs.
SliceWP Affiliate Plugin for WordPress: Pricing
How much does SliceWP cost? Well, the developers offer you a couple of easy pricing options. You have three (3) yearly plans and three (3) lifetime plans.
- Basic – The plan costs just $99 per year and offers you the basic tools you need to run your affiliate program. The license is meant for a single WordPress site and offers you eight (8) add-ons.
- Pro – The plan comes in at just $169 annually. It offers you everything you need to take your affiliate program to the next level. The plan is meant for a single site and offers you all 15 add-ons.
- Pro Plus – The plan, which costs $259/year, is perfect for agencies, developers, and freelancers. The license covered 10 websites, all 15 add-ons, and VIP support.
If you don’t wish to pay yearly, you can spring for any of the three (3) lifetime licenses. They are:
- Basic – The lifetime license costs $249 one-time. It’s meant for a single website and offers you eight (8) add-ons.
- Pro – The plan will set you back $429 one-time. The license is meant for a single website and offers you all the 15 add-ons.
- Pro Plus – For a $649 one-time fee, you have the Pro Plus plan that covers 10 websites, all 15 add-ons, and VIP support.
All valid licenses receive free automatic updates. You can always upgrade your license (and grab a huge discount) and cancel any time you wish. Although you might never need one, you can always ask for a refund within 30 days of purchase. You can pay using your card or via PayPal.
And as always, go with a plan that’s perfect for your business needs.
With that out of the way, let us set up and test drive the plugin.
How to Set Up SliceWP WordPress Affiliate Plugin
After purchasing your license, head over to your SliceWP account, and click File Downloads to download the plugin and the add-ons:
You’ll need all the add-ons to unlock the full range of features.
Next, log in to your WordPress admin dashboard and navigate to Plugins > Add New, as shown below.
Next, click the Upload Plugin button:
Firstly, you must install and activate the SliceWP core plugin. Choose the core plugin from your system, and click the Install Now button, as we highlight below.
After that, hit Activate Plugin:
Next, navigate to SliceWP on your WordPress admin menu and click Settings, as shown below.
Next, copy and paste your license key from your SliceWP account and click the Register button, as shown below.
Scroll to the bottom and click the Save Changes button:
Now, we just need to configure a couple of settings and our work is done. On the same page, click the Tools tab, as shown below.
After that, scroll down and click the Setup Wizard button, as shown below.
Doing so launches the SliceWP setup wizard. Next, choose your favorite platform. I’m working with WooCommerce, so that’s what I’ll choose, as shown below.
At the bottom of the page, click the Continue button to proceed to the next step. On the next screen, enter your commission rate, cookie duration, currency, and enable affiliate registration. Click Continue once done.
Next, choose your affiliate pages (the plugin will create these automatically) and click Continue:
After that, activate email notifications and click Continue:
On the next screen, click the Visit Dashboard button. You can subscribe to the SliceWP newsletter or join their Facebook group, too, if you’re inclined.
If you go to Pages > All Pages, you will see all the new pages SliceWP has created automatically. By default, there are three pages: the account, registration and reset password page:
Now that we have the basic settings out of the way, let us see what the premium add-ons offer. Install and activate each add-on just like a typical plugin. Doing so will activate all the features you need to run your affiliate program without hiccups.
Here are the available add-ons.
Affiliate Coupons
The add-on allows you to associate an affiliate with a particular coupon code. When a customer buys through the coupon code, you can then pay that specific affiliate a commission. At the end of the day, everybody wins. The customer gets a discounts, the affiliate gets a commission, and you get the sale.
Creating a coupon code for your affiliates is super-duper easy. If you’re using WooCommerce like yours truly, simply navigate to Marketing > Coupons on your WordPress admin menu, as shown below.
Next, click the Add Coupon button:
On the next page, enter your coupon details and then select the affiliate you’d like to associate with that particular coupon, as shown below.
After that, Publish your coupon and share it with your affiliate. As simple as A, B, C.
If you’re using a different platform, such as a Paid Memberships Pro, please check out this article for further instructions on how to set up Affiliate Coupons.
Custom Affiliate Fields
The Custom Affiliate Fields add-on allows you to add as many custom fields to your registration and account pages as you deem fit. That way, you can collect the information you need to make your affiliate program successful. After installing and activating the add-on, navigate to SliceWP > Settings, as shown below.
Next, click the Affiliate Fields tab, as we highlight below.
Next, you can add, edit or remove fields until you drop:
Again, as simple as A, B, C.
Custom Affiliate Slug
This add-on allows you to set custom slugs or generate random ones for your affiliates to customize the affiliate referral links. The default affiliate link looks something like https://example.com/?aff=10.
With the Custom Affiliate Slug, the affiliate link can look something like https://example.com/?aff=JohnDoe. As you can see, the second link is more personal than the default option.
To activate the add-on, navigate to SliceWP > Settings, as shown below.
From the General tab, toggle on Allow Sitewide Slug Creation, as shown below.
To learn more, check out custom affiliate slug article.
Lifetime Commissions
The Lifetime Commissions add-on allows you to link customers to affiliates and reward your affiliates for all future purchases made by these linked customers.
After installing and activating the add-on, go to your SliceWP settings. Under the General tab, toggle on Enable Sitewide and Link Customers on Registration, as shown below.
Don’t forget to define your lifetime commission rate and save your changes.
Lead Commissions
Connect SliceWP to your contact form and reward your affiliates when referred visitors submit the form. At the time of writing, the Lead Commissions add-on only works with Gravity Forms and Ninja Forms.
Recurring Commissions
The add-on allows you to reward affiliates for recurring payments made by an active subscription. To enable the add-on, go to your SliceWP > Settings > General tab, and toggle on Enable Sitewide, as shown below.
PayPal Payouts
This add-on allows you to pay your affiliates in bulk directly from your WordPress admin dashboard. To enable the add-on, you must connect PayPal to SliceWP, as detailed in this article. It’s easy peasy work, so worry not.
Product Commission Rates
This add-on helps you to override global commission rates with custom commission rates for each product or subscription. The add-on is compatible with WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads, GetPaid, Paid Memberships Pro, and MemberPress, among others.
Reports
This SliceWP add-on allows you to track the performance of your affiliates and key metrics to help you improve your affiliate marketing program.
To view your reports, simply navigate to SliceWP > Reports, as shown below.
Affiliate Start ID
The add-on allows you to customize the ID at which new registrations start. For example, 201, instead of the default 1.
After installing and activating the add-on, navigate to SliceWP > Settings > General tab. Next, you can easily set the default start Id, as shown below.
Cross-site Tracking
This add-on allows you to track affiliate referrals from a different WordPress website to your main eCommerce website.
In other words, the Cross-site Tracking add-on is a bridge between your marketing site and your eCommerce site, if you have such a setup.
To enable the add-on, you must install it on your marketing site. Next, navigate to Marketing Site’s admin area > Settings > Cross-site Referral Tracking.
After that, enter your e-commerce site URL in the Target Website URL field, as shown below.
To learn more about this add-on, feel free to check out the Cross-site Tracking article.
Data Export
This add-on allows you to export affiliates, commissions, payments, and the number of visits to a CSV file.
To export your data, navigate to SliceWP > Settings > Tools (tab):
Next, choose the data you wish to export and click the Export button as shown above.
Affiliate Social Share
The add-on allows your affiliates to share your product to social media network. It adds social sharing buttons to the affiliate account.
To enable the add-on, navigate to SliceWP > Settings > General tab. Next, scroll to the bottom, and activate the social sharing buttons you need. You can even add a custom message for Tweeter, as shown below.
Don’t forget to save your settings at the bottom of the page.
Custom Conversion
Use the Custom Conversion add-on to register commissions when using a checkout solution that doesn’t integrate directly with SliceWP.
After installing and activating the add-on, you simply need to add the [slicewp_custom_conversion] shortcode on your checkout page to track all conversions.
To learn more about this add-on, please checkout this Custom Conversion article.
Affiliate Commission Rates
The add-on allows you to set custom commission rates for each of your affiliates to override the global defaults. To set custom affiliate commission rates, navigate to SliceWP > Affiliates:
Next, click on a specific affiliate, as shown below.
After that, scroll to the bottom and set your custom affiliate commission rate, as shown below.
And that’s it 🙂 Oh, don’t forget to save your changes at the bottom of the page 🙂
Conclusion
Marketing your WordPress website is had, but with a solution such as SliceWP, you can leverage the power of affiliate marketing to take your business to the next level.
Which is your favorite affiliate plugin? Have you tried SliceWP before? Please let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.
Pop the bubbly 🙂
