WooCommerce – How to Setup Tiered Commissions (Volume Based)

In affiliate marketing, performance is everything. The more your affiliates sell, the more your business grows — it’s a win-win, right?

Well… not always.

Most affiliate programs stick to flat commission rates. Same percentage, whether an affiliate drives 5 sales or 500.

Guess what? Your top affiliates leave.

High-performing affiliates deserve performance-based commissions. When they’re rewarded for volume, they go all in.

That’s where tiered commissions structure (volume commissions / performance commissions) come in. It’s a smarter way to motivate your best performers — the more they sell, the more they earn.

And for you? More revenue, more loyalty, more growth.

Let’s break down how volume-based commissions change the game and how you can set it up in WooCommerce.

Why tiered commissions are a game-changer?

Flat commissions are fine… until your best affiliates start wondering, “Why am I working harder for the same reward?”

Here’s why tiered-based commissions (also called sales tiers or volume commissions) are the real MVP:

• Motivate top performers to outperform themselves: Higher sales tiers push affiliates to work harder. When they know more sales means more earnings, they go the extra mile.
• Reduce churn among high-value affiliates: Flat commissions feel unfair to top contributors. Tiered rewards show you value their effort — and help keep them loyal.
• Add a gamified layer to your program: Affiliates “level up” by crossing order tiers. More fun = more engagement.
• Drive long-term commitment: Since the commission is based on overall performance over time, affiliates stay active longer to reach higher tiers.
• Target specific sales goals strategically: Want to sell more of a certain category, product, or through a specific payment method? Set tiered commissions around those goals.

New feature alert: Tiered commissions structure

If you’re ready to turn your affiliate program into a performance-powered growth engine, Affiliate for WooCommerce has your back.

This plugin gives you full control over your commissions, affiliate management, tracking, and reporting.

Affiliate for WooCommerce has the best commission system in the market. And it has now added one more: Tiered Commissions, also known as Volume or Performance based commission.

Now, you can reward affiliates based on the total number of successful orders, the number of customers, revenue and the last referral (days).

That means:

• Better incentives for long-term performance
• Flexible, tier-based commission setup
• And a whole lot more sales without extra manual effort

Want to explore other types of commission plans like payment methods or product taxonomies? Check out this article.

Enough of this theory, now let’s see how to actually set up a tiered commission structure with Affiliate for WooCommerce.

Tiered commission based on total orders

Let’s say you want to reward affiliates with higher commissions as they sell more. For example:

• Affiliates who have sold less than 1,000 orders get a 30% commission.
• Affiliates who have sold 1,000 or more orders get a 35% commission.

Steps to set up order-based commission:

• Go to WooCommerce > Affiliates > Plans.
• Click on Add a Plan.
• Give a name to your plan – say, Commission for Less than 1000 Orders.
• Under Commission, select Percentage and then type 30.
• Now under Rules, set the rule as Affiliate – Valid Referral Orders < 1000.
• Choose whether to offer commission or not on other products if present in the order under the Actions tab.
• Set the campaign as Active and click on Save.

Now create one more new plan:

• Follow the same steps as above. Just in Commission, select Percentage and type 35.
• Set the plan name.
• And under Rules, set the rule as Affiliate – Valid Referral Orders >= 1000.
• For other products in the order, choose whether to offer commission or not under the Actions tab.
• Set the campaign as Active and click on Save.

And this is how you can easily create volume based commission.

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Tiered commission based on the number of customers

Want to reward your affiliates not just for the number of orders but for the number of unique customers they bring in?

This setup is simple and perfect if you want to encourage affiliates to focus on acquiring new customers rather than just repeat sales.

The more customers they bring, the higher their commission tier.

Let’s look at an example:

• Affiliates who have referred fewer than 50 customers get a 20% commission.
• Affiliates who have referred 50 or more customers get a 25% commission.

Here’s how you can set up customer-based tiered commission:

• Go to WooCommerce > Affiliates > Plans.
• Click Add a Plan.
• Enter a plan name – for example, Commission for Less than 50 Customers.
• Under Commission, choose Percentage and enter 20.
• In the Rules section, set Affiliate – Customers < 50.
• Under Actions, decide whether to apply the commission to all matching products or just the first one.
• Set the plan status to Active and click Save.

Now create another plan for the next tier:

• Click Add a Plan again.
• Enter a name – say, Commission for 50+ Customers.
• Under Commission, choose Percentage and enter 25.
• In Rules, set Affiliate – Customers >= 50.
• Configure other settings under Actions as needed.
• Activate the plan and Save.

And that’s it!

Your affiliates will now automatically earn commissions based on the total number of unique customers they’ve referred.

Tiered commission based on revenue

Another powerful way to motivate your affiliates is by rewarding them based on the total revenue they generate.

You can now create a tiered commission structure based on affiliate revenue — a perfect strategy to recognize your top-performing affiliates and push them to achieve higher sales milestones.

Let’s look at an example:

• Affiliates who’ve generated less than $5,000 in revenue earn a 20% commission.
• Affiliates who’ve generated $5,000 or more in revenue earn a 25% commission.

Here’s how you can set up revenue-based tiered commission:

• Go to WooCommerce > Affiliates > Plans.
• Click on Add a Plan.
• Give your plan a name — for example, Commission for Less than $5,000 Revenue.
• Under Commission, select Percentage and enter 20.
• In the Rules section, choose Affiliate – Revenue < 5000.
• Under Actions, choose whether to apply the rule to all products in the order or just the first matching product.
• Set the status to Active and click Save.

Now, create the next tier:

• Click Add a Plan again.
• Name it — for instance, Commission for $5,000+ Revenue.
• Under Commission, select Percentage and enter 25.
• In the Rules, set Affiliate – Revenue >= 5000.
• Adjust Actions as needed, set status to Active and click Save.

And you’re done!

Your affiliates will now earn commissions based on the total revenue they bring in.

Tiered commission based on last referral (days)

Reward your affiliates based on their recent activity — specifically, the number of days since their last referral.

This feature helps you identify and motivate affiliates who are regularly bringing in referrals, while also re-engaging those who haven’t been active for a while.

Here’s an example:

• Affiliates whose last referral was within the last 30 days earn a 25% commission.
• Affiliates whose last referral was older than 30 days earn a 15% commission.

Here’s how you can set up this plan:

• Go to WooCommerce > Affiliates > Plans.
• Click on Add a Plan.
• Give your plan a name — for example, Active Affiliates (Last 30 Days).
• Under Commission, select Percentage and enter 25.
• In the Rules section, choose Affiliate – Last Referral (Days) - in last - 30.
• Under Actions, decide whether to apply this rule to all products in the order or only the first matching product.
• Set the campaign as Active and click Save.

Now, let’s create another plan for less active affiliates:

• Click Add a Plan again.
• Name it — for instance, Inactive Affiliates (Older than 30 Days).
• Under Commission, select Percentage and enter 15.
• In the Rules, choose Affiliate – Last Referral (Days) - older than - 30.
• Adjust Actions as needed.
• Set the campaign to Active and click Save.

Your affiliate system will now automatically assign commission rates based on how recently affiliates brought in their last referral.

Tiered commission setup ideas you can steal

With Affiliate of WooCommerce, you can club tiered commissions with other rules based on affiliate tags, payment methods, and more.

Here are a few practical and creative examples to inspire your setup:

Tiered commission based on orders and affiliate tag

Let’s say you want to set different commission rates based on the number of orders for affiliates belonging to your “Gold” tag or group.

• 1–100 orders → 10% commission
• 101–200 orders → 12% commission
• 201+ orders → 15% commission

You just have to create three different plans and set these rules:

• Affiliate Tags → any of → Gold (to be added in all three plans)
• Percentage commission = 10 and Affiliate - Valid Referral Orders <= 100
• Percentage commission = 12, Affiliate - Valid Referral Orders >= 101 and Affiliate - Valid Referral Orders <= 200 within the same rule group.
• Percentage commission = 15 and Affiliate - Valid Referral Orders >= 201

Tiered commission based on the number of customers and affiliate tag

Let’s say you want to reward your “Pro Affiliates” based on how many unique customers they refer.

Here’s the structure for this:

• 1–10 customers = 10% commission
• 11–25 customers = 15% commission
• 26+ customers = 20% commission

So, you have to create three new rules as follows:

• Affiliate Tags → any of → Pro Affiliates (to be added to all three plans)
• Percentage commission = 10% and Affiliate - Number of Customers ≤ 10
• Percentage commission = 15% and Affiliate - Number of Customers ≥ 11 and Affiliate - Number of Customers ≤ 25
• Percentage commission = 20% and Affiliate - Number of Customers ≥ 26

Tiered commission based on orders and payment method

Let’s say you want to reward affiliates differently based on how many orders they generate using particular payment methods.

PayPal and Stripe orders:

• 1 – 20 orders: 15% commission
• 21+ orders: 20% commission

To enable this, you have to create two plans and set these rules:

• Order - Payment methods > any of > PayPal, Stripe (to be added in both plans)
• Percentage commission = 15 and Affiliate - Valid Referral Orders <= 20
• Percentage commission = 20 and Affiliate - Valid Referral Orders >= 21

Tiered commission for a orders and specific affiliate

Let’s say you want to offer custom commission tiers for your rockstar affiliate Amanda.

Here’s how you can structure the commission plans based on her total valid referral orders:

• Affiliate → is → Amanda (amanda19@example.com) (to be added in all three plans)
• Percentage commission = 15 and Affiliate - Valid Referral Orders <= 100
• Percentage commission = 20 and Affiliate - Valid Referral Orders >= 101 and Affiliate - Valid Referral Orders <= 501
• Percentage commission = 30 and Affiliate - Valid Referral Orders >= 501

Tiered commission for a orders and specific product

Let’s say you want to set up a tiered commission for your new Bluetooth Keyboard to really motivate your affiliates.

Here’s your tiered structure:

• 1–10 keyboards sold → $10 per sale
• 11–25 keyboards sold → $15 per sale
• 26+ keyboards sold → $20 per sale

Here’s how you’d configure the rules in your affiliate platform:

• Product > any of > Bluetooth Keyboard (to be added in all three plans)
• Flat commission = $10 and Affiliate - Valid Referral Orders <= 10
• Flat commission = $15 and Affiliate - Valid Referral Orders >= 11 and Affiliate - Valid Referral Orders <= 25
• Flat commission = $20 and Affiliate - Valid Referral Orders >= 26

Tiered commission based on orders and product taxonomy

Let’s say you want to tailor commissions based on product taxonomy like brand. For example, for the brand Adidas:

Tiered commission based on Adidas orders:

• 1–20 Adidas orders → 8% commission
• 21–50 Adidas orders → 12% commission
• 51+ Adidas orders → 15% commission

Here’s how to set it up:

• Brand → any of → Adidas (to be added in all three plans)
• Percentage commission = 8% and Affiliate - Valid Referral Orders <= 20
• Percentage commission = 12% and Affiliate - Valid Referral Orders >= 21 and Affiliate - Valid Referral Orders <= 50
• Percentage commission = 15% and Affiliate - Valid Referral Orders >= 51

Tiered commission based on orders and product category

Let’s say you want to boost commissions for affiliates who sell more products from the “Luxury” category — to push premium product sales.

Here’s a solid tiered percentage commission structure:

• 1–8 orders → 25% commission
• 9+ orders → 30% commission

Rules to set this would be:

• Product Categories → any of → Luxury (to be added in both plans)
• Percentage commission = 25% and Affiliate - Valid Referral Orders <= 8
• Percentage commission = 14% and Affiliate - Valid Referral Orders >= 9

Tiered commission based on revenue generated and product category

Suppose you want to reward affiliates who drive higher total revenue from the “Electronics” category.

This is how it goes:

• Revenue up to $5,000 = 18% commission
• $5,001 – $10,000 = 25% commission
• $10,000+ = 30% commission

Create three new rules as follows:

• Product Categories → any of → Electronics (to be added to all three plans)
• Percentage commission = 18% and Affiliate - Revenue Generated ≤ 5,000
• Percentage commission = 25% and Affiliate - Revenue Generated ≥ 5,001 and Affiliate - Revenue Generated ≤ 10,000
• Percentage commission = 30% and Affiliate - Revenue Generated ≥ 10,001

Tiered commission based on last referral (days) and payment method

Want your affiliates to stay active and your PayPal sales to soar? Let’s make it happen.

For example:

• Referral in the last 30 days → 20% commission
• Referral older than 30 days → 10% commission

Set two rules as follows:

• Order - Payment methods → any of → PayPal (add to both plans)
• Percentage commission = 20% and Affiliate - Last Referral (Days) - in last - 30
• Percentage commission = 10% and Affiliate - Last Referral (Days) - older than - 30

Turn affiliates into sales machines

Overall, flat commissions might be easy, but they’re not enough if you want to scale.

Your high-performing affiliates need to feel seen, valued, and — most importantly — rewarded for their hustle.

A tiered commission structure doesn’t just motivate; it transforms your affiliate program into a dynamic, performance-driven machine.

So, whether you’re rewarding based on total orders, number of customers, product type, payment method, last referral (days) or revenue tiers — Affiliate for WooCommerce gives you the control to set it up exactly how you want.

Try Affiliate for WooCommerce today