Affiliate triggers start a workflow the moment something happens in your affiliate program, so you can automate onboarding, payouts, follow-ups, and internal alerts instead of handling each affiliate by hand. These triggers power your Affiliate Manager automations, turning program events into the first step of any workflow.
Every trigger in this category is added the same way inside the workflow builder:
From the left sidebar, open Marketing.
Click Workflows.
Click Create Workflow, then choose Start from Scratch.
Click Add New Trigger.
Use the search field to find the trigger you want, then select it.
Apply any optional filters, then click Save Trigger.
Confirm the trigger appears at the top of your workflow, then Save and Publish.
The Affiliate triggers only appear in the builder when Affiliate Manager is enabled for your sub-account, and some require at least one affiliate campaign to exist. If a trigger is missing, go to Settings > Affiliate Manager, turn on the toggle, and create a campaign before returning to the workflow builder.
Fires on: the creation of a new affiliate in your sub-account. It runs once per affiliate, at the moment the affiliate record is added, regardless of whether the affiliate was added manually by your team or signed up on their own through a form, funnel, or sign-up link. It fires on the affiliate record itself, not on a campaign enrollment or a sale, so it is the earliest point at which you can act on a new partner.
Configuration and filters: this trigger has no required configuration. Selecting it is enough to make the workflow run for every new affiliate. If you only want to act on a subset of new affiliates, branch later in the workflow using conditions on the data the trigger provides.
Data made available: the new affiliate's profile data, including affiliate name, email, and phone number. Because the affiliate record is also a contact, standard contact merge fields such as {{contact.first_name}}, {{contact.email}}, and {{contact.phone}} are available in downstream email, SMS, and notification steps.
When to use it: use this trigger to welcome and orient brand-new affiliates the instant they join, before they have been enrolled in any specific campaign.
Med-spa example: a med spa recruits local estheticians and influencers as referral partners. When a new partner signs up, the Affiliate Created trigger fires and the workflow sends a branded welcome email with program guidelines, notifies the front-desk manager in an internal notification, and adds an "Affiliate" tag so the partner can be filtered in reporting.
Notes and limits:
The trigger appears only when Affiliate Manager is enabled for the sub-account.
It runs once at creation; updating an existing affiliate later will not re-fire it.
It is not tied to a campaign. If you need campaign-specific onboarding, use the Affiliate Enrolled in Campaign trigger instead.
Fires on: every time an affiliate successfully generates a sale. This includes one-time purchases, recurring (subscription) payments, and sales that are tracked manually inside Affiliate Manager. Each qualifying sale fires the trigger, so an affiliate who drives several sales will start the workflow once per sale.
Configuration and filters: click Add Filters to limit when the trigger runs. The available filters are:
Filter | What it does | Values |
|---|---|---|
Affiliate | Runs only for sales made by specific affiliates | Select one or more affiliates |
Campaign | Runs only for sales attributed to selected campaigns | Select one or more campaigns |
Payout method check | Runs based on whether the affiliate has added a payout method | Has added / has not added |
Tax form check | Runs based on whether the affiliate has submitted tax forms | Submitted / not submitted |
Filters are optional and can be combined. With no filters applied, the trigger fires on every affiliate sale.
Data made available: affiliate details (name, email, phone) and sale details such as the campaign the sale is attributed to, along with the affiliate's payout-method and tax-form status used by the filters. Standard {{contact.*}} merge fields are available for the related contact in downstream steps.
When to use it: use this trigger to engage affiliates and customers automatically right after a sale closes, to keep partners motivated, and to chase down missing payout or tax details before commissions are due.
Med-spa example: when a referral partner's link results in a booked Botox package, the New Affiliate Sales trigger fires. The workflow sends the affiliate a "Congrats on your recent sale" message, and a second branch filtered to "payout method has not been added" sends a reminder to add banking details so the commission can be paid. A separate step tags the new customer "Affiliate Customer" for future segmentation.
Notes and limits:
The trigger appears only when Affiliate Manager is enabled.
Use the payout-method and tax-form filters to prevent paying out commissions before an affiliate is set up to receive them.
Manually tracked sales fire the trigger the same as automated ones, so test with a manual sale if you want to verify the workflow.
Fires on: an affiliate being added to a specific affiliate campaign. It fires whether the enrollment happens automatically (through forms, funnels, or sign-up links) or manually (a team member adds the affiliate to a campaign inside Affiliate Manager). As long as the enrollment occurs and matches any filter you have set, the workflow runs.
Configuration and filters: click Add Filters to narrow when the trigger activates.
Click Add Filters.
Choose a filter type. Under Standard Fields you can select Campaign, or filter on custom attributes.
Select the operator and choose the campaign you want.
Click Save Trigger.
Filtering by campaign lets you run a different workflow, or a different branch, for each campaign an affiliate might join. With no filter set, the trigger fires for enrollment in any campaign.
Data made available: this is the richest of the Affiliate triggers. When it fires, it unlocks affiliate-specific custom values you can insert into emails, SMS, internal notifications, and CRM updates:
Affiliate Name
Affiliate Email
Affiliate Phone
Campaign Name
Total Revenue
Commission Earned
Referral Link
Client Portal Link
Magic Login Link
Standard {{contact.*}} merge fields are also available for the related contact.
When to use it: use this trigger for campaign-specific onboarding, when you want the welcome experience, tags, and team alerts to differ depending on which campaign the affiliate joined.
Med-spa example: a med spa runs two affiliate campaigns, a "Skincare Influencer Program" and a "Patient Referral Program." Filtering this trigger by campaign, the spa sends influencers a welcome email with their Referral Link, Commission Earned details, and a Magic Login Link to the affiliate portal, while patient referrers get a simpler thank-you SMS. Each branch applies a campaign-specific tag (for example, "Skincare Influencer") for later segmentation, and an internal notification alerts the marketing coordinator with the Affiliate Name and Campaign Name.
Ways to use the custom values in workflow steps:
Internal notification: alert your team with Affiliate Name, Affiliate Email, Affiliate Phone, and Campaign Name for full context on the enrollment.
Personalized SMS: welcome the affiliate by name and include the Magic Login Link so they can reach their portal instantly.
Welcome email: include the Referral Link, Total Revenue, or Commission Earned, hyperlink the Client Portal Link, and attach your terms and program guidelines.
Campaign tags: apply a campaign-based tag so affiliates can be segmented for future workflows and promotions.
Notes and limits:
The trigger appears only when Affiliate Manager is enabled and at least one affiliate campaign exists in the sub-account.
Affiliate custom values (referral link, portal link, magic login link) only populate when the workflow is started by a real enrollment event. Testing with a record that has no genuine enrollment will leave these values blank.
Manual enrollments fire the trigger just like automatic ones.
Fires on: a new lead being referred by an affiliate. In the Affiliate Manager context, this trigger runs the instant an affiliate's referral activity produces a new lead, for example when a prospect arrives through an affiliate's referral link and is captured as a contact. It fires at lead creation, before any sale has occurred, giving you the earliest point to act on referral interest and credit the referring partner. Each new affiliate-attributed lead fires the trigger once, so an affiliate who sends several prospects will start the workflow once per lead.
Configuration and filters: click Add Filters to narrow when the trigger runs.
Filter | What it does | Values |
|---|---|---|
Campaign | Runs only for leads attributed to a selected campaign | A specific campaign, or all campaigns |
The Campaign filter is optional. Set it to a single campaign to run a dedicated workflow or branch for one affiliate program, or leave it unset to fire for any affiliate-referred lead across all campaigns.
Data made available: custom values from the Lead Created section, covering both the referring affiliate's details and the new lead's contact data, ready to insert into downstream email, SMS, internal notification, and CRM-update steps:
Affiliate Name
Affiliate Email
Affiliate Phone
Campaign Name
Referral Link
Standard {{contact.*}} merge fields are also available for the new lead, such as {{contact.first_name}}, {{contact.email}}, and {{contact.phone}}.
When to use it: use this trigger to respond to affiliate-driven leads immediately, nurturing them while interest is high, alerting your internal sales or support team, and crediting the referring partner. A common pattern is to pair it with the Add Leads under an Affiliate action so each referred lead is automatically assigned to the correct affiliate for credit and follow-up, and to send the affiliate a congratulatory message for generating the lead. You can also apply a tag to track and segment affiliate leads for nurturing.
Med-spa example: a prospect clicks a referral partner's link and submits a consultation request. The Lead Created trigger fires and the workflow uses Add Leads under an Affiliate to attribute the lead to the referring partner, assigns the lead to an available provider's pipeline, and sends an internal notification to the front desk (including the Affiliate Name and the lead's name and phone) so the team can prioritize the call. A parallel branch sends the affiliate a "You just referred a new lead" email with their Referral Link, and applies an "Affiliate Lead" tag so the prospect can be nurtured and segmented in reporting.
Notes and limits:
The trigger appears only when Affiliate Manager is enabled for the sub-account.
This trigger fires on lead creation, not on a sale. Pair it with the New Affiliate Sales trigger if you also want to act at the point of purchase.
Affiliate custom values (such as the Referral Link) populate only when the workflow is started by a real affiliate-referral event; testing with a record that has no genuine affiliate attribution will leave these values blank.
Q: Why is an Affiliate trigger not showing up in my workflow options? The Affiliate triggers only appear when Affiliate Manager is enabled and, for campaign-based triggers, at least one affiliate campaign exists. Go to Settings > Affiliate Manager, turn on the toggle, then create a campaign under the Affiliate Manager tab. Once both are active, the triggers appear in the builder under the "Affiliate" category.
Q: Will these triggers fire if I add an affiliate manually? Yes. The Affiliate Created, New Affiliate Sales, and Affiliate Enrolled in Campaign triggers all fire whether the action happens automatically (through forms, funnels, or sign-up links) or manually (added by your team), as long as it matches any filters you have set.
Q: Why do my affiliate custom values appear empty in an email or SMS step? Affiliate custom values such as the referral link, portal link, and magic login link are dynamic and tied to the trigger event. They only populate when the workflow is started by a real affiliate event, such as an actual enrollment. Test with a valid affiliate record and make sure the trigger is correctly configured and saved; the values are then available to insert from the trigger's section when building your message.
Q: Can I onboard affiliates differently depending on which campaign they joined? Yes. Use the campaign filter on the Affiliate Enrolled in Campaign trigger to run different workflows or branches per campaign. For example, send one welcome sequence for a "Skincare Influencer Program" and a different one for a "Patient Referral Program," and apply campaign-specific tags for later segmentation.
Q: What is the difference between Affiliate Created and Affiliate Enrolled in Campaign? Affiliate Created fires once when the affiliate record is first added, before any campaign assignment, and is best for general program onboarding. Affiliate Enrolled in Campaign fires when the affiliate is added to a specific campaign and unlocks campaign-specific custom values, making it the right choice for campaign-tailored onboarding.
