How to test your BLOOP affiliate program
Before officially launching your affiliate program, it’s important to test every part of the setup to ensure it works correctly, from affiliate registration and tracking to commission calculation and payouts. This guide walks you through each area that should be tested and explains what to pay attention to during the process.
1. Campaign setup
Start by creating a campaign and entering all required information such as campaign name, cookie duration, and commission rules.
What to test:
Create a campaign using both basic commission rules (percentage, fixed per order, fixed per item) and advanced rules (based on order value, specific products, or collections).
Activate “Auto apply discount” and check whether the discount is automatically applied when a customer visits the store through an affiliate link.
Deactivate “Auto apply discount” and confirm that no discount is applied automatically.
What to check carefully:
Make sure the “Maximum affiliate commission per customer” limit works as expected.
Test the cookie tracking period: click on an affiliate link, leave the site, and come back within the cookie duration to confirm that the tracking still applies.
Check campaign rules to ensure tracking and limits work correctly
2. Branding and affiliate portal
The affiliate portal is what affiliates interact with the most, so it’s important to test both design and functionality.
What to test:
Customize your brand color, logo, and favicon and confirm that the affiliate portal updates accordingly.
Test the language and translation settings to ensure all text displays correctly.
What to check carefully:
BLOOP currently supports one active language at a time.
Always preview the portal on both desktop and mobile to confirm responsiveness and layout.
Preview your portal on desktop and mobile to ensure consistent branding.
3. Affiliate registration and approval
Next, test how affiliates sign up and how their applications are approved or rejected.
What to test:
Submit the registration form and confirm that the new affiliate appears in the admin panel with a “Pending” status.
Approve and reject applications to check that the correct email notifications are sent.
Manually add a new affiliate and verify that a unique affiliate link is generated.
Use the “Login as affiliate” button to check if the affiliate dashboard displays correctly.
What to check carefully:
If auto-approval is turned on, ensure new affiliates are instantly approved.
Make sure affiliate information such as assigned campaign, coupon, and payment method is displayed accurately.
Test the affiliate sign-up form to ensure it works smoothly
4. Affiliate link and tracking
Accurate tracking is the backbone of your affiliate program. Make sure all referrals and orders are attributed correctly.
What to test:
Open an affiliate link in an incognito browser window and place a test order. Confirm that the order appears under the correct affiliate.
Test using multiple affiliates to verify that each order is credited to the right one.
If coupon codes are used for tracking, test orders made both with and without affiliate links.
What to check carefully:
Make sure no duplicate orders are created in the system.
Test cookie overwriting: if a customer clicks multiple affiliate links, the latest one should take credit for the sale.
For cash-on-delivery (COD) orders, check that commissions are only approved once the order status is changed to “Paid.”
Make sure the referral is tracked under the right affiliate
5. Orders and commissions
Once tracking is confirmed, test the commission calculation and approval flow.
What to test:
Place test orders and track their status from “Pending” to “Approved” to “Paid.”
Reject an order to ensure the commission is removed.
Approve orders and confirm that the commission is calculated correctly based on your campaign rules.
What to check carefully:
Test with multiple products that have different commission rates.
Process a refund and make sure the commission is adjusted or removed accordingly.
Export the order and commission data to check that it’s accurate and properly formatted.
Verify that commissions update accurately as order statuses change
6. Payout flow
After commissions are approved, test the payout process to make sure payments and records work correctly.
What to test:
Mark commissions as “Paid” and confirm they move to the “Paid” tab in the admin panel.
Check whether the affiliate receives a payout notification email.
What to check carefully:
Try marking multiple commissions as paid at once.
Verify that payout details such as PayPal or bank account information are displayed correctly.
Ensure payouts and notifications work after approval
7. Email notifications
Test all system-generated emails to make sure they are sent at the right time and contain the correct information.
What to test:
When an affiliate signs up → they receive a Pending email.
When approved → they receive an Approval email.
When rejected → they receive a Rejection email.
When manually added by the store owner → confirm the welcome email is sent.
When a new sale is recorded → both the affiliate and store owner get notifications.
When a payout is made → the Payout email is sent.
Test the Reset password email.
Test the emails sent to affiliates for the following actions: New sale, Sale approved, Sale declined, New assigned coupon, and New commission payout notifications.
What to check carefully:
Confirm that each email type is enabled in the Email Notifications tab.
Review the placeholders (such as affiliate name, link, code, and reward amount) to make sure they display the correct data.
Ensure all automated emails show the right information
8. General settings and automation
Finally, test the automation options and integrations.
What to test:
Enable and disable auto-approval for affiliates and orders.
Test Shopify tag assignments for customers or orders generated by affiliates.
Check automation and tag setup works smoothly
Final checklist to ensure your affiliate program runs bug-free
Before officially launching, double-check these key points to minimize errors and ensure a smooth experience for both you and your affiliates:
Use multiple test accounts (store owner, affiliate, and customer) to make sure data syncs correctly across all roles.
Clear cache and cookies before each major test to avoid tracking conflicts or outdated session data.
Verify data consistency - affiliate links, coupons, orders, and commissions should all match across the BLOOP dashboard, Shopify orders, and payout records.
Test across devices and browsers to confirm your affiliate portal and tracking work consistently everywhere.
Review email deliverability - make sure all notification emails reach the correct inbox (not spam).
Avoid testing with real customers until all test data has been cleared from your reports.
Keep a simple test log noting what you tested, what passed, and what needs fixing - this helps you track issues before launch.
Once everything passes your tests, you’re ready to launch your affiliate program confidently - knowing every part works as expected and is bug-free.
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