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The advocate is the customer who shares their referral link or code. This page lists every setting that controls the coupon they earn. Find them at WooCommerce → Refer a Friend → Settings → Advocate Reward.
Choose when the advocate is rewarded
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Order Based Reward | Creates the coupon when the friend’s order reaches the Generate Referral Reward On status. On by default. |
| Registration Based Reward | Creates the coupon as soon as the friend creates an account on your site, before they buy anything. |
You can only turn on one of them. Turning on one turns off the other. Both use the coupon settings below.
Registration rewards skip all fraud checks, and anyone can create accounts. An advocate can sign up with new email addresses and collect a coupon each time. Use Order Based Reward unless account sign-ups are what you want to pay for.
Coupon settings
Click Show advanced options to see the settings below Include Categories.
| Setting | What it does | Default | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coupon type | The kind of discount. | Fixed Cart Discount | See Coupon types and restrictions explained. |
| Coupon Amount | The discount value. A number without a currency symbol or %. |
Empty | Required. With Registration Based Reward, no coupon is created while this is empty. |
| Include Products | The coupon only applies to these products, or needs one of them in the cart. | Empty | Same as WooCommerce’s Products field. |
| Exclude Products | The coupon never discounts these products. | Empty | |
| Include Categories | The coupon only applies to products in these categories. | Empty | |
| Exclude Categories | The coupon never discounts products in these categories. | Empty | |
| Free Shipping | The coupon also gives free shipping. | Off | Needs a Free shipping method that requires “A valid free shipping coupon” in your shipping zone. |
| Individual Use | The coupon can’t be combined with other coupons. | Off | |
| Minimum Order | The cart subtotal needed before the advocate can use the coupon. | Empty | This is different from Minimum referral order in General Settings, which applies to the friend’s order. |
| Coupon Duration | Days until the coupon expires, counted from the day it’s created. | Empty (never expires) | |
| Limit usage to X Items | For product discounts, the number of items the discount applies to. | Empty (all items) | Set it to 1 when you give a free product. |
| Generate Coupon on every X Order | Reward only every Xth successful referral. | Empty (every referral) | See Reward every Nth referral. |
| Exclude sale items | The coupon doesn’t discount products that are on sale. | Off |
With WooCommerce Subscriptions active, Coupon type also offers the subscription discount types. See WooCommerce Subscriptions.
What every advocate coupon gets automatically
You don’t set these. The plugin adds them to every coupon it creates:
- A unique code like
RAF-A1B2C3D4E5. - Usage limit per coupon of 1.
- Allowed emails set to the advocate’s email, so nobody else can use it.
- A description saying who the coupon is for and which order earned it.
Changing the settings later
New settings only apply to coupons created after you save. Existing coupons keep the values they were created with. To change one, edit it under Marketing → Coupons.
Check it worked
Place a test referral order and mark it with your reward status. Then go to Marketing → Coupons and open the newest RAF-… coupon. Its type, amount, expiry and restrictions should match these settings. Test your referral program walks you through it.