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Build an API-First Affiliate System to Automate Tiered Commissions

Your e-commerce business is thriving, but managing your tiered affiliate program for micro-influencers has become a nightmare. Manually tracking unique discount codes and affiliate links is time-consuming, error-prone, and makes calculating tiered commissions a major administrative bottleneck. This manual process risks inaccurate payouts and strains valuable influencer relationships.

This playbook details how to build a scalable, standalone affiliate management system using an API-first strategy. By developing a dedicated microservice, you decouple your affiliate logic from your front-end, creating a more flexible and resilient system. This microservice connects to Shopify's robust e-commerce backend to accurately track sales data and syncs with HubSpot CRM to streamline affiliate onboarding, communication, and relationship management.

Expected Outcomes

  • Eliminate manual tracking errors and administrative bottlenecks.
  • Automate the calculation and processing of complex, tiered affiliate commissions.
  • Ensure accurate, timely, and transparent payouts to strengthen influencer relationships.
  • Gain a scalable and flexible affiliate system that can grow with your business.
  • Achieve clear and reliable attribution for every sale, providing valuable performance data.

Core Tools in This Stack

Shopify

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Shopify is an all-in-one commerce platform that allows businesses to create an online store, manage products, process payments, and sell across multiple channels, from websites to social media and physical locations.

Key Features
  • Customizable Online Storefront
  • Integrated Payment Processing (Shopify Payments)
  • Point of Sale (POS) System
  • Multi-channel Selling (Social Media, Marketplaces)
  • Inventory Management
  • Marketing and SEO Tools
  • Extensive App Store for added functionality
  • Analytics and Reporting Dashboard
Ideal For

Company Size: Micro, Small, Medium, Large

Industries: Retail & E-commerce, Creative & Media, Health & Wellness

Pricing

Model: Subscription-based

Tier: Mid-tier

Ease of Use

Easy

HubSpot CRM

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A comprehensive CRM platform that includes a suite of tools for marketing, sales, content management, and customer service, with a completely free CRM at its core to help businesses manage customer relationships and accelerate growth.

Key Features
  • Contact & Lead Management
  • Sales Pipeline Visualization
  • Deal Tracking and Management
  • Email Tracking and Templates
  • Meeting Scheduling Tool
  • Live Chat and Chatbots
  • Reporting and Analytics Dashboards
  • Task and Activity Automation
Ideal For

Company Size: Small, Medium

Industries: Technology & Software, Business & Professional Services, Retail & E-commerce, Creative & Media

Pricing

Model: Freemium, Subscription

Tier: Starter

Ease of Use

Very High

The Workflow

graph TD subgraph "API-First with Best-in-Class SaaS" direction LR N0["Shopify"] N1["HubSpot CRM"] N0 -- "Creates Deal from affiliate purchase" --> N1 N1 -- "Provides affiliate referral codes for tracking" --> N0 end classDef blue fill:#3498db,stroke:#2980b9,stroke-width:2px,color:#fff; classDef green fill:#2ecc71,stroke:#27ae60,stroke-width:2px,color:#fff; classDef orange fill:#f39c12,stroke:#d35400,stroke-width:2px,color:#fff; class N0 blue; class N1 blue;

Integration Logic

  • Affiliate Growth Engine

    This integration creates a two-way sync for managing an affiliate program. When a new affiliate signs up (e.g., via a HubSpot Form), a contact is created in HubSpot. The Affiliate Growth Engine assigns a unique referral code/link to this contact and stores it in a custom property on their HubSpot record. When a customer makes a purchase on Shopify using an affiliate's link or code, the Affiliate Growth Engine identifies the referring affiliate. It then creates a new Deal in HubSpot, associating it with the affiliate's contact record and the customer's contact record. The Deal contains all relevant order information from Shopify, such as order value and products purchased, allowing for automated commission tracking and performance reporting directly within HubSpot dashboards.

Automate Your Tiered Commissions

Build a scalable system to eliminate manual tracking and ensure accurate, on-time influencer payouts.