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A performance bonus is a fixed cash reward you promise for hitting a goal — refer 10 customers, drive $5,000 in revenue, land 25 sales — paid out automatically the moment an affiliate gets there. You set the goal and the reward once, and Referly watches everyone’s activity and credits the bonus the instant someone qualifies. No tracking it yourself, and nothing for the affiliate to claim. They’re one of the simplest ways to light a fire under your program: a clear target with a clear payout gives every affiliate something concrete to push for. You’ll find them under Performance Bonuses in the left sidebar.

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How a performance bonus is defined

Each bonus reads like a sentence — when this activity reaches this amount, pay this bonus. You decide three things:
  • What counts — the activity you’re rewarding: referrals (customers an affiliate brings in), conversions (purchases those customers make), or revenue (the total they generate).
  • The target — how much of that activity unlocks the bonus.
  • The reward — the fixed cash amount the affiliate earns for reaching it.
You also choose the window the activity is counted over: New counts only activity from the bonus’s start date onward, while Lifetime counts everything an affiliate has done since they joined. Add an optional start and end date to run the bonus for a set period, or leave them off so it has no time limit. Full setup is in Create a performance bonus.

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Who can earn it

When you build a bonus you pick its audience: all affiliates, a handful of specific affiliates, or one or more affiliate groups. Only affiliates in that audience can earn it — handy for running a bonus just for a top group or a single partner.

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What happens when an affiliate qualifies

As soon as an affiliate crosses the target, Referly:
  • Credits the bonus as an accepted reward in their rewards, alongside their commissions, so it flows into payouts like anything else they’ve earned.
  • Sends them a Performance Bonus Earned notification and an email, so they know they hit it.
Each affiliate can earn a given bonus once. You can see how many have been awarded on the bonus card — it shows a count like awarded / eligible.

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What your affiliates see

In their portal, affiliates get a Performance Bonuses page that turns the goal into motivation. Bonuses they haven’t finished yet appear under In Progress with a progress bar and a percentage showing how close they are; ones they’ve earned move to Completed with a green badge and the amount they got. It keeps the target in front of them as they work toward it.

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Turning a bonus on and off

Each bonus has a switch on its card. Turn it off to pause it without deleting it — no new bonuses are awarded while it’s off. A bonus whose end date has passed is expired and can’t be switched back on.

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How this differs from other rewards

Referly has a few ways to reward affiliates beyond commissions, and they’re easy to mix up:
  • Performance bonuses (this feature) pay a fixed cash amount automatically when an affiliate hits a target.
  • Milestones move an affiliate onto a better commission plan when they hit a target — they change ongoing terms rather than paying a one-off amount.
  • Give a bonus is a one-off amount you award by hand, whenever you like.

Create a performance bonus

Set the goal, the reward, and who can earn it.

Award a bonus retroactively

Pay affiliates who already met the goal before you created the bonus.

Milestones

Upgrade affiliates to better commission plans as they perform.

Managing bonuses

See earned bonuses alongside your other rewards.
Last modified on July 21, 2026