Contact Form 7 affiliate tracking pays your affiliates when a visitor they referred submits one of your Contact Form 7 forms. Each form gets its own reference value, and the affiliate earns their rank rate on that value for every submission.
This is a simple way to run a pay-per-lead program: quote requests, demo bookings or contact messages count as conversions, even if no order is placed. The visitor is linked to the affiliate the usual way, through an affiliate referral link.
Before you start
- Contact Form 7 is installed and active, with at least one form.
- The Contact Form 7 Tracking add-on is installed and active. See Pro Add-ons.
- Your affiliates have a rank with a commission rate. See Ranks.
How the commission is calculated #
The reference value is not paid as it is. It is the base for the affiliate’s rank rate, the same way an order total is the base for a sale:
- Reference Commission Value
- $50
- Affiliate rank
- Standard, 20%
- Referral for each submission
- $10
If the rank uses a flat rate instead of a percentage, the affiliate receives that flat amount for every submission.
Turn on Contact Form 7 affiliate tracking #
Go to Ultimate Affiliate Pro›Integrations and find the Contact Form 7 card in the Form Integrations group.
Turns tracking for Contact Form 7 on or off. The card shows Enabled while it is on.
Default: On
Opens the Contact Form 7 Tracking settings, where you set the value of each form.
Set a value for each form #
Click Configure on the card. Scroll to the settings below the introduction.
One field for each Contact Form 7 form, labeled with the form title. Enter the base amount for that form, in your affiliate currency. Give higher values to forms that bring you more valuable leads.
The status of new referrals from form submissions.
- Unverified: the referral is saved as Pending and you approve it yourself. Use it when you want to check each lead first.
- Verified: the referral is approved as soon as the form is submitted.
Default: Unverified
The source name of these referrals, shown in the Referrals list and in the affiliate’s Affiliate Portal.
Default: CF Submission
Click Save Changes.
New forms
A form you create later appears on this screen automatically. Open the settings again and give it a value.
Review the referrals #
Each submission from a referred visitor creates a separate referral. Go to Ultimate Affiliate Pro›Referrals to see them.
The Source Custom Name you set, CF Submission by default.
The form title followed by “Submission”, so you know which form the lead came from.
The commission: the form’s reference value multiplied by the affiliate’s rank rate.
Approved referrals are paid like any other commission. See How affiliate payouts work.
Test it #
- Open a private browser window and visit your site through an affiliate link, for example
yourstore.com/?ref=emma.collins. - In the same window, open the page with your form, fill it in and submit it.
- In Ultimate Affiliate Pro›Referrals, check that a new referral with the form name in the description was created for the affiliate.
For a full test routine, see Test your affiliate program. The Contact Form 7 documentation explains how to create and embed forms.
Frequently asked questions #
Can I pay a different amount for each form?
Yes. Every Contact Form 7 form has its own Reference Commission Value. The affiliate’s rank rate is applied to the value of the form that was submitted.
Does every submission create a referral?
Yes. Each submission from a visitor who arrived through an affiliate link creates a new referral, for every form with a value. Use Unverified status if you want to review the leads before you approve them.
What does the affiliate see in the Affiliate Portal?
Each referral is listed in the affiliate’s Affiliate Portal with the amount, the Source Custom Name as the source, the form name in the description and the status, Pending or Approved.
Do I need WooCommerce for Contact Form 7 tracking?
No. Contact Form 7 tracking works on its own. The visitor only needs to arrive through an affiliate link before submitting the form.
A submission did not create a referral. What should I check?
Check that the Contact Form 7 card is enabled in Integrations and that the visitor opened the affiliate link in the same browser before submitting. See Referrals or clicks are not recorded.
