Auto-tag Referral Orders
Auto-tagging adds a Shopify order tag to every order that was referred by an affiliate. Once tagged, you can filter by tag in Shopify Admin, build segment-based reports, or trigger Flow automations.
Where to enable it
Settings page → Auto-tag referral orders card. The description below the heading reads "Auto-tag new affiliate orders for easy filtering and organizing in Shopify Admin." Toggle On to enable; a Tag format input appears.
The tag format
You define what the tag looks like using a template with variables. The default template is:
Affily - {affiliate_name}Click Add variable under the input to insert {affiliate_name} or {program_name} at the cursor.
Example: Affily - {program_name} becomes Affily - standard-10 or Affily - vip-partners depending on which program the affiliate belonged to.
Available variables
| Variable | What it becomes |
|---|---|
{affiliate_name} | Affiliate's first + last name (lowercase, hyphen-separated) |
{program_name} | Program name (lowercase, hyphen-separated) |
At least one variable is required in the format — otherwise every order would have the same tag, which is not useful.
Sanitization rules
To keep tags safe for Shopify:
- Converted to lowercase.
- Diacritics removed (é → e, ñ → n, etc.).
- Spaces → hyphens (
VIP Partners→vip-partners). - Special characters removed (!, @, #, etc.).
- Max 40 characters — anything beyond is truncated.
- Trailing hyphens stripped.
Example formats
| Template | Result (affiliate=Sarah Smith, program=VIP) |
|---|---|
{affiliate_name} | sarah-smith |
Affily-{affiliate_name} | affily-sarah-smith |
{program_name}-{affiliate_name} | vip-sarah-smith |
ref-{program_name} | ref-vip |
When the tag is applied
The app adds the tag in two moments:
- When a conversion is created — right after the order is placed and matched to an affiliate.
- When a conversion is updated — if you change the affiliate or program on an existing conversion (rare).
The tag is additive: any tags the order already has stay. We only add our tag, never remove yours.
Retry behavior
If the Shopify API fails (rate limit, temporary downtime), the app retries 3 times with exponential backoff. If all retries fail, the tag is skipped and an error is logged — the conversion itself is still created.
Finding tagged orders
In Shopify Admin → Orders → click the Filter button → add filter Tagged with → enter your tag.
Tips:
- Use a consistent prefix like
affily-so all affiliate orders can be found with one search. - Combine with Shopify Flow to, say, notify your fulfillment team when a high-value affiliate order comes in.
Limits
- 40 characters total after sanitization.
- Only
{affiliate_name}and{program_name}variables supported. No order fields, no custom variables. - No regex / conditionals — the template is literal substitution.
Turning it off
Toggle Off any time. Existing tags stay on already-tagged orders (we never remove tags). New orders will not be tagged going forward.