If you are looking for customizable affiliate program software, it is important to be aware of the various software options available. Some are not very customizable, while others are customizable in different ways.
Probably the most customizable script on the market is the very popular PostAffiliatePro. It has a huge range of options included, and with a little programming, you can do just about anything with it. The other affiliate software on the market are not nearly as customizable.
Look and Feel:
Some affiliate software offers you a range of themes to choose from for your admin and affiliate panels. You can choose the one that best fits with your branding and try out a few. It is easy to switch between them. (Examples of software with choice of themes: PostAffiliatePro, JROX-JAM)
If you need to customize the theme to suit your corporate image, some software make it easy for your to integrate your own template into the code (Examples of software which allows you to create your own themes: PostAffiliatePro, OSI Affiliate)
Affiliate Sign-up:
Some merchants find that it is essential that they can customize the affiliate sign-up process. The more customizable affiliate program software gives you the ability to choose between auto-approval and manual approval of new affiliates. It also allows you to customize the fields to determine what information a potential affiliate must provide, e.g. URL of their website, country of residence, how they plan to promote your products.(Examples of software with a customizable affiliate sign-up process: PostAffiliatePro, JROX-JAM, iDevAffiliate)
If you need a customized commission structure, then it is important to choose an affiliate software that supports that structure. Tier structuring is a good example of this: some affiliate software is limited to one tier (e.g. E-junkie), some are limited to two tiers (e.g. WordPress Affiliate Platform), others go up to 10 tiers (e.g. iDevAffiliate, OSIAffiliate), while others have unlimited tiers (e.g. PostAffiliatePro). PostAffiliatePro is the most accommodating for a multi-level marketing affiliate structure with unlimited tiers and a forced matrix model.
The standard affiliate payment structure is a percentage of the sale. Every affiliate software can handle this kind of commission structure. But if you want to use other kinds of affiliate commission structures, then you will have to look closely at the options supported by a particular software to make sure it can be customized to your needs. Other possible structures include: pay-per-click, pay-per-lead, and fixed payment per sale. (Examples of software with a full range of commission structures: PostAffiliatePro, JROX-JAM, iDevAffiliate)
Another option to look for is the capacity to have a recurring commission program on product involving recurring billing. These residual income programs are a big draw-card for affiliates, but not every software offers this option. (Examples of software with a full range of commission structures: PostAffiliatePro, OSI Affiliates, iDevAffiliate).
It can be important that you are able to customize the commission structure for different products and for different affiliates. For example, many affiliate programs reward high-performing affiliates with a high percentage commission. Most softwares available today support a variable commission structure but it is important to check if a particular software is customizable enough before purchasing.
Language
All of the software reviewed on this site come in English, but if you need to work in a different language besides English (or as well as English), it is important to take note of the options for customization. Some software do not allow you to change the language (generally the hosted software), while others make it possible for you to get them translated (OSI Affiliate), still others come with optional Language Packs, where the translation has been done for you already. iDevAffiliate’s language pack covers French, German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, and Portuguese and costs $50 with the standard edition, and is included in higher editions. And even better option may be PostAffiliatePro, which includes translations into 15 languages for free: Czech, Danish, German, Spanish, French, Hungarian, Italian, Dutch, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Slovak, Serbian, and Simplified Chinese.
Source Code:
If you want to customize an affiliate software more extensively, you need a product that makes the source code available and which is not encrypted. Obviously this is something that only a developer can do properly. Examples of software with customizable source code are: PostAffiliatePro and OSI Affiliate. Note: the popular affiliate software iDevAffiliate has its source code encrypted.