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| tracking (the lifeline of affiliate marketing) |
tracking (the lifeline of affiliate marketing)
The key to affiliate marketing is being able to track the whole process from potential customers being sent to a web site through to completed action, so that the merchant is able to award the correct affiliate with the correct commission. This really is the crux of affiliate marketing.
The key to affiliate marketing is being able to track the whole process from potential customers being sent to a web site through to completed action, so that the merchant is able to award the correct affiliate with the correct commission. This really is the crux of affiliate marketing.
Specialised affiliate tracking software is used to track affiliate campaigns, and this is usually supplied and supported by the affiliate network. Often, the merchant and the affiliate will also use their own tracking software to make sure that there are no major discrepancies.
Affiliates send traffic to merchants through links or URLs, and the tracking software allows each affiliate to have a unique identifier in the URL. These links set a cookie on the customer’s computer, which allows the software to track the sale.
For example, here is the URL of a product on a retailer’s web site:
http://www.firebox.com/product/1201
Here is the URL for the same product, but with affiliate tracking:
http://scripts.affiliatefuture.com/AFClick.asp?affiliateID=238&merchantID=214&
programmeID=3897&mediaID=0&tracking=cube_world&url=http://www.firebox. com/index.html?dir=firebox&action=product&pid=1201
You can see some of the information being recorded. It has been shown in bold in the URL:
The affiliate network – Affiliate Future
The ID of the affiliate (238)
The ID of the merchant (214)
The ID of the programme (3897) (a merchant might have more than one programme on a network)
The media used (0)
The destination of the click
Can you spot the original URL in the one with the tracking?
When the customer completes the required action on the merchant’s web site, the cookie will allow the tracking software to collect the information needed to award the commission. For example, if a customer were to use an affiliate link to purchase a gift from a merchant (using the same URL as before as an example), the following information would be collected:
Referring URL and affiliate
Total sale amount for commission
Date and time of sale
Unique order number of sale
All this information will allow the merchant to confirm that the sale is valid, as well as the amount of commission that is due, without ever releasing any of the customer’s personal information.
Affiliates send traffic to merchants through links or URLs, and the tracking software allows each affiliate to have a unique identifier in the URL. These links set a cookie on the customer’s computer, which allows the software to track the sale.
For example, here is the URL of a product on a retailer’s web site:
http://www.firebox.com/product/1201
Here is the URL for the same product, but with affiliate tracking:
http://scripts.affiliatefuture.com/AFClick.asp?affiliateID=238&merchantID=214&
programmeID=3897&mediaID=0&tracking=cube_world&url=http://www.firebox. com/index.html?dir=firebox&action=product&pid=1201
You can see some of the information being recorded. It has been shown in bold in the URL:
The affiliate network – Affiliate Future
The ID of the affiliate (238)
The ID of the merchant (214)
The ID of the programme (3897) (a merchant might have more than one programme on a network)
The media used (0)
The destination of the click
Can you spot the original URL in the one with the tracking?
When the customer completes the required action on the merchant’s web site, the cookie will allow the tracking software to collect the information needed to award the commission. For example, if a customer were to use an affiliate link to purchase a gift from a merchant (using the same URL as before as an example), the following information would be collected:
Referring URL and affiliate
Total sale amount for commission
Date and time of sale
Unique order number of sale
All this information will allow the merchant to confirm that the sale is valid, as well as the amount of commission that is due, without ever releasing any of the customer’s personal information.
Affiliate tracking software collects information even if no action is completed.
This is vital to the affiliates and to the merchants to see where they can optimise
their campaign.
Information collected includes:
Impressions
Clicks
Conversions
All this information helps to build up data in order to strengthen the campaign.
Affiliates will use this information to determine the success of their marketing efforts.
Remember that affiliates invest money into marketing various merchants, and they only get rewarded on commission. An affiliate will use the above information to determine whether or not to promote a merchant, and how much they should invest in promoting a particular merchant.
Merchants can use the information on their campaign to determine how best to optimise. For example, if a particular type of banner seems to be doing better than others, they could use that to improve other banners that they offer.
This is vital to the affiliates and to the merchants to see where they can optimise
their campaign.
Information collected includes:
Impressions
Clicks
Conversions
All this information helps to build up data in order to strengthen the campaign.
Affiliates will use this information to determine the success of their marketing efforts.
Remember that affiliates invest money into marketing various merchants, and they only get rewarded on commission. An affiliate will use the above information to determine whether or not to promote a merchant, and how much they should invest in promoting a particular merchant.
Merchants can use the information on their campaign to determine how best to optimise. For example, if a particular type of banner seems to be doing better than others, they could use that to improve other banners that they offer.
