Attribution for Affiliate Campaigns: Last Click, Windows and Duplicates
Which click gets the conversion, how long a click stays eligible, and why the tracker, the network and the ad platform report different numbers.
How affiliate attribution works
In affiliate marketing, attribution is usually deterministic: the network returns the click ID you passed, and the conversion belongs to that click. This is a strength. There is no modelling and no guessing, and the tracker can attribute revenue to the exact source, campaign, stream, landing page and offer.
The open questions are around that core: which click ID gets passed when one visitor clicks several times, how long a click stays eligible, and what happens when the same visitor converts twice.
Conversion windows
A conversion window is the time between click and conversion during which the conversion still counts. Three windows apply at once:
- The network's cookie or attribution window: after it, the network does not credit you at all.
- The ad platform's attribution window: decides whether the platform shows the conversion against the ad.
- The tracker's data retention: if the click is deleted, the postback has nothing to match.
Make the tracker's retention longer than the longest network window you work with. Otherwise late conversions are lost for no reason.
Why three dashboards disagree
| Source of difference | Effect |
|---|---|
| Time zones | A conversion at 23:30 lands on different days |
| Conversion time vs report time | The network reports by approval date, the tracker by conversion date |
| Statuses | Pending, approved and rejected leads are counted differently |
| Filtered clicks | The ad platform counts clicks the tracker filtered as bots |
| Platform modelling | Ad platforms may add estimated conversions they cannot observe |
Duplicate and repeat conversions
A visitor can trigger the same event twice: a double form submit, a retried postback, a second purchase. Decide per conversion type:
- Leads and registrations: one per click. Repeats are duplicates.
- Purchases and deposits: several per click can be real. Count each, with its own amount.
- Status changes (lead to approved to rejected): update the existing conversion instead of adding a new one.
A practical setup
- Pass the click ID to every network in the parameter it documents.
- Set the tracker's report time zone to the one you buy in.
- Map every network status to a conversion type, including rejected.
- Keep clicks for longer than your longest network window.
- Reconcile network payouts weekly, by offer, not just by total.
Try it on your own traffic.
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