Attribution has long been a cornerstone of measuring success and allocating commissions in affiliate marketing. But multi-touch attribution has not been widely utilized by merchants or businesses as much as they should.
Historically, the prevailing model has been last-click attribution, where the affiliate responsible for the final click before a sale receives the commission. However, as the industry evolves and consumer behavior becomes increasingly complex, relying solely on last-click attribution may not always provide an accurate reflection of an affiliate’s contribution to a sale.
In this article, we’ll delve into the shortcomings of traditional attribution models and explore smarter, multi-touch attribution strategies for tracking sales in affiliate marketing.
Rethinking Last-Click Attribution
While last-click attribution has been a convenient and widely used model in affiliate marketing, it fails to capture the full customer journey and often overlooks the contributions of earlier touchpoints. Consider a scenario where an affiliate or influencer successfully drives a customer to a merchant’s site, only for the customer to abandon their cart at the checkout page. Later, the customer visits a coupon affiliate’s site, obtains a discount code, and completes the purchase. In this case, the coupon affiliate receives the commission, despite the initial referral by the influencer. Clearly, a more nuanced approach to attribution is needed to accurately credit affiliates for their role in the customer journey.
The Challenge of Coupon Affiliates
One of the most common challenges in attribution arises when coupon affiliates enter the equation. While these affiliates play a valuable role in driving sales by offering discounts and incentives to customers, their presence can complicate the attribution process. In scenarios where a customer uses a coupon obtained from a coupon affiliate after initially being referred by another affiliate or influencer, the question arises: who should receive the commission? Should it be the coupon affiliate, who facilitated the final conversion, or the original referring affiliate, who initiated the customer’s journey?
Exploring Attribution Options for Merchants
Merchants faced with the dilemma of properly attributing sales in affiliate marketing have several options to consider:
Coupon Affiliate Receives the Sale: Under this approach, the coupon affiliate who facilitated the final conversion by providing the discount code receives the commission. While this model ensures simplicity and clarity in attribution, it may overlook the contributions of other affiliates who played a role in driving the initial traffic and engagement.
Commission Splitting: Another option is for merchants to implement commission splitting, where commissions are divided among multiple affiliates based on their respective contributions to the sale. This approach acknowledges the collaborative nature of the affiliate marketing ecosystem and ensures that affiliates are fairly rewarded for their efforts. However, implementing commission splitting requires sophisticated tracking and attribution systems to accurately assess each affiliate’s contribution.
Embracing Multi-touch Attribution Strategies
As affiliate marketing continues to get more competitive and complex, merchants must move beyond simplistic attribution models and embrace smarter strategies that accurately reflect the multifaceted customer journey. This may involve adopting advanced tracking technologies, implementing multi-touch attribution models that consider multiple touchpoints along the customer journey, and developing customized attribution rules tailored to the unique dynamics of their affiliate program.
Using smart, multi-touch attribution modeling enables you to foster deeper collaborations with affiliate partners and finely tune your budget and tactics according to the channels yielding the highest returns. Through a comprehensive attribution modeling strategy, you’ll acquire genuine insights into your marketing approach, empowering you to tailor your efforts effectively to cater to your audience’s needs and achieve your conversion objectives.