Last Cookie Before Initial Signup Wins
DAP uses a “Last Cookie” model to determine which affiliate receives the commission.
- Scenario: If a prospect (who has never purchased from you before) clicks on affiliate Jack’s link, then later clicks on affiliate Jill’s link and finally makes a purchase, DAP awards the commission to Jill. This is because her affiliate link was the most recent one clicked.
- Best Practice: To protect your affiliates, it’s advisable not to promote your site using your own affiliate link as a DAP admin. This ensures that you don’t compete with your affiliates for commissions on your site.
- Strategic Use of Affiliate Links: However, using your own affiliate link can be beneficial in specific marketing channels, such as Google Ads. Even though Google Ads allows goal tracking, creating a unique affiliate link can help you attribute exact revenue generated from the campaign.
Example for Adwords Campaigns
To track conversions through a Google Ads campaign, you can create a special affiliate user, such as “Adwords Affiliate,” and use their affiliate link as your landing page URL. You can also customize the link to direct traffic to any specific page on your website by adding the following parameter to the end of your affiliate link: &p=yoursite.com/anypage.html.
Example URL:
https://YourSite.com/dap/a/?a=1234&p=yoursite.com/googleoffer1.htmlThis method allows for detailed tracking of revenue directly attributed to specific campaigns.
Lifetime Affiliates: Cookie Irrelevant After Signup
Once a customer signs up and is assigned to an affiliate, that affiliate receives lifetime commissions for all future purchases made by that customer. This means:
- Permanent Affiliate Assignment: Once an affiliate is credited with a new member’s signup, this relationship is locked for life. Any future purchases by that customer will always credit the original affiliate, regardless of any new affiliate cookies present on the customer’s device.
- Post-Signup Behavior: After the initial signup, even if the customer clicks on another affiliate’s link, the lifetime commission remains with the original affiliate.
This ensures affiliates are protected for all future purchases made by their referrals, reinforcing long-term partnerships.
