Can I ask, are you going to publish an indicator on Merchants pages to know if they have the necessary code in place for flash tracking etc, so Affiliates know who has it working as and when they are upgraded?

We read your post with great interest as we were completing some major changes to the tracking options available on Affiliate Window. Like POR tracking is at the core of what we do and we have continually invested in this over the years.

From a network perspective we feel there are two elements required to track sales, the first is the cookie/flash cookie/IP address/ETag and the second is the presence of the conversion tag on the confirmation of sale page. Both are essential and all networks should be looking to protect each element.

When updating and improving our tracking systems, our primary objective was to ensure our conversion tag displayed in every circumstance, without this there is absolutely no chance of a sale tracking no matter how many backup methods used on each click.

To achieve this we use a number of different methods. Firstly, extensive testing occurs for each merchant prior to launch and throughout the life of the programme to ensure the tracking tag is present for every route into the merchant site. We have automated monitoring solutions to detect changes in trends so if a merchant accidentally removes the tag in a site redesign or, using another example from this post, if the tag is present on 3 of the 4 servers on which the merchant site resides, we can quickly highlight this and act upon it.

Secondly, in addition to a standard image pixel, Affiliate Window uses two additional methods to track conversions. These act as backups to the image pixel so if the customer uses security software to block the pixel from displaying, we will still track the conversion using the alternative methods. We implemented this over three years ago and saw performance across the network increase by almost 8%.

Our secondary objective was to address the issue of cookies failing to drop and on this point I am happy to report we can now track using Flash Cookies and HTTP ETag. Please see our latest blog entry for more details – http://blog.affiliatewindow.com/?p=621.

This is currently standard on all new merchant launches and being rolled out across the entire network over the coming months.

This phased roll out combines our most advanced AWin Analytics solution which negates the need for an interstitial page thus avoiding interruptions to the customer’s journey.

In addition to this, we use a 1st party cookie set from the merchant’s domain with IP tracking running as a backup.

We will be monitoring the uplift, but as you’ve already demonstrated, enhanced network tracking ensures affiliates are genuinely rewarded more often.

Adam Ross
COO
Affiliate Window

Also (as per usual) it seems many agency folk still don’t get it yet are consulting to major brands!

There is variance, for example adult toy shops and dating sites seem to have cookies deleted more often by users than gift stores, and in one of the examples we show beyond the traditional cookies called Customer Base very few merchants want to take part in this type of tracking but the ones that do show a strong percentage of additional sales, for example Customer Base works if you order from your home, the office or a friends house.

Many of the additional tracking methods work fine with DART tracking and other third party tracking as most of these are just another hop in the journey of the click, where they don’t work is when 3rd party system that are inferior try to take over working out where sales come from and distribute commission on that basis. Additionally Merchants using internal process such as batching commission tend to be a lot poorer at tracking as their main business is not the tracking of sales, it’s the actually selling of items. This is of course on a case by case basis also.

It’s hard to comment on all 3rd party tracking systems as each has a strengths and weaknesses and sadly people automatically believe that if someone is huge multi-national with millions of pounds backing them that they would have better tracking systems when in fact in a lot of the time it couldn’t be further from the truth, guess that’s why good parents taught their children never to judge a book by it’s cover.

From a client point of view I do think that it is great that there is more visibility and accuracy over tracking sales through the affiliate channel.

I would be interested to know what the variance is, do all clients / sectors see such a huge increase. Does it work with DART tracking or other third party tracking?

Helen

As this information has come to light, by one of the most unbiased & trusted people I know in the industry (albeit one of the quietest) it screams volumes. I know Clarke wouldn’t stick his neck out like this unless he was 110% sure with all the facts and figures to back him up.

It’s also interesting to see another network confirm his findings!

I’m switching networks where its possible so who knows if I will see a 10% increase. I guess its hard to tell with the run up to Christmas especially as I am a lazy affiliate who doesn’t do stats at the best of time

I know your last part was a bit joking with regards to Merchants not using the 3 Networks listed here because they track better. To me it holds a great benefit for Merchants to truly understand where thier online spend is being effective and to reinvest in these areas to build a stronger online presence and you can only do that knowing the full picture.

I am sure the R.O.EYE & Econsultancy report in 2008 stated that tracking was one of the more important aspects of an Affiliate program to Merchants and Agency’s so hopefully that is indeed correct

Shortly Affiliates of Paid On Results will be able to see which sales came from which tracking method, so they can see for themselves the difference it makes and not just the overall network view as shown on the Paid On Results post.

I can’t help people being sceptical, that’s their choice. As I am just about the only person in this industry that states my interests publicly and that’s about all I can do, having being an Affiliate in very good standing for such a long time and quoted by all my peers and indeed invited by the many Networks to their events in full knowledge that I have a 28% shareholding in Paid On Results says something, indeed in different blog posts on this site some of the Industry leaders have endorsed me as a trusted voice.

Unfortunately, it’s amazing how short sighted some affiliates are, especially those getting kickbacks from networks.

you do realise of course that your article is read by merchants “why you should avoid these 3 networks” :-p

Interesting post. Do you have any data to back up the claims that some networks track up to 10% more sales than others? Have any affiliates switched networks and noticed a considerable change in conversion rates?

Now I’m not pretending to understand the intricacies of tracking and am certainly not disputing what you say. However, I’m sure many people on here are aware of your association with POR and therefore may be slightly sceptical of your claims unless you are able to categorically prove this.

Matt

These type of posts are extremely helpful insights to us affiliates and especially useful where you are willing to identify other GOOD networks rather than just talking numbers.

Very much appreciated and will certainly be changing a few links in the coming weeks to the 3 networks that offer more advanced and reliable tracking.