Affiliate Tracking and Attribution: How to Measure Affiliate Marketing Performance

Define your goals first. Understand what you are aiming for prior to choosing measuring tools. Are your goals related to sales, leads or a specific CPA per new customer?

Select a reputable affiliate tracking system. Find out whether it offers accurate reporting, attribution options as well as multi-tracking capabilities. Always test your choices first.

Choose an attribution model on purpose. Don't simply use default options; think about customers' buying behavior and select a proper attribution model accordingly.

Use consistent tracking links and naming. Even small inaccuracies in affiliate links will cause troubles during reporting. Make your link creation procedure as simple as possible and stick to a convention.

Monitor your affiliate reports regularly. Weekly reviews are always preferable to quarterly ones which usually require lots of effort. Look for sudden spikes and drops in performance.

Communicate with your partners. Inform your partners about your requirements and findings, and listen to their feedbacks.

Seek for professional help when necessary. Outsourced affiliate tracking services come especially handy when you launch a complex marketing program.

Conclusion

Affiliate marketing becomes successful when visibility becomes clear. Tracking provides information on what happened. Attribution provides information on who made the happenings possible. Together with tracking and attribution in affiliate marketing, you can make decisions you can be sure about since there will be no room for guessing.

When you are having problems with understanding what is going on in your current numbers, it is time to sort things out. Regardless of whether you create the system on your own or use services of Attribution & Compliance Services, the aim will remain the same – fair attribution and transparency.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is the difference between affiliate tracking and attribution?