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Kimmoy asks: I remember thinking during the lanch of the NAMS product, so many of us were posting affiliate links. What if a person clicks on one or more of our aff links, who gets the credit? (1st or last click?)

Also, if I sent someone a link to one Amazon product, they didn’t buy immediately, but the next day they go back to Amazon.com to buy that product or another, do I still get credit?

Hi Kimmoy,

Great question! Each affiliate program is set up differently, so they don’t all work the same. Some of them (very few) work on a “referral for life” system, others track by the first referrer for x days, or they may credit the last referrer…

When you sign up for an affiliate program, they will generally tell you their tracking terms – or how their affiliate cookies are used – in addition to the commission structure for each sale or lead.

Amazon affiliate cookies last 24 hours. If someone follows your link and makes a purchase within 24 hours, you are credited with the sale. If they follow your link and add an item to their cart – and then make that purchase within 89 days – you are credited with the sale.

In this case, since your cookie lasts for 24 hours (or 89 days on items placed in their cart), you are credited with the sale even if they click on another affiliate’s Amazon link during that time frame. So with Amazon, it’s the first click until the cookie expires.

ClickBank credits the last click. They create a 60-day cookie, so if your visitor clicks through your hoplink and purchases that product within 60 days, you are credited for the sale and earn a commission. BUT, if they click on another affiliate’s hoplink in that time then that next affiliate gets credit for the sale instead.

That’s just two examples of popular affiliate programs, but as you can see they all vary quite a bit in how they track click-through’s and sales from their affiliates. Not all merchants use cookies, and computer users can clear their cookies at any time.

Ideally you’ll pre-sell your visitors on the product you are promoting, and encourage them to click through and make their purchase right away.

Best,

p.s. Want to learn more about Affiliate Marketing? See my in-depth overview of the Super Affiliate Handbook by Rosalind Gardner. This is where I learned the successful affiliate model I am still using today!

Original post by Lynn Terry and software by Elliott Back