How does Awin’s tracking technology work?
When a user clicks on an Awin affiliate tracking link, a cookie is placed in their browser. If the user makes a purchase from the business the affiliate is promoting within the cookie period (typically 30 days, as per industry standards), the affiliate is rewarded with commission for influencing the sale.
However, if the user clicks through multiple affiliate links before purchasing, the sale will be attributed to the affiliate that drove the last click. This is the standard method of attribution for tracking sales through Awin.
Why may sales be attributed to multiple channels?
Customer journeys often involve multiple touchpoints across different marketing channels. This is why you may see a sale attributed to both Awin and another channel, such as PPC ads. For instance, a customer might first click through an editorial partner affiliate link, such as a fashion blog, then return to Google within the cookie period, click on a PPC ad, and complete their purchase. In this case, both the affiliate and the PPC ad played a role in the customer’s decision, contributing to the sale.
How to attribute sales to only one channel?
If you prefer to attribute sales to only one marketing channel, you can achieve this through a process called de-duplication. De-duplication involves setting pre-defined conditions that determine which tracking tag is shown on the confirmation page. This ensures that the sale is attributed according to your preferences - either to the last-click affiliate or another channel.
While Awin automatically de-duplicates sales between Awin partners, you may want to set up de-duplication rules to exclude other marketing channels in line with industry best practices.
Does Awin collect any special categories of personal data as a result of their tracking service?
No, Awin doesn’t process any special categories of personal data in the tracking process, i.e. sensitive data (e.g., ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership or data on health).
Why are my transactions not tracking?
If you believe that sales are no longer being tracked, you can carry out a test transaction in order to determine if there’s an issue with your tracking via the Tracking Wizard in the Awin platform - navigate to Support > Integration > Tracking Diagnosis.
Once you have completed this, and the sale still doesn’t track - please reach out to us. If you have a dedicated Awin contact, please reach out to them. If not, you can get in touch with our support team by filling out the contact form.
Provide the below information:
Test transaction details.
Has your website undergone any changes recently that may have affected the Awin tracking? Changes such as a new e-commerce platform or a new checkout process/provider could impact the tracking set up.
Has the domain changed on your site?
Has there been a change to your campaign/tag manager partner (i.e. Google Tag Manager/Doubleclick)?
The date and time of the last tracked order.
The test link you’ve been using.
Our Global Technical Client Support team will then be able to investigate and advise further.
Why aren’t impressions tracking for all of my partners?
All partners will need to use tracking links to enable Awin tracking to work correctly. However, some links will differ slightly and will capture information relevant to the media the partner is using. Different link types will have an impact on whether we track impressions or just clicks.
See below for a list of link types and whether they track impressions or not:
Banners - Banners hosted in My Creative area of your Awin account will have tracking links created for partners which will track impressions and clicks.
Text links - Text links will only register a click and will not track impressions.
Product feed links - These links are essentially text links and will not track impressions.
Other media - Other formats which are hosted in My Creative section will only register a click and will not track impressions.
You can gather more information on which partners and banners are generating impressions/clicks/sales by looking at the Creative Performance report (Reports > Performance > Creative).
I’m migrating to a new e-commerce platform, how can I update my tracking?
If you migrate your domain to a new e-commerce platform, for example migrating from Shopify to WooCommerce, you will need to update your tracking. The Tracking Installation Guide may have a step guide for your chosen e-commerce (Support > Integration > Tracking Installation Guide).
Please note then you may be charged a re-integration fee of £150 +VAT. The re-integration fee covers all checks conducted by our integration team to ensure the program’s tracking is working as it should.
Please contact us so we can raise a support ticket with our re-integration team. If you have a dedicated Awin contact, please reach out to them. If not, you can get in touch with our support team by filling out the contact form.