Text book affiliate tracking methods ?

[AmiGeneric4All]

We just finished a new design of the affiliate tracking code and I was thinking I would Share our conclusions and R&D thoughts and flows.

We are trying to capture real tracking information stats without missing anything because we believe that In the long run excellentmaximized conversion for our affiliates will make us more profitable.

And from inside knowledge we know that some affiliates programs are using only cookie based tracking and I we don't understand what Are the business motives behind this decision…

So we decided to divide the tracking traps to 4 parallel process

1)Cookie bases tracking – they are tweaked for life time and the user must accept cookies.
But the user doesn’t have to finish the order in the same browser session

Limitations –
A – Users can erase cookie or new installation of the OSBrowser will null the cookie browser folder
B – User can disable cookies
C – Firewall programs can block pharm related cookies

2)Database Tracking – based on costumer email address or user ID and never expire.

Limitations –
A – Users must finish his first order within the same session for affiliate lifetime pairing

3)Session based tracking (Ex .PHP or ASP session ID) user is tracked
As long as the session is active and the user didn't close the browser window.
This can work even if the users disable cookies.

Limitations –
A – Users must finish the first order for affiliate lifetime pairing

4)Ip address tracking –helpful in case that a user isn't using cookies and would not finalize the first order in his first visit to the website
This is limited to 48 Hours and maybe we can increase this limit over time or use subnet mask instead of signal IP.

Limitations –
A – Mega proxy IOL
B – User behind NAT proxy

Our conclusion is that only combination of these 4 methods can guaranty that our affiliate will not Miss any sale generated from their referral.

Hope it is not too technical for this forum but I think it is very important for this industry to open a dialog about tracking methods we use.
If you have any thoughts or improvements to this methodology we will be happy to
Get your feedback.

[olegaz]

Very nice combination of user tracking.
Imho, one of the most bullet proof options for affiliates not to loose any sale - is by using own domain and template provided by the sponsor.

[Rick PSP]

Hello ami,

Not to underestimate people on this forum is a good move.

Our group has built several non op programs using a combination of the above plus algorithms not covered above for tracking for the past 3 years. Nothing is absolutely fool proof - but the simple cookie based tracking systems are a real problem and several op's still use them.

While the above covers affiliates, there is a down side for customers of complex cross check algorithms. There are many people who do not remember where they last ordered or what they last used for a password. So you get the situation that they do not remember the last email, or pw and they are blocked from re-entering a new registration.