Affiliate Marketing Attribution: Impact, CJ, Awin and Beyond Last Click

Affiliate programs pay on attribution, so the rules matter more here than anywhere. Many networks credit the last affiliate click, which can mean paying a coupon site for a sale your podcast or paid social already won.

Recognize every network's click ID

Affiliate networks append their own IDs. Trakinit recognizes these automatically and labels the visit as affiliate:

• irclickid: Impact
• cjevent: CJ
• awc: Awin
• sscid: ShareASale
• ranSiteID: Rakuten
• clickref: Partnerize
• _ef_transaction_id: Everflow

Running your own partner program? Add its parameter under Settings → Click IDs, and visits carrying it are credited to that program. See click IDs explained.

Last-click affiliate credit vs the whole journey

Compare the same affiliate sales under different models:

• If an affiliate earns most of its credit under last touch but little under first touch, it's mainly closing journeys that other channels started.
• If it earns credit under first touch, it's genuinely introducing new customers.

Both are valuable, but they're worth different commission rates. Read attribution models compared.

Include sales outside your site

Some affiliate-driven shoppers buy on Amazon or in store. Bringing those orders into the same system shows the full value of partners who drive marketplace or retail revenue.

Practical tips

1. Keep affiliate links' query parameters intact through redirects.
2. Give coupon and content partners different campaign tags so you can compare them.
3. Review attributed revenue per partner monthly, alongside commission paid, to get a true return on partner spend.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Stripping network parameters. Redirect chains and link shorteners that drop query strings break affiliate click IDs.
• Paying full commission for coupon-only touches. Coupon sites often appear at the very end of a journey. Check whether they start journeys or only finish them.
• Mixing partners in one campaign. Give each partner type (content, coupon, loyalty, influencer) its own campaign tag.
• Only counting site orders. Partners that send shoppers to Amazon or a retail store look weaker than they are.

Step by step in Trakinit

1. Confirm each network appends its click ID to your landing URLs; Trakinit reads them automatically.
2. Add any in-house partner parameter under Settings → Click IDs.
3. Tag partner links with utm_medium=affiliate and the partner's name as the campaign.
4. Import orders from every store you sell on.
5. Compare each partner's credit under first touch, last touch and linear.

Frequently asked questions

Which affiliate networks does Trakinit recognize?

Impact, CJ, Awin, ShareASale, Rakuten, Partnerize and Everflow, through their standard click ID parameters. Other networks work through UTMs or a custom parameter.

Can I use Trakinit to set commission rates?

You can use it to inform them. Seeing whether a partner introduces customers or closes journeys others started helps you set fair, tiered rates.

What about influencer and creator programs?

Treat creators like partners: give each one a unique link with UTMs or a custom parameter, and compare them like any other channel. See UTM best practices.

Start a free trial and see which partners actually start customer journeys.