How Does Affiliate Tracking Work in Rootabl?

🚀 How Affiliate Tracking Works (The Basics)

Affiliate tracking is all about connecting the dots between who made a referral and who completed a purchase. This connection is typically made through tracking links and cookies.

Here’s a quick breakdown of how standard affiliate tracking works:

1️⃣ Affiliate Link: Each affiliate gets a unique link to share with their audience. This link contains a tracking code that identifies the affiliate.

2️⃣ Cookies: When someone clicks the affiliate link, a cookie is stored in their browser. This cookie tracks their activity and ties any purchase they make to the referring affiliate.

3️⃣ Conversion: When the visitor makes a purchase, the system matches the sale to the affiliate who referred them, ensuring the correct commission is assigned.

Most tracking systems rely solely on cookies and links to track referrals. However, Rootabl takes it a step further with integrated Stripe data matching to ensure every sale is tracked—even if cookies are blocked or expired.

🌱 How Tracking Works in Rootabl

Rootabl’s tracking system is a combination of unique links, cookies, and Stripe data integration to ensure accurate, reliable tracking.

Here’s how Rootabl’s tracking works from start to finish:

1️⃣ Affiliate Links and Cookies

Every affiliate in Rootabl receives a unique tracking link. When a visitor clicks this link, Rootabl stores a cookie in their browser to track the visit and potential purchase.

Cookie Duration: The cookie remains active for 30 days by default.
What This Means: If someone clicks an affiliate’s link and makes a purchase within 30 days, Rootabl automatically tracks that referral.

💡 Pro Tip: Rootabl offers flexible attribution models so you can decide how sales are credited:

First Click: The sale is credited to the first affiliate link clicked by the buyer.
Last Click: The sale is credited to the most recent affiliate link clicked.

You can choose your preferred attribution model in your Campaign Settings.

2️⃣ Email Data Matching

To ensure no sales are missed, Rootabl integrates with Stripe to track all purchases made through your store.

Here’s what this looks like:

When a purchase is made, Rootabl matches the sale against the buyer’s email and payment details in Stripe.
If the buyer’s information matches a visitor who clicked an affiliate link, the sale is automatically credited to that affiliate based on your chosen attribution model.
If there’s no affiliate link tied to the sale, it will still show up in your Rootabl dashboard for full visibility.

🔎 Why This Matters: Email matching ensures that even if cookies are blocked, cleared, or expired, Rootabl still captures the sale and provides you with accurate tracking.

3️⃣ Post-Purchase Tracking and Manual Adjustments

If a sale appears in Stripe without being credited to an affiliate, you can manually assign the sale through your Rootabl dashboard.

This is especially helpful if:

The buyer didn’t use an affiliate link.
A referral came through word-of-mouth instead of a link.

To manually credit an affiliate, search for the buyer’s email or name in your dashboard and assign the sale.

🔄 What Happens If a Link Isn’t Used?

Rootabl’s dual tracking system of cookies and email matching ensures you don’t lose track of sales, even in scenarios where traditional tracking might fail.

Here’s what happens in different situations:

Scenario	How Rootabl Handles It
Visitor clears their cookies	The sale is still tracked through email matching.
Buyer doesn’t use an affiliate link	The sale shows up in your dashboard but isn’t automatically assigned.
Multiple affiliate links clicked	Depends on your chosen attribution model: First Click or Last Click.

🔑 Key Takeaways: Why Rootabl’s Tracking Is Reliable

Tracking Method	Description	Benefit
Affiliate Links & Cookies	Unique links with cookies	Standard method for attributing sales
Email Data Matching	Captures all sales processed through Stripe	Ensures no sale is missed, even if cookies fail
Manual Assignments	Allows you to manually credit sales to affiliates	Provides flexibility when needed

Rootabl’s tracking system ensures your affiliates are properly rewarded for their efforts while giving you full visibility into your sales.

🔗 Related Articles

Rootabl makes affiliate tracking easy, accurate, and reliable—because growing your affiliate program shouldn’t be complicated! 🌱

Getting Started: Promo Links in Rootabl

How Do Rootabl Tracking Links Work with Multiple Product Options?

Rootabl Dictionary: Affiliate Marketing Essentials

How to Manually Add or Change Which Affiliate Gets Commission in Rootabl

How to Add Tracking Code When Selecting "Other" in Rootabl