Why Free → Paid Funnels Matter
Many businesses offer a free lead magnet or entry-level offer, followed by a paid product or upgrade later. This two-stage funnel is a powerful way to build trust, gather leads, and then convert.
How Rootabl Tracks Free → Paid Conversions
Here’s how Rootabl handles this flow:
Affiliate link click – When someone clicks an affiliate’s tracking link, Rootabl places a cookie (or tracking parameter) on that visitor’s device/browser.
Free offer conversion – The visitor opts-in or registers for the free product. Rootabl records the lead under the affiliate with the customer's email address.
Upgrade event – If and when the visitor later purchases a paid product (on the same device/browser), Rootabl uses the existing tracking cookie to attribute that sale to the affiliate who originally generated the lead.
Commission event – Because a sale occurred, Rootabl triggers the affiliate commission (per your campaign’s rules) and records/report it in the affiliate dashboard.
Checkout Pages
Make sure your funnel sends the tracking parameters/cookie through to checkout. In platforms like ThriveCart, ClickFunnels etc., that means adding the tracking snippet or link to thank-you/checkout pages. Other platforms allow side-wide implementation to add it once and have all pages tracked.
Take a look at your specific platform in our documents for your case.
Common Scenarios & Troubleshooting
Scenario | What happened | What you should do |
Affiliate click → free lead → paid upgrade on same browser | Ideal scenario — affiliate credited | Ensure cookie wasn’t cleared, same browser/device used |
Free lead via affiliate → later paid upgrade from different device/browser | Tracking will be lost | |
Paid product excluded from affiliate campaign | No commission given | If "Advanced Commissions" are selected, add the product to your commission filters and notify hello@rootabl.com to rerun the commission for you for any missed past sales. |
Best Practices for Affiliates & Campaigns
Transparency: Let your affiliates know that credit is tied to the paid conversion—not the free lead—so they understand the timeline.
Promotional messaging: Encourage affiliates to highlight the free offer, but also to follow up (via email, remarketing) to help leads convert to the paid product.
Testing: Run a test click → free opt-in → and verify the affiliate gets credited in the "Reports" > "Leads" page with your test email that typically will be on the top since it's the most recent.
Reporting: Use Rootabl’s affiliate dashboard and reporting to monitor leads generated, paid conversions, and commissions earned.