Referrals tracked by first point of contact rather than most recent

[Puma]

After testing a casino ( i wont mention their name ) I decided to check my stats to see if they updated my click and download. I was facinated to see it registered my click but not my download. I have the affiliate manager for this casino on my msn and she staed that if i had clicked on someone elses banner before they would recieve credit for the download. Even if I didnt download from that other affiliates banner 3 months back, they still recieve the credit ? It turns out that if you do not delete your cookies they store the last time you clicked on that banner and they will always recieve credit for it.

Now this can work to an advantage or a disadvantage as far as im concerned. If a player clicks ona banner at another site just to see what the casino is like and they decide to not download or play because they dont like the bonus. Then the player comes to my site and finds that I have a special deal that I worked out with my affiliate manager and casino. The person likes the deal and deposits. Guess who gets the deposit? You betcha...the other person that had no special promo.

This also works in reverse and thats why when checking your stats you see 100 clicks on your banner and only 50 downloads and only 6 sign ups.

Odd though but is it not a bit weird to have 50 people download and more then 80% decide " hmmm well nevermind " "I dont think I want to play."

I found a good article on the net about this and thought id share the link.

http://www.affiliatemanager.net/article36.shtml

Id apreciate any feedback.

Cheers

Puma

[universal4]

I have always felt that ALL cookies should be over-writable.

The person that makes the sale (the affiliate that sent the visitor just before he downloads) is the affiliate that should get the commission...PERIOD! Sadly, this is not true of many properties.

Rick
Universal4

[VPJunkie]

GPWA has gone to battle with several casinos/groups in the past to eliminate "lifetime" cookies, so I'd like to know what casino this happened at?

[Puma]

The casino in question was www.slots24.com and I like the way you can add them to your site in regards to games and such. I have clicked on their banner before because i wanted to sign up as an affiliate. So after I clicked the original banner ( not sure where it was ) I am now their customer. I didnt download the casino from that original and slot24 has given them the credit.

If anybody would lend a helping hand this is my affiliate link

http://www.slots24.com/origin-puma123

and if a person could sign up and let me know they downloaded via this link i could check to see if it registered Id appreciate it.

Thank you for replying.

[Pam712]

I recently put up their free games on one of my new sites, and I am having absolutely abysmal results - I just cannot get them to convert - which is a shame as I think their games are OK. The traffic/fun players ratio is OK but when it comes to reals - forget it.

[CityGuard]

Funny that the property mentioned is Slots24.com -- they recently announced that the site was shutting down. Other sites run by the same company are still running. Their statement is posted at Slots24.com closes due to the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.

I would be interested in hearing from other affiliate programs as to how they track stats and whether Slots24 is one of only a handful or if there are a lot that do this.

[Ace Fun]

I have always felt that ALL cookies should be over-writable.

The person that makes the sale (the affiliate that sent the visitor just before he downloads) is the affiliate that should get the commission...PERIOD! Sadly, this is not true of many properties.

Rick
Universal4

It's the ability to overwrite cookies immediately that allows link theft sites like Zango to make their money. I've always felt that cookies should be fixed for at least an hour to allow the guy that found the surfer to get the credit. Immediate overwriting allows review sites and affiliate link thieves to leech of the webmaster who found the surfer.

[universal4]

The visitor that is searching seariously....will look at numerous sites in that hour time frame....and that means the first point of contact gets credit and NOT the affiliates that made the sale....(the site the visitor was at when they decided to download)

Rick
Universal4

[Ace Fun]

So how would you suggest that we cope with Zango type sites?

[AussieDave]

Ok it's envasive & something I wouldn't normally suggest, but, I also think webmasters shouldn't be screwed over by sites such as Zango either.

Do all casinos drop cookies just in the cookies folder? Or do they also drop them into the temp internet files also? What about the DAT file, does this record the cookie info too?

What I'm proaching is a way to clear a surfers cookies just for the casinos your promoting. The easy way is with javascript, but, I don't know if that would totally work as you'd only be clearing them and not deleting them.

As I'm not an expert in this area maybe someone could explain what needs to be done to make sure that if a surfer clicks thru on site A and makes a download from that click then site A is awared the player?

Any one interested on explaining this further?


Cheers

Dave

[Ace Fun]

The logic that review sites use to claim that they should get the credit, is the logic that is used by Zango. I believe that the affiliate that first finds the surfer should get the lions share of the commission. There are arguments for and against this though. What is wrong is for sites like Zango to pick up all the money when they have made no contribution to the sale.

[universal4]

The same logic that says Zango doesn't deserve the commission, is the same logic that states, the first point of contact doesn't either.

The first point of contact did not make the sale, or they visitor would have downloaded and signed up, but they didn't, they went on to other sites. (they contributed, but did not "close the deal")

Rick
Universal4

[AussieDave]

GPWA has gone to battle with several casinos/groups in the past to eliminate "lifetime" cookies, so I'd like to know what casino this happened at?

I'm a little concerned after being told today that Vegas Affiliate's use 30 day cookies.

It came to light as I had question to contact their aff manager regarding some dodgy stats.

The thought of a 30 day cookie imo is bad enough.



Cheers

Dave

[universal4]

A 30 day cookie is a great idea, as long as it is over-writable.

Then, whoever closes the sale still gets paid.

In the event the visitor returns to the site as a type-in, during the 30 day period, the affiliate which last sent them gets the commission.

Rick
Universal4

[AussieDave]

A 30 day cookie is a great idea, as long as it is over-writable.

Then, whoever closes the sale still gets paid.

In the event the visitor returns to the site as a type-in, during the 30 day period, the affiliate which last sent them gets the commission.

Hi Rick,

Does that mean...If player A lands on site PortalC and visits Casino B then the cookies is set for 30 days?

What if player A visits another site, and then visits the same casino?

Does PortalC lose that players?

Sorry I'm a little lost here with your explaination, would you mind breaking it down for me, thanks.



Cheers

Dave

[universal4]

Visitor 1 goes to Portal A and follows a link to a casino, get's cookied for 30 days.

If visitor a returns to the casino and downloads, Portal A gets credit.

If visitor 1 goes to Portal B, maybe reads a more in depth review or just decides he will try out a property because many are advertising it....whatever the reason, follows a link to the same casino, then (if the cookie is over-writeable) Portal B gets credit.

In some scenarios, when the cookie is not over-writeable for the 30 day period, Portal A will still get credit....even if Visitor 1 visits the casino a few more times from other portals.

In my opinion (which is NOT shared by all affiliates) the cookie should ALWAYS be over-writeable so that the last affiliates that sends a visitor to a casino should be the affiliate that earns the commission.

When the cookie is not able to be over-wriiten I just feel that it gives hurts the smaller affiliates a bit, affiliates that could be driving sales!

Rick
Universal4

Please note: This is a controversial subject that has been debated many times, so please keep any discussions in this thread constuctive and calm.

[Ace Fun]

This is starting to become quite a complex problem. The scenario that Universal posted is fairly simple, and I agree that site B should get the credit. However, there are a number of leech and affiliate link theft sites that bring nothing to the industry, and it's those that shouldn't get the credit in my opinion.

[Vallerius]

After reading this discussion I started exploring the issue of how cookies are used to track and award affiliates. I queried many affiliate programs and got responses from about 8 or 9.

Of all the affiliate programs who replied to me, all of them (with the exception of Slots24, whose method prompted this thread) use essentially the same method. When a player clicks through a portal site to a gaming site, the gaming site stores a cookie on the user's browser that identifies which portal the player came through. Let's suppose the player does not download the software at this moment but several days later returns to the gaming site by clicking through a different portal. In this situation, part of the original cookie will be overwritten to mark this second portal as the referring portal. This process will continue every time a player clicks through a portal to get to the gaming site-- the code for previously visited portals will be replaced by the most recently visited one. When the player finally does download the software, only the most recently visted portal will receive credit for the referral. The only significant variable across these sites is how long a cookie lasts. Some of them expire after 30 days, and the longest one I came across expires after ten years.

Slots24's cookies differ from the other programs I've come across in that their cookies are not overwritten by each successive portal the player visits. Suppose a player comes to a gaming site by way of Portal A, then days later returns to the gaming site via Portal B. In this case, the code for Portal B does not overwrite the code for Portal A. The player might visit a number of portals before downloading the software, but the code for the very first portal will always remain in tact and it is Portal A that will receive credit for the download. Slots24's cookies expire after 30 days, so after that amount of time the data for Portal A is erased.

Rob from Slots24 explained that they do this so to insure that individuals that serve no role in the referral process but are adept at overwriting cookies with their own codes do not receive credit for the refferal (this is something I am not yet very familiar with but am aware that it can happen). For instance, I might have some spyware/adware on my computer that overwrites the code for the referring site almost immediately after I visit the gaming site and replaces it with a code for whichever site created the spyware. Slots24's cookies prevent that overwriting from happening so that an actual referring site receives credit, rather than a cheater.

Rob also explained that it is difficult to ascertain which site really did the most to close the deal. While most sites say it is the last site which completes the sale, there are valid arguments that support naming the first site as the one who did the most.