Cookie Overwriting – Is There Any Mileage In A Queuing System.
posted in Affiliate Marketing |
It’s 2am and I am having a solitary brainstorming session, occasionally on the forum a discussion on who should be attributed the commission arises, such that the question is whether last click referrer is yesteryear (which can be opened to abuse or affiliates “accused” of misleading potential customers in order to plant the cookie) … and whether there should be movement towards awarding a number of affiliates along the customer journey by dividing the commissions in whatever decided relevant proportions amongst all those involved … which I think could be quite complex to resolve … I fear this would prove to be further argumentative than it currently is judging by the discussions which are taking place.
By throwing something into the pot, perhaps a “Queuing System” or “Chain Gang” might be a workable solution.
Now I don’t know if any other network already has anything similar, but the concept is quite simple whereby one affiliates cookie cannot be overwritten for 24 hours & other cookie drops for same visitor goes into a queuing system? i.e. each cookie is given the normal cookie period, but any preceding cookie in the chain has at least a 24 hour lifespan.
Such that the the second affiliate cannot overwrite the first affiliates cookie for 24 hours after the intial one was set, but goes into a queue (note not neglected), once the 24 hours are up, the second affiliate cookie kicks into effect for a further 24 hours or the remaining cookie period until a further affiliate cookie comes into play … and so forth with the queuing system. This could be 48 hours if it is the desired choice.
… and if an affiliate is removed from a program for whatever reason, is it possible to reward the previous affiliates cookie in the chain rather than the commission being lost or deleted altogther.
Now networks have the figures on the lifespan of a cookie before it’s overwritten, but this may appease those who were earlier in the customer journey.
But there is still no case for whether the earlier or the later cookie had a better presell, that can never really be determined on who planted the seed or who tended to it or who harvested it, it depends on what mode the customer was in at that point in time (and which PC)
However will it be that rewarding various affiliates on the customers journey create more problems, complications & disagreements when maybe paying a click element per step & then a slightly reduced commission at the final purchase maybe an easier option, and then how do we get around merchants on different networks with different cookie rules from which has more or less been in operation since concept.
