How do you test and troubleshoot your affiliate tracking integration before launching it?

To test and troubleshoot your affiliate tracking integration, start by setting up a sandbox environment. Conduct end-to-end tests by generating test clicks and conversions to ensure accurate tracking and reporting. Verify that the tracking links and codes are correctly implemented on all relevant pages. Use debugging tools and check network requests to confirm that tracking pixels fire correctly. Finally, test across different browsers and devices to ensure compatibility and reliability.

Much of this relevant to ecommerce, selling products or services with a direct conversion path measured - first click to last click, and attribution in between. The challenge here is tracking dark social links - ones on social media sites, where links come from content and TOF actions, which are not like the usual first click measured in a direct response ecommerce set up. The intent is different, and often in the multiple visits the tracking can be lost - person using different devices, different tracking options by the user, Apple and what a mess it's made of some tracking. You can track dark social, but often these are lumped into direct traffic and not known by Google. Plus tracking leads is an entirely different consideration here.

When utilizing multiple tracking methods ( Affiliate network tracking, Google analytics tracking, customer journey tracking) in one link, trackings can get lost along the click journey. A thorough check of tracking before a campaign is activated would require a pre-check if all tracking tags are fully carried until the checkout of the consumer. There are also new tracking technologies that can support affiliates and content creators if the advertisers they cooperate with have a functional tracking. It is also important to check deduplication terms and other tracking rules for each advertiser before joining the program.

Firstly, avoid implementing cookie-based tracking as Google's browser will soon stop accepting them. Therefore, setting up a subdomain to obtain first-party cookies or using Server to Server tracking is necessary. Once it is correctly set up, several test sales should be conducted to verify all scenarios (multiple browsers, on mobile, application, etc.). This step is crucial before a launch because we only have one chance to make a good impression with partners.

Follow these steps before launching to make sure tracking works as expected: 1. Test with and without cookie consent. 2. Test with and without a discount code. 3. Test single and multiple product purchases. 4. Test transactions in regular and incognito browsers. 5. Test with affiliate clicks only but also different user paths like Search of Social before and after affiliate. Depending on your actual set-up for de-duplication, cookie consent settings, etc. you will have to make sure the conversions come in correctly under each of the 5 scenarios.

If there are pixels shared by a publisher to the advertiser to place on their thank you page, as step one always check if the pixels fire correctly after you place your test orders using inspect element method. This saves a lot of time in case the pixels don't fire correctly and wondering why the order isn't tracked at publisher/advertisers end yet.

Typically the Affiliate network/SaaS provider that you have joined will assist here. You will usually be asked to provide a discount code to test the functionality within the tracking, and test transations are placed to ensure that all track types work, the values are pulling through correctly and that the dashboard shows the correct tracked transactions. This can take as little as an hour, but if there are any issues found then this will require a little troublehooting.

The primary parameter to verify, especially for a cashback publisher, is the accurate tracking of the Order ID. Typically, the Order ID recorded at the advertiser's end and the user's end may be presented differently, potentially leading to numerous inquiries when a user returns to the publisher, particularly in cases of missing sales, especially in cashback scenarios. Additionally, it is crucial to ensure the accurate tracking of the sale amount. This involves confirming whether the tracking process takes into account coupon code discounts when reconciling the amount. Moreover, it is important to check if postbacks are not firing multiple times for a single order.

The best advice I can give is to ensure that a genuine technical contact is available brand-side, to liaise with the platform and do the testing and integration work. I've seen programs launch with serious set-up issues, severely hampering any prospects of success.

When I last set up an affiliate tracking platform, I used a well-established platform (Cellxpert), which made a big difference. They not only assisted with testing the tracking but also ensured that all the data was successfully migrated. Additionally, they made sure that future affiliate commissions would be paid on existing customers that an affiliate had referred. The testing process became complicated when we had to use AppsFlyer to verify that attribution was working correctly between the website and the app. Various tracking scenarios posed potential risks, so we had to test extensively using multiple (X20) phones to ensure everything was set up correctly.

For leads, you'll have to track how many qualified leads go to sales, and what the close ratio is for B2B, finance, and other lead centric approaches. That tracking must be careful to avoid the outmoded MQL - marketing qualified lead and SQL - sales qualified lead binary approach. Today we simple track a lead that is ready to go to sales, not encouraging marketing to fill up a lead brim with actions that don't qualify. Setting up a process to go from first contact through the sales cycle, and into LTV, is critical for success. So tracking, unlike ecommerce, isn't about the first action, it's how many first actions turn into sales, how long the sales cycle is, how to identify where a user is in the process - TOF, MOF, BOF - and adapting.

Its important to have attribution tracking , so that we know partners contributing at each stage of the funnel. This will help in compensating partners at each stage of the journey be it at top , mid or bottom of funnel

1. Choose the right and trusted solution, that provides clear guidelines and has testing 2. Test before any campaign, and during the campaign 3. Don't over-complicate.