Tracking Duration
When a shopper clicks an affiliate's referral link, the app drops a cookie on their browser with the referral code. Any order they place while that cookie is alive is credited to the affiliate.
Tracking duration is how long the cookie lives. A longer duration means more conversions are credited, but also more attribution to affiliates for sales that might have happened anyway.
Where to set it
Settings page → Tracking card → Referral tracking duration field. The label below the input reads "How long we track referrals after a visitor clicks an affiliate link."
Enter a number of days, then click Save in the sticky bar at the top of the page.
Default
30 days. Industry standard for most affiliate programs.
How to pick a number
| Product type | Suggested duration |
|---|---|
| Low-consideration (under $50, impulse buys) | 7–14 days |
| General (most DTC stores) | 30 days |
| Considered purchase ($100+) | 60 days |
| Big-ticket ($500+, furniture, luxury) | 90 days |
Longer durations favor the affiliate (more credit); shorter favor you (less commission paid on repeat customers).
How the cookie works
- When a visitor clicks
https://store.com?affily_ref=AFF-ABC123, the app stores a cookie with the codeAFF-ABC123and an expiry. - The cookie lasts Tracking Duration days from the click.
- Every subsequent visit within that window associates the order with that affiliate.
What happens at the edges
Multiple clicks, same affiliate: the cookie's expiry resets on every click. So if a visitor clicks the same link on days 1, 10, and 20, the cookie expires 30 days after day 20 (assuming 30-day duration).
Multiple clicks, different affiliates: the last-click wins. If a visitor clicks Sarah's link on day 1 and Mike's link on day 5, Mike gets credited. This is the industry standard.
Click then coupon: if the visitor uses a different affiliate's coupon code at checkout, the coupon wins regardless of the cookie. See Coupon Code Tracking.
Cookies are per-device, per-browser
A visitor who clicks on their phone but buys on their laptop will not be tracked — the cookie is tied to the browser that clicked. The app has a fallback that matches by customer email if possible, but this only works if the visitor was logged in at click time.
Changing the duration later
Changing the value only affects new clicks from now on. Existing cookies keep their original expiry. So the effect of a change is gradual (~30 days to fully roll over, if you set 30).
Click deduplication
The same visitor clicking the same referral link multiple times within 24 hours counts as one click for analytics purposes. Prevents inflated click counts. Does not affect conversion — whichever click is most recent wins.