Comments on: Cookie Retention Study Reveals Important Data

By: Nai

Nai — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 12:49:43 +0000

Very useful stuff. Thanks for sharing.

By: Geno

Geno — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 20:15:33 +0000

Glad you’ve found it of use, Serena.

By: Serena

Serena — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 20:05:32 +0000

This is great info, thanks for sharing.

By: Geno

Geno — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 21:06:56 +0000

Yep, that works too. I wrote about it in my Cookie-less or Cookie-free Affiliate Tracking Solutions post last month.

By: Juvaly

Juvaly — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 19:42:59 +0000

In our tracking systems (we use both PostAffiliatePro and an in-house tracker) we use Flash cookies which not a lot of people know how to delete, in combination with visitor cookie and IP tracking. This helps us keep the affiliate sale attribution accurate even when the HTTP cookie is deleted.

By: Geno

Geno — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 19:39:51 +0000

Thank you for your comment, Vlad. Upon a closer look at the chart (you can save a bigger image from Paul's original post), it appears that by the end of that first day, the percentage drops from 100% to about 84%. It is also important to remember that the metric which is absent from this study (simply because it wasn't the subject of it) is timing of affiliate-referred purchases. For example, here's the data I've just pulled for one of my clients' affiliate programs:

Also: Average Sale Amounts: Same Day: $60.37 1-2 Days: $47.43 3-5 Days: $61.74 5-15 Days: $71.02 Rest: $56.16

By: Vlad Zablotskyy

Vlad Zablotskyy — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 19:17:06 +0000

Wow, this is an eye opener for me in many respects. Amazon with it’s 24 hours cookie life used to be the least attractive affiliate program for me, but maybe they are correct after all.