Affiliate marketing has gone through a lot of changes recently, and digital marketing as a whole has had to adapt to changing user expectations.

Traditionally, companies use an affiliate partner model known as last-click attribution.

If a visitor is converted into a paying customer, all of the credit is given to the last touchpoint before the conversion is completed.

Now, there is a push to move beyond this model to look at more holistic tracking methods that more fairly distribute credit along the length of the customer's journey.

What does this mean, and how can companies move beyond the last-click attribution model?

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Reasons to Move Beyond Last Click
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There are a number of significant problems that have emerged regarding last-click attribution during the past few years.

#1'Last click attribution favors direct visits.

Think about someone who hears about a product or service for the first time by clicking on a paid ad. Then, they may decide to follow that company on social media. When they decide to finally make a purchase, they enter the URL directly and make a purchase. In this case, the paid search and organic social touchpoints are hidden from view and do not get any credit.
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#2 You're missing performance metrics as a whole.'

Even though last-click attribution in a cookie period should still receive some credit, it is more important to focus on earnings per click. This is usually shortened to EPC, and it is more representative of the performance of a digital marketing campaign.


#3 Insight into user experience.

While it is also important to take a look at the commission rate, the average order value is just as important. All of these metrics must be put together to get a better look at the entirety of the user experience. For example, if a partner has a high commission rate but a low conversion rate, this is a sign that the user experience is not great. By taking a look at the entirety of the user experience, it is easier for companies to make decisions about how to maximize the results of their marketing campaigns.
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#4 Credit your high-valued partners.

To fully move beyond last-click attribution, it is important to take a look at multi-touch attribution as a part of the customer's journey. Essentially, companies will use the information to track the journey of each customer from start to finish. That way, everyone along the marketing journey receive credit.


#5 Focus your marketing efforts.'
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One challenge with this is that publishers may need to add an extra pixel or line of code to the website, which they might hesitate to do. It is incumbent on marketing professionals to find ways to collect multi-touch information without having to ask the publisher to add more code to the website. A multi-touch attribution model is valuable because of the extra information it provides to advertisers and marketing professionals.