What is Attribution?
Attribution is how we decide which affiliate gets credit when a customer makes a purchase. If a customer clicked multiple affiliate links before buying, who should earn the commission?
There are two main models: first-click (the first affiliate to refer them) and last-click (the most recent affiliate). Revshare uses last-click attribution.
First-Click vs Last-Click
First-click attribution: The first affiliate who sent the visitor gets credit, no matter what happens afterward.
Last-click attribution: The most recent affiliate who sent the visitor gets credit. If a new affiliate link is clicked, they replace the previous one.
Day 1: User clicks ?ref=affiliate1
Day 10: User clicks ?ref=affiliate2
Day 15: User purchases
First-click: affiliate1 gets commission
Last-click: affiliate2 gets commission ✓
Why Last-Click is Best
Last-click rewards the affiliate who actually convinced the customer to buy. Here's why this is fairer:
- Rewards the closer: The affiliate who did the final convincing—wrote the compelling review, answered the customer's questions, or offered a comparison—gets the commission.
- Encourages quality: Affiliates are motivated to create better content that actually converts, not just drive random clicks.
- Aligns incentives: Affiliates compete to provide the most value to customers, which benefits everyone.
- Simpler disputes: It's clear who "owns" the sale—the last affiliate the customer clicked before purchasing.
The Problem with First-Click
First-click might seem fairer at first glance—"they found the customer first!"—but it creates serious problems:
The biggest risk with first-click: If an affiliate's link is broken or they send low-quality traffic, they "own" that customer for 365 days. Even if a better affiliate does a huge amount of work to convince that customer to buy later, the second affiliate gets $0.
Other problems with first-click:
- Rewards accidents: A random click on a low-effort link can lock in commission for a year, even if it didn't influence the purchase decision.
- Punishes good affiliates: High-quality affiliates who create detailed reviews, comparisons, and tutorials get nothing if someone else got a click first.
- Encourages spam: Affiliates are incentivized to get clicks by any means necessary, rather than actually helping customers.
- Long lockout periods: With 365-day cookies, one accidental click can block attribution for an entire year.
How It Works in Practice
Here's a realistic example:
January: Sarah sees a random tweet with an affiliate link. She clicks it briefly but doesn't buy. (Affiliate A)
February: Sarah is seriously considering the product. She finds Mike's detailed YouTube review that answers all her questions. She clicks his link. (Affiliate B)
March: Sarah purchases through the site.
With last-click: Mike (Affiliate B) earns commission. His review is what convinced Sarah to buy.
With first-click: Affiliate A would earn commission for a random tweet Sarah barely remembers.
Last-click ensures the affiliate who provided the most value—Mike, who created the review that closed the sale—gets rewarded.
Key takeaway: Last-click attribution rewards affiliates who actually help customers make purchasing decisions, not just affiliates who happened to get a click first.
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