The attribution window, and why last click wins
How long a click keeps counting, what happens when two affiliates referred the same buyer, and the honest limits of browser-based tracking.
Somebody clicks an affiliate link on a Tuesday, thinks about it for nine days, and buys on a Thursday from a different browser tab. Does the affiliate get paid? That question has one answer per program, and it's called the attribution window.
How long should it be?
Match it to how long your buyers actually take to decide. A $12 impulse download does not need ninety days; a $400 course that people budget for absolutely does. Setting a long window on a cheap product costs you nothing except paying commission on a few sales that would have happened anyway.
| What you sell | A sensible window |
|---|---|
| Impulse downloads under $30 | 14–30 days |
| Courses and bundles | 45–60 days |
| High-ticket programs and coaching | 60–90 days |
| Anything bought on a budget cycle | 90–180 days |
Last click, and why
When two affiliates of the same creator both have a claim on one buyer, somebody has to lose. Last click is the standard because it's the least arguable: the most recent thing that sent the person to your store is the thing most likely to have caused the purchase.
It isn't perfect. The affiliate who introduced the product two months earlier did real work, and the one who posted a reminder yesterday collects. Every alternative — first click, split attribution, weighted decay — trades that unfairness for a different one, and adds a layer of explanation nobody enjoys reading.
The in-app browser problem
The most common quiet loss is Instagram and TikTok. Links opened inside those apps run in a private browser with its own storage, and when the person later opens the same link in Safari the attribution is gone. store.fan short links detect that case and hand the visitor to their real browser first, which recovers most of it — but not all.
Which is why an affiliate posting a link in a bio is doing something meaningfully different from an affiliate posting it in a newsletter. Both work; the newsletter simply loses less.
What to tell your affiliates
- 1State the window on your program page, in days, before anyone joins.
- 2Explain last click plainly so nobody discovers it in an argument.
- 3Encourage links that open in a real browser rather than inside an app.
- 4Never promise attribution you can't deliver — under-promise here and the relationship survives the edge cases.
Yes. It's measured from the most recent qualifying click, so an affiliate who gets a second click extends their own claim.
Yes, and it applies to clicks from that point on. Existing attribution keeps the window it was recorded with.
Slightly — you'll pay commission on a few purchases that would have happened regardless. In exchange your affiliates trust the numbers, which is usually the better trade.
Set your own attribution window, from a day to six months, and show it plainly on your program page.
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