Under The Covers: ClickBank's Affiliate Tracking System
by Tim Coulter
The core principle of affiliate marketing is that the
referring affiliate earns a commission if a referred
prospect makes a purchase. Any affiliate program that aims
to succeed in its recruitment efforts must uphold this
principle, regardless of whether the prospect buys
immediately, or delays her purchase until some time in the
future.
To fairly and accurately distribute affiliate commissions
requires a database that maintains a list of the
relationships between prospects and the affiliates that
referred them. Ideally, this database would be centralized,
hosted as part of the software application that manages the
affiliate program. But this approach would only be feasible
if web visitors could be automatically distinguished from
each other, using a unique and permanent identity code.
Unfortunately (for affiliate program operators) web users
prefer to surf anonymously. Web browser software is designed
to allow a surfer to visit any website without leaving a
personal identity trail. So, affiliate programs need a less
intrusive method of tracking the associations between their
members and the surfing public. The solution adopted by most
programs, including ClickBank, is to distribute the database
throughout the internet, storing a tiny fragment of
information on each prospect's computer. They implement this
using cookies.
ClickBank uses a mechanism known as the hoplink system to
record cookies on a prospect's computer, storing multiple
affiliate referral relationships in a single cookie. Every
time a prospect is referred to a new merchant, her existing
referral cookie is updated to reflect the association
between the new merchant and the affiliate that referred
her.
The hoplink system is invoked automatically whenever a
prospect is referred to a ClickBank merchant by an
affiliate. When a prospect clicks on a referral link, she is
initially directed to ClickBank's hoplink server. The
server, in turn, sends her the referral cookie and
immediately redirects her to the merchant's website. The
destination of the redirection is known as the merchant's
landing page and is configured within his ClickBank account
settings. A landing page is a merchant web page designated
to accept inbound affiliate referrals.
The hoplink system is implemented by two architectures that
operate in parallel. The original architecture, known as the
regular hoplink system, has been in operation since the
launch of ClickBank, but it has come under criticism for its
inflexibility and the ease with which it allows commission
theft. Announced in October 2003, the enhanced hoplink
system aims to overcome the security shortcomings of the
original system and to provide support for a range of new
features that will improve the effectiveness of the
affiliate system.
Aside from improvements in security, the enhanced hoplink
system is designed to capture additional data that will
enable detailed reporting of affiliate referral statistics
and merchant conversion rates. Perhaps most significant of
all, it provides support for referral links to multiple
landing pages at the merchant's website - an essential
feature that has previously been noticeable by its absence.
Affiliates with established businesses that use regular
hoplinks are free to continue without modifying their
existing configurations. But to exploit the richer
functionality resulting from ClickBank's ongoing system
development, it is worth upgrading to the enhanced hoplink
format.
Copyright © Tim Coulter. All rights reserved.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Tim Coulter is a consultant and software developer who
helps netpreneurs to harness marketing technologies.
He is also the author of "ClickBank - The Definitive Guide"
The Ultimate ClickBank Tutorial & Reference Manual.
http://www.clickbankrevealed.com/
-----------------------------------------------------------
| DISCLAIMER: The content provided in this article is not warranted or guaranteed by Developer Shed, Inc. The content provided is intended for entertainment and/or educational purposes in order to introduce to the reader key ideas, concepts, and/or product reviews. As such it is incumbent upon the reader to employ real-world tactics for security and implementation of best practices. We are not liable for any negative consequences that may result from implementing any information covered in our articles or tutorials. If this is a hardware review, it is not recommended to open and/or modify your hardware. |
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