Affiliate Tracking IDs
This lesson describes how to set up Affiliate Tracking IDs.
Affiliate Tracking IDs help Affiliates measure and track the performance of their marketing programs. For instance Affiliates will typically deploy a number of different methods to drive sales from a mix of content pages, newsletters, store pages, text links, Adwords campaigns and so on. Tracking IDs indicate which marketing source is generating each sale and are included in Instant Notifications, sale confirmation emails and Affiliate Sales Reports.
Step-By-Step Tutorial
Affiliate Tracking IDs
Affiliate Tracking IDs are added in a consistent format as a parameter string to your standard BuyNow URLs.
Note: Vendors who wish to track sales should use Custom Fields and refer to the separate tutorial.
Parameter Format
The relevant parameter is: &tid= followed by the relevant identifying text or keywords you wish to use.
There are two important points to bear in mind:
(1) 'tid' must always appear in lowercase after the ampersand
(2) A maximum of 25 characters you can be added after the equals sign. Use an underscore to denote a space.
Example: Tracking ID for a Newsletter
The parameter &tid=Newsletter_17June refers to the relevant newsletter that would use the complete URL to link to this BuyNow page.
Example: Tracking ID for Keywords used in Text Ads
The parameter &tid=Adwords_Bargain_Writers_Software refers to the relevant keywords used to generate the sale. The complete URL would be used as the target URL for that text ad placement.
BuyNow Page Appearance is Not Affected
Your BuyNow page appears as normal with the parameter.
The tracking ID will now be referred to in Affiliates' Instant Notifications (IPNs) and sales confirmation Emails each time a sale occurs, and is also itemized in Affiliates' own sales reports. This allows Affiliates to fully monitor and compare the effectiveness of your various different marketing efforts.
For additional information about using BuyNow Parameters view this Video Tutorial.
