Accurate tracking depends on your program status, how your links are built, your cookie and browser settings, and how app traffic is handled. This article guides you through how to confirm your affiliate sales are set up correctly.
1. Confirm your partnership status
Before anything else, make sure you've been accepted onto an active advertiser program:
- Log in to the Awin Platform and go to Advertisers > My Programs.
- Confirm that the program is listed under Joined.
Note: The advertiser's website must be live and fully functional to enable effective tracking.
2. Set up and test your links
Create your affiliate links and promotions through the tools provided in the Awin Platform to ensure they are correctly formatted.
To learn more about the different tools available on Awin to create affiliate links, see How can I create an affiliate link?
For guidance on how an Awin affiliate link should look like, see What does an affiliate link look like?
Once your links are live, run a test transaction to confirm they track sales correctly. To learn how, see How do I perform a test transaction?
3. Check for cookie and browser issues
Several factors can prevent tracking cookies from being set correctly:
- Ad blockers
- Incognito and private browsing
- Privacy-focused browsers like Brave and Tor
Activate Awin's Tracking Optimisation plugin to help minimize these issues. To learn more, see What is the Tracking Optimisation (Bounceless Tracking) plugin?
Your audience must also accept cookie consent on both your website and the advertiser's website for sales to track accurately. Make sure your tracking practices comply with regional cookie consent laws. To learn more, see Cookie Consent – Publisher FAQs.
Best practices for app attribution
The following applies if you promote advertisers with a transaction app.
Ensure accurate conversion attribution
Awin cannot attribute conversions if an advertiser redirects users to their app without the correct in-app tracking set up. Before promoting an advertiser with a transactional app, confirm that they have activated in-app tracking. If it is not activated and you can do so, direct users to the advertiser’s mobile website instead to help ensure seamless tracking.
To learn more about mobile app tracking, see Which advertisers have mobile app tracking?
Handle app attribution exceptions
Advertisers can request that app attribution stay disabled for some publishers. This applies to specific publisher types whose traffic has shown issues, such as undesired app redirects, broken user journeys, or poor user experience. In these cases, app attribution can reduce conversion rate .
If your advertiser confirms this exception applies to you, add the following parameter to every Awin link you use: &disable_mmp=true
Example with a default affiliate link: https://www.awin1.com/awclick.php?mid=1234&id=9999&disable_mmp=true
This keeps users on the mobile site instead of redirecting them into the advertiser's app, and helps maintain consistent tracking.
Check with your advertiser if you're unsure whether this exception applies to your traffic. To learn how to contact them, see How can I contact an advertiser?
Need more support?
If sales are still not tracking correctly after working through the steps above, report a missing sale. To learn how, see How can I report a missing sale?
