First-Touch vs. Last-Touch Attribution in Affiliate Tracking

Attribution decides which affiliate gets credit when a customer hits more than one tracking source before they pay.

Link clicks

Affonso uses last-touch for affiliate links. If a customer clicks Affiliate A, then later clicks Affiliate B and buys without a personal affiliate coupon, Affiliate B gets the sale.

Personal affiliate coupons

On the first paid purchase, a personal affiliate coupon beats a valid affiliate link. The coupon has to be one that was actually redeemed at the payment provider and tied to an affiliate in the same program. A generic discount or a program-wide code does not take the sale.

Example: the customer clicks Affiliate A's link, then pays with Affiliate B's personal coupon. B gets the first sale commission.

Coupon-only checkouts work the same way. If there is no cookie or metadata, the redeemed personal coupon still attributes the first paid sale.

After the first paid sale

Once a customer has a positive paid sale in that program, they stay with that affiliate. Later coupons from someone else still give the discount. They do not move the customer or block the original affiliate's renewal commission.

A full refund or cancel does not reopen the customer for a new affiliate. Historical bonuses and marketplace events stay on the referral that earned them.

Clicks, leads, and trials alone do not lock the customer. A 100% coupon that brings the sale to zero still converts, but it does not lock the customer the way a positive paid sale does.