Last-click attribution
One sale, three partners. Who gets paid?
Last-click attribution gives the commission to the last affiliate link or coupon a buyer used before purchasing. If someone reads a review, clicks an email link a week later and then buys, the email link earns it. It is the default in affiliate software because it is unambiguous: one sale, one partner, one payment.
- The default in affiliate software
- Coupons outrank stored links
- Full click trail on every referral
How last-click attribution works
The referral lives in the buyer's browser for the length of your cookie window. Three rules decide who holds it at checkout.
A new link overwrites
Arrive on a different partner's link and the stored referral flips to them.
The same link repeats
Re-clicking the same partner changes nothing. The click is logged as a repeat.
A typed code wins
A coupon entered at checkout beats every stored link. Typed intent outranks a stale cookie.
Try it
One sale, three touches, three rules
Attribution model
- 1
Blog reviewDay 0
Priya Raman · Organic search into a comparison post
$0.00
- 2
Newsletter linkDay 6
The Weekly Stack · Email link, opened on mobile
$0.00
- 3
Coupon MAYA20Day 11
Maya Osei · Code typed at checkout, desktop
$19.80
Referly's model. The last tracked touch takes the commission, and a coupon entered at checkout outranks a stored link.
Last click vs first click vs multi-touch
Last click is a worse model of reality and a better contract. Partners promote what they can predict.
- Last click
- Pays the partner who closed
- First click
- Pays the partner who introduced
- Multi-touch
- Splits one commission across everyone
Predictable for everyone. The default.
Rewards discovery, punishes the closer.
Honest, and impossible for a partner to price a campaign against.
When last click gets attribution wrong
Three failure cases, all common. You cannot fix the model. You can see it: Referly records the source, domain, campaign and device behind every touch.
The checkout coupon grab
A coupon site catches buyers who were already sold and takes the full commission.
The content partner loses the close
They created the demand. The buyer came back through a different link.
The device switch
Research on a phone, buy on a laptop. The stored referral never crosses devices.
In Referly
Every click, on the record
The full trail behind each referral: which link, which domain, which campaign, which device. When a partner asks why they were not paid, you answer from data.
I spend all day testing out sign up flows and campaigns. I have tried most affiliate platforms out there, but very few are as easy and powerful as Referly. Quick setup and accurate tracking.
Kasper Wood
Affiliate Content Manager
Related terms
All ten termsCookie window
How long after a click a sale still counts for the affiliate who sent it.
EPC (earnings per click)
Earnings per click: what one click on a partner's link is worth, on average.
Recurring commission
Commission paid on every renewal a referred customer makes, not just the first.
Affiliate network vs affiliate program
A network is a marketplace that hosts many programs; an in-house program is only yours.