Question
- Why aren't my affiliate links working?
- A student followed an affiliate link, but they aren't showing up as a referral for that Affiliate?
- A student signed up for a course through an affiliate link, but it's not showing up in their commissions?
Summary of Requirements for Association
If your new sign ups don't appear to be correctly associated with your affiliate, make sure to review all of the following requirements:
- The first time a visitor accesses your site must be through an affiliate link.
- If it is the first time a visitor has accessed your site, a cookie will be saved in their browser that includes the Affiliate's referral code; this cookie will last for 30 days.
- The visitor must sign up for an account within 30 days in the same browser (with the saved cookie) to be associated with the affiliate.
- The affiliate cookie lasts for 30 days and is not overwritten or renewed if the visitor accesses your site through another affiliate link within that 30 days. The cookie expiration date will remain the same.
- The visitor does not need to make a purchase right away. If they simply sign up for an account or for a free course, they will still be associated with that Affiliate for future purchases.
- If the cookie has expired and the visitor returns to the site, a new cookie will be created. For example, if a student visits a site through an affiliate link and never signs up, then 31 days later, visits through the same affiliate link, a new cookie is saved that includes the Affiliate referral code.
Examples and Troubleshooting
Timing Issues
Because the tracking cookie only cares about the first visit (in a 30 day period), an Affiliate will not get credit for a student sign-up if that student had already visited your site prior to engaging with the affiliate. This is true even if the student later uses the affiliate link when actually enrolling in the course.
Cookie Trouble
Because cookies are browser-specific, you can run into problems if the visitor eventually signs up from a different browser than the one they were using when they first visited. This will only be a problem if they do not find the site via the same Affiliate link on the new browser.
If the student ends up having to clear their browser cache or otherwise reset their cookies at some point between first visiting the site and signing up, then returns to the site without using the original Affiliate link — e.g. because they have bookmarked it, intending to sign up later — they may not end up associated with the Affiliate.
Testing Your Affiliate Links
If you are having repeated issues with a particular Affiliate, or just want to check that things are working properly in general, we also recommend Testing the Affiliate Links yourself.