What are cookies and why do they matter

When you start diving into becoming an affiliate a term that you will see thrown around alot is "cookie duration" and it may not be clear why it matters - let's talk more about what it means and why we should pay attention to the cookies.

What is a cookie?

In digital marketing, a Cookie refers to tiny pieces of data, usually in the form of text sent to your browser by a website you visit. Cookies help the website remember information about your visit and it can make future visits easier or in an affiliate marketing context, will tell the website where the visitor came from.

I like to think of it as little cookie crumbs, like those left by Hansel and Gretel, that show the site owner where the person came to them from.

How it applies in affiliate marketing

If it isn't obvious why that is relevant to affiliate marketing than lets look a little closer. If there is an affiliate program that offers a 7 day cookie, that means that in the 7 days after a lead clicks through your affiliate link, that is the amount of time the business will attribute any of the leads purchases to you. So say on day 8 the lead makes their purchase, your 7 day cookie has finished, and their purchase is unlikely to be attributed to you.

So when we are deciding on which companies to partner with, duration of cookies should be a factor that is considered when signing up. The longer the cookie, the more chance you of capturing a sale.

Using the period of cookies to contribute to your success

Now, I don't know if it is too obvious to say, but as an affiliate we want a LONG cookie. The chances of someone clicking your link and making a purchase immediately are low - some stats say marketing exposure needs to be 8-10 times before most customers will consider making a purchase.

This is the way I try to capitalise on a long cookie duration:

1. I offer a lead magnet or free resource in exchange for an email address

2. On confirmation of the email address the user is directed directly to the affiliate product (the cookie timer commences)

3. Now in possession of the email, I can continute to expose the customer to the product via their inbox, and provide a more personalised approach to encouraging to purchase.

4. Keep providing the link at different intervals in the follow up marketing - reclicks on links will usually restart the clock, therefore increasing your chance of getting credited for their purchases.

So what is a good duration?

Given that most customers do not make a purchase on their first interaction, a duration of at least two weeks is really the minimum most affiliates will consider. But really, anything over 30 days is higher than industry standard and a nice bonus.

When starting out, I would recommend looking for something around the 90 day mark - it takes a bit to get in the groove and the little benefit of extra time to build a rapport means when that sale finally is made, the commission gets attributed to your efforts.

What happens if they click a different affiliates link?

Companies vary on this, and you need to look carefully at their guidelines - some go on a 'first touched' rule and some go on a 'last touched' rule. This means that getting those email marketing follow ups becomes even more important - we want to be the ONLY touched affiliate link to capitalise on the commission potential.

If you think after reading this you want to start your own affiliate marketing income stream, you can jump here for my starter guide.