Partnerships Glossary

Affiliate attribution refers to the process of identifying and crediting the affiliate partner responsible for driving a specific customer action, such as a lead, sign-up or sale. This process ensures that affiliates are fairly compensated for their contributions and helps businesses understand which partners are most effective.

Accurate affiliate attribution is critical for optimizing partner programs and maximizing ROI. For example, a SaaS company might use a multi-touch attribution model to determine which affiliate partner influenced a customer’s decision at each stage of the buyer’s journey.

Partner certification is a formal process through which partners demonstrate their expertise and proficiency in a company’s products or services. This often involves completing training programs, passing exams and meeting specific performance criteria.

Certified partners are typically more trusted and capable of delivering high-quality customer experiences, making them valuable assets to a partner ecosystem. For example, a SaaS company might require its implementation partners to achieve certification before they can offer professional services to customers.

An affiliate tracking cookie is a small piece of data stored on a user’s device that tracks their interactions with an affiliate partner’s marketing efforts. This cookie helps attribute conversions or sales to the correct affiliate by recording the user’s journey from click to purchase.

Affiliate tracking cookies are essential for ensuring accurate commission payouts and measuring the effectiveness of affiliate campaigns. For instance, if a user clicks on an affiliate link and makes a purchase within the cookie’s duration, the affiliate will receive credit for the sale.