In the rapidly changing world of digital marketing, understanding how to measure and optimise performance is crucial. As advertisers, agencies and affiliates strive to maximise ROI (return on investment), tracking tools have become indispensable. In this article, we’ll explore the tracking differences between Affiliate Networks compared to Google Analytics 4, to understand the best ways to track performance for your business.
How do Affiliate networks track?
Affiliate Networks tracking is a solution designed to monitor the performance of Affiliate marketing campaigns, often based on a ‘’Last-click’’ attribution model, where the last Affiliate in the journey gets credited. When an Affiliate signs up to a programme, they receive a unique tracking link, which they can use to redirect customers to the advertiser’s website. The tracking system will capture information such as the referring Affiliate name, ID number and the customer’s actions. The Affiliate network then attributes sales or leads to the corresponding affiliate, ensuring they receive the appropriate commission.
For example, AWIN allows advertisers and publishers to track clicks, impressions, transactions, revenue, commission amount, and other essential metrics within their platform.
How does GA4 track?
Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is Google’s latest analytics platform, offering advanced tracking and reporting capabilities for websites and apps. It’s a powerful tool for understanding user behaviour, providing insights into how people interact with content, and measuring overall performance across all digital marketing channels used. GA4 supports different attribution models, such as ‘’Last-click or Data-driven’’, giving a broader view of how different channels contribute to conversions and the full journey of customers.
GA4’s impact on the Affiliate channel
Since the migration to GA4, businesses have seen substantial drops in the performance of the Affiliate channel, with much higher discrepancies between Networks and GA4, especially those businesses that have heavily focused their activity on the lower funnel. The reason behind this is that UA’s attribution model was closer to how Networks report, whereas GA4 awards all marketing touchpoints involved in the journey of a customer with a portion of the revenue and Google will determine how much to award each touchpoint.
Networks are encouraging businesses to track activity using the Last-click model for Affiliates in GA4. However, at Modo25 we do not believe that using different tracking attributions for different channels will give a true representation of the overall cross-channel performance, therefore we recommend reporting using the same attribution model across all marketing channels.
Since the transition to GA4, the validation of sales has become a prominent topic of discussion. While many businesses continue to rely on the Network’s figures for validation, an increasing number have begun reconciling against GA4 data. Those opting for a GA4-based validation process often experience higher decline rates due to differences in the attribution model, which can sometimes negatively impact relationships with publishers, due to lower commission payouts. Despite the Networks’ recommendation to validate sales using their reports, the most appropriate validation approach should ultimately be determined by each business, based on its specific requirements.
Taking into consideration both Affiliate Network and GA4 tracking can provide a powerful solution, offering the best of both worlds. Affiliate tracking helps monitor campaign-specific performance, while GA4 gives a broader perspective on overall customers purchasing behaviour with a view across all marketing channels.
Conclusion
Choosing between Affiliate Network tracking and GA4 depends on your business needs and marketing goals. For Affiliate marketers, network tracking is indispensable, for those looking for a more comprehensive view of customer behaviour and multi-channel performance, GA4 is a must have tool. By understanding the unique capabilities of each, you can create a tracking strategy that maximises your insights and drives better decision-making. The best approach is not to view these tools as competitors, but as complementary solutions that, when used together, provide a fuller picture of your marketing success.
For more information on this story, or for support with your Affiliate Marketing, get in touch with our Awin preferred partners Affiliate team. Send us an email to team@modo25.com
