Commission Junction referral tracking

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zzzrByte

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Feb 8, 2009
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I was wondering about the way CJ tracks referrals.

I've been referring traffic to them for months now, and haven't seen a single sale go through.

I've even stood over the shoulder of friends as hey clicked through from my site and made a purchase and I still didn't see it count as a sale in the CJ reports, it just counts as "a click".

What gives? Is it possible CJ isn't counting those referrals as a sale because the users visited that site in the past? Is there a cookie stored even when a user was at that site before but didn't get there through another affiliate?

What really happens in a situation like that when a user visits a site through one affiliate and then visits it again through another affiliate?
 


CJ is one of the worst affiliate networks, I don't know anyone who still uses them or takes them seriously.
 
Hello friend,

Many program of spyware protection block cookie of commision junction. If cookie is block no sale credit for you.

Also a time delay of report on commision junction. No real time tracking. Have you wait enough hours to see if sale show?

Good luck bro
 
zzzrByte said:
I was wondering about the way CJ tracks referrals.

I've been referring traffic to them for months now, and haven't seen a single sale go through.

I've even stood over the shoulder of friends as hey clicked through from my site and made a purchase and I still didn't see it count as a sale in the CJ reports, it just counts as "a click".

What gives? Is it possible CJ isn't counting those referrals as a sale because the users visited that site in the past? Is there a cookie stored even when a user was at that site before but didn't get there through another affiliate?

What really happens in a situation like that when a user visits a site through one affiliate and then visits it again through another affiliate?
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What advertiser are you dealing with? Web hosting? Just like any network, if the advertiser screws with a tracking pixel purpose, then sales can't get tracked. I can attest that CJ does track sales, though a small percent of transactions are not tracked due to cookies being blocked (going off experience on the advertiser end + the word of an advertiser who has a program in CJ and tons of other networks). In the programs I promote on CJ, my test conversions all track. As for the affiliate order question, last click gets the sale.
 
a!!!!1 said:
CJ is one of the worst affiliate networks, I don't know anyone who still uses them or takes them seriously.
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I know tons of affiliates still using them, me included. Take your traffic to other advertisers/networks, while I continue to rake in cash from CJ programs... Nothing to see here :D
 
CJ is easy to join, they have an excellent variety of offers and I have personally never had a problem with conversions. OTOH, I have never promoted anything of theirs too heavily.

CJ will close your account if you don't bring in traffic or log in for a while, so keep the account looking active if you want to keep it.

Good luck bro.
 
It's really weird, I tried this myself by purchasing from Adagio Teas and twice from Moo.com through my own CJ affiliate link just to test it... I can see the click in my reports, but no sale... (sumitdhawan09: it's been several weeks since I made the purchase).

And I am not running any anti-spyware type thing which would remove the cookies.

This is still a mystery... I've used CJ on multiple sites, and never saw a penny.

I will try contacting them myself and see if I get an answer.
 
Well, there are a few merchants I need to support which only work with CJ, so I don't have much choice.
 
abhorrent said:
CJ is where I make most of my money. I too am suspicious about their tracking though.
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If anything, be suspicious of the advertiser if something doesn't track. I've been on both the advertiser and affiliate ends of things at CJ, and I can say without a doubt that their pixel tracking is an accurate system, aside from when a user's cookie might be blocked by an internet security program.

If the merchant implements everything properly, everything tracks pretty damn close to actual sales or leads. Contrary to the popular sentiment that CJ is trying to screw affiliates over, they only get paid on transactions they track, and most advertisers want affiliates to get credit for every possible sale. Hell, if sales don't track, affiliates stop promoting...
 
Someone IRL has recommended CJ to me, but through Wickedfire and various blogs I've grown to dismiss them. Those who say they are perfectly happy with CJ - have you also tried other networks recently?
 
johu said:
If anything, be suspicious of the advertiser if something doesn't track. I've been on both the advertiser and affiliate ends of things at CJ, and I can say without a doubt that their pixel tracking is an accurate system, aside from when a user's cookie might be blocked by an internet security program.

If the merchant implements everything properly, everything tracks pretty damn close to actual sales or leads. Contrary to the popular sentiment that CJ is trying to screw affiliates over, they only get paid on transactions they track, and most advertisers want affiliates to get credit for every possible sale. Hell, if sales don't track, affiliates stop promoting...
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I don't think they're trying to screw me, Sometimes the stats just don't seem to add up. Like you said though, it could be the advertisers fault.

CitizenSmif said:
Those who say they are perfectly happy with CJ - have you also tried other networks recently?
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I'm a member at 10 or more other networks too. For my purposes, CJ is definitely the best as far as the services they offer and the amount of advertisers.
SAS would be my second pick only because of lack of advertisers (in comparison to CJ) they have to choose from.

My ratings of networks goes downhill pretty quickly from there.
That's all JMO though, It depends on what you're pushing and what you're looking for in a network. Some networks may fit better than others i suppose.
 
zzzrByte said:
It's really weird, I tried this myself by purchasing from Adagio Teas and twice from Moo.com through my own CJ affiliate link just to test it... I can see the click in my reports, but no sale... (sumitdhawan09: it's been several weeks since I made the purchase).
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This is something I like about CJ: you can test your links and their tracking and they won't smack you around for it, e.g., I booked a hotel using CJ's new affiliate Trax. It didn't convert for days, so I emailed the advertiser and they got to the bottom of the trouble (it was the hotel's tracking). I eventually got paid a few bucks for the conversion - and nobody gave me any problems. And yes, I'm going to use the booking for myself. Affiliates are consumers too.

Azoogle, OTOH, banned me from the network for testing a link before I put one of their big honking ad banners up at my site (this hysteria was over a 90 cent conversion). They disabled my account without announcement and wouldn't answer my emails about it. CJ is far more decent than Azoogle.
 
xentech said:
I sent 200 hits to them last night and not one of them tracked, no idea why but it's annoying as shit.
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If you sent them through adwords, I have the same problems.
This was the response I got when I opened a ticket about it. After going back and fourth, they never really did answer my question and I gave up.
Thank you for your recent inquiry regarding Google and apparent discrepancies in tracking information. Here are some following things to check.

• Impressions and clicks reported in your stats come from Google’s servers, which host your ads. Before being delivered to your stats, both impressions and clicks are filtered for possibly invalid patterns of behavior.
• Your server’s Web logs are more reliable for comparisons than third party tracking will be.
• Some tracking programs may not register clicks that occur while the destination site is down.
• Some tracking programs will have limitations on the kinds and sources of clicks that they report.
• Your ads can display on a network of search and content partner sites, literally numbering in the thousands. So while the ads originate from Google, your tracking may not reflect this.
• Time discrepancies between different tracking programs can throw off comparisons of clicks. All AdWords reports are on US Pacific Time.
• Stats reported in your account typically run about three hours behind in the Campaign Summary page, and possibly more in individual campaign and Ad Group pages. So this delay must also be considered.
• Third party tracking may filter out visits from your own IP address, while AdWords does not.
• Google registers clicks differently than Commission Junction does. Google uses a redirect and if the browser ever stops, on Google, it registers as a click with Google but it never reaches us.
Click to expand...
 
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