First-party cookies, privacy & data collection
Privacy in the affiliate industry never really existed until the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for the UK & EU came into effect in 2018. More often than not, affiliate platforms used a mixture of third-party cookies and stored as much consumer information as possible to collect evidence of sales and ensure tracking was as in-depth as possible.
Since these regulations came into place, affiliate platforms have been scaling back their data collection programs and using new tools and techniques to consensually track user behaviour on websites.
There are no hard and fast rules for how affiliate platforms track users – as not only does every country have different rules on how to process data, but every eCommerce provider enables different tracking settings and every merchant can choose how they want to process data.
In this article, we’ll outline how Avelon tracks data and how the data is used. Heads up: Avelon is the most privacy focused platform out there.
Jump to our most frequently asked questions:
- How does Avelon track users?
- What is a first-party cookie?
- How first-party cookies work in affiliate marketing
- Does Avelon sell or retain data?
- Does Avelon retain customer information?
- Does Avelon collect all sales data, or just attributable data?
- What data does Avelon receive from an order?
- Are there ever any promo code leaks?
1. How does Avelon track users?
Avelon uses privacy-focused tracking techniques to ensure we not only remain compliant with all rules and regulations, but consumer privacy remains at the core of what we do.
We use a mixture of first-party cookies and discount codes to attribute sales to affiliates. These first-party cookies ensure no personal or sensitive information is collected beyond what is strictly necessary for affiliate and merchant agreements, whilst the users’ rights, access, rectification and erasure are all upheld.
Discount code tracking requires no cookies and our technique for assigning codes specifically to affiliates means there’s no code slippage to browser extensions like Honey, either. We simply assign the code to a specific affiliate and if that code is reported within a transaction, we attribute that sale to the affiliate.
Because our entire network is focused on data protection and security, Avelon’s first-party cookies are classed as:
- First-party – meaning the cookie is server-side and all data is owned by the consumer
- Non-data sale – meaning we only use data for the purpose it is intended
- Essential – meaning it will always be fired on the website regardless of user consent. This is because it is a contextual, first-party cookie and means no data will be tracked unless it is under the context of affiliate marketing
We also have our own set of key principles outside of the GDPR to ensure all data collection is lawful and transparent in nature.
2. What is a first-party cookie?
First-party cookies are small pieces of data stored on a user’s browser by the website they are visiting. Unlike third-party cookies, which are set by external domains, first-party cookies are created directly by the website and are often used for essential functionalities such as authentication, user preferences, and tracking user sessions.
In affiliate marketing, first-party cookies play a crucial role in tracking referrals and attributing sales or conversions to the correct affiliate. These cookies allow merchants to recognise when a customer has visited their site through an affiliate’s link and ensure that commissions are correctly assigned.
3. How first-party cookies work in affiliate marketing
- User clicks on an affiliate link: when a user clicks an affiliate link, they are redirected to the merchant’s website
- First-party cookie is placed: a first-party cookie is stored on the user’s browser, containing essential tracking information such as the affiliate ID and timestamp
- User makes a purchase: if the user completes a transaction within the cookie’s validity period, the system recognises the affiliate’s contribution
- Commission is assigned: the merchant attributes the sale to the affiliate based on the data in the first-party cookie.
4. Does Avelon sell or retain data?
Avelon does not sell data to third-party providers. In fact, we only retain data for a period of time of which we call a ‘lookback period’. This lookback period is for both merchants and affiliates to confirm sales and explore the data around that sale to ensure they are paying/are being paid, the correct amount of commission for the sale.
5. Does Avelon retain customer information?
No, Avelon does not retain customer information. We use a series of hashed cookie sequences and discount codes to attribute sales to specific affiliates. Our system is designed so we never receive personal identifiable information (PII) such as customer names, addresses, payment information or anything that could be used to identify a customer.
6. Does Avelon collect all my sales data, even if it's not attributable to an affiliate?
Absolutely not. We only use and receive sales data that has either a clickID attached to it or a promo code that corresponds to an assigned promo code on our platform. If you are performing a custom integration, you will be able to see exactly what data we require in the integration documentation.
Some integrations, such as Shopify, may send us all sales data for every payload but we disregard (trash) all data that is not attributable.
7. What data does Avelon receive from an order?
Avelon uses only the below information when an order is attributed to an affiliate:
- OrderID
- Transaction ID
- Product(s) purchased at line item level
- Discount codes used
- Total order amount
Some eCommerce integrations pass more information to Avelon in what we call an ‘order payload’ – but information outside of our core order payload is disregarded (trashed) immediately.
8. Is there ever any promo code leakage?
Because of the way that promo codes are attributed to specific affiliates, there’s absolutely no promo code slip into the wider internet (discount code sites, cashback sites or browser extensions such as Honey). How?
- Avelon works on a promo code assignment policy meaning that every discount code is assigned to a specific affiliate. Promo codes cannot be used across multiple users.
- Avelon doesn’t work with any promo code, cashback or browser extensions so there’s no way for a cookie to be replaced by another affiliate in the purchase journey. Avelon works on a split attribution model (not last click) which means all affiliates in the chain of a purchase earn a split of their promised commission.
Contact Support
If you require any support on the above, please contact the Support Team.
- Contact Support Team