How Long of a Cookie Window Should You Settle For?

Manipulating the length of cookie window is one the most popular ways that merchants use to take money away from their affiliates. I personally think it is plain nasty and unethical to reduce the cookie window to deny affiliates the well-deserved commission. The cookie window is in place by merchants to help rewards affiliates’ hard work and credit them for the leads they have generated for the merchants. Let’s say you are in the credit card market, and you spend $8 a click to deliver leads to Chase’s credit card application page. If there is no cookie in place, you are not going to get credit if someone gets to the page and clicks away to do more research. But if the cookie window is set for 30 days, you will get credit for the sale even if it happens 30 days after the first visit.

The times are tough, and it is understandable that merchants are looking for ways to cut their costs. But cutting the length of cookie window is unacceptable. Unfortunately, many merchants use this practice to rob their affiliates. But you are not hopeless here. You should always be diligent about the changes made by your merchant to their affiliate program. If they decide to cut your window from 60 days to 30 days, you should do you research to find out how many leads you are not getting credit for as a result. If the number is significant enough, you should bring it up with your affiliate manager and ask for a commission increase.

Some merchants do not understand that affiliate marketers actually have to spend money to generate leads. There is no magic wand that can generate free leads for merchants, so if affiliates lose money on each lead they bring to the merchants’ sites, they are going to be out of business. In general, I do not work with companies that cut their cookie window without increasing my commission. I find it reprehensible for those guys to try to rob me. Having said that, you shouldn’t jump the gun. Try to negotiate for a better deal before dropping the merchant.

Have you experienced this issue with your merchant? What steps have you taken to negotiate for a better deal? Please share your thoughts here.