Understanding First Touch vs. Last Touch Attribution

Although CAKE is a first-touch tracking platform by default, we allow the option of using a last-touch setting instead to credit conversions to the last source that generated a click from a user.

Normally, a cookie is placed on the user's browser when they first click on a link for an offer. Any clicks that occur for that offer after that first click are de-duped by CAKE within the cookie duration (which is 30 days by default). With last touch, with each click from a new Affiliate, CAKE will count that click as a unique click and overwrite the cookie existing on the user's browser with a new one, re-setting the cookie days from that point. When the user converts, it will read that cookie and credit the conversion to the most recent Affiliate who generated a click from that user.

The Last Touch setting is located in the 'Attribution' tab on the Offer card. This allows you to have a longer cookie-duration to de-dupe duplicate clicks from each Affiliate while still crediting the Affiliate closest to the conversion.

Example 1: default

1. Offer cookie days = 30
2. User clicks on a link for the offer from Affiliate A, but doesn't convert
3. User clicks on a link for the offer from Affiliate B (this click is de-duped as a cookie for that offer is present on the user's browser)
4. User converts
5. Affiliate A gets credit for the conversion

Example 2: last touch

1. Offer cookie days = 30
2. User clicks on a link for the offer from Affiliate A, but doesn't convert
3. User clicks on a link for the offer from Affiliate B
4. this click is recorded as a unique click
5. cookie days re-set - 30 days from this click
6. User converts
7. Affiliate B gets credit for the conversion

Example 3: last touch

1. Offer cookie days = 30
2. User clicks on a link for the offer from Affiliate A, but doesn't convert
3. User clicks on a link for the offer from Affiliate B
4. this click is recorded as a unique click
5. cookie days re-set - 30 days from this click
6. User clicks on a link for the offer from Affiliate A again
7. this click is recorded as a unique click again
8. cookie days re-set - 30 days from this click
9. User converts
10. Affiliate A gets credit for the conversion