Cross-Device Affiliate Attribution via Server-Side Tracking

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Solution Overview

Problem

Conventional e-commerce systems face limitations in tracking affiliate referrals and attributing sales across multiple client devices, especially when cookies are disabled or when customers use different devices for product research and purchase, leading to incorrect attribution and potential loss of affiliate compensation.

Innovation Solution

An online marketplace server stores customer activity information, including affiliate referrals and device data, allowing accurate tracking and compensation of affiliates even if transactions occur across multiple devices and without relying on cookies, by using unique device identifiers and fingerprints to identify client devices.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If cookies are used to track affiliate referrals on client devices, then affiliate attribution can be determined, but the tracking fails when cookies are disabled or when multiple devices are used

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveaffiliate attribution accuracyVSAvoidcompatibility with multiple devices and cookie-disabled scenarios

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSAdaptability or versatility

Solution Approach 1:

The system segments the tracking function into two parts: device identification (handled by device fingerprints and cookies) and customer identity linkage (handled by account database matching). This segmentation allows the system to track referrals across multiple devices by linking device identifiers to customer accounts, resolving the contradiction between reliable attribution and multi-device compatibility

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The account database serves as an intermediary between device identifiers and affiliate attribution. Instead of directly attributing sales to devices or cookies, the system uses the account database to match customers across devices, enabling reliable affiliate tracking even when cookies are disabled or multiple devices are involved

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Device complexity

If customer activity information is stored on client device cookies, then tracking is simple, but information is lost when cookies are disabled or devices are changed

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvestorage simplicityVSAvoidaffiliate referral data

Core Design Contradiction:

Device complexityVSLoss of information

Solution Approach 1:

The system merges device-level tracking (cookies and fingerprints) with account-level storage (centralized database). By combining these approaches, the system maintains the simplicity of device-based tracking while eliminating information loss through centralized account database storage that persists across devices and sessions

Inventive Principle:

Principle #5Merging (Combining)

Solution Approach 2:

The system transitions from single-dimension device storage (cookies on one device) to multi-dimension storage by maintaining customer activity information in a centralized account database that can be accessed across multiple devices, adding the dimension of cross-device persistence without complicating the local device interface

Inventive Principle:

Principle #17Another dimension (Dimensionality change)

Data Source

PatentUS11062329B1Cross device tracking of e-commerce sales

Publication Date: 2021.07.13 CLICK SALES

AI summary

An e-commerce system is provided that tracks purchase transaction across multiple client devices. The e-commerce system stores hop information describing when a customer is exposed to a product of a vendor through an affiliate who advertises the vendor's products. The e-commerce system determines from the stored hop information which affiliate or affiliates to compensate for the sale of a product. This allows the e-commerce system to determine, after the sale, whether additional affiliates need to be compensated for the sale of the product based on the hop information.