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Technology and tracking

Last-click attribution

Also called last click attribution, last click, last-click model.

Short answer

Last-click attribution is the attribution model in which the latest click before the purchase gets the whole commission. If a customer clicks links from 2 different affiliates, only the last one is credited. The model is the standard in affiliate settlement because it gives one unambiguous answer per conversion.

Definition of Last-click attribution.

The last-click model is simple: every click leaves a reference, a new click overwrites the old one, and the conversion is credited to the reference it carries when the purchase is completed. There is no weighting and no guessing – a click ID decides who gets the commission, and the decision can be checked in the click log.

The consequences of last click are felt differently across the ecosystem. Coupon and cashback sites sit late in the buying journey – often as the last stop from checkout – and therefore win many attributions. Content sites that created the interest weeks earlier see the sale credited to another click if the customer did not buy straight away. That skew is the model's most criticised property.

The model holds nonetheless, because settlement requires unambiguity. Commission is paid once to one recipient, and last click gives an answer the server can decide in one lookup – without access to the customer's whole journey across devices and media. Multi-touch models spread the credit more widely, but they rest on modelling and suit analysis – not invoicing.

What the model means for strategy

For affiliates the conclusion is concrete: either you are the last click – close to the purchase decision with comparisons, reviews and offers – or the content has to build so much conviction that the customer uses the link straight away. A link that is clicked and forgotten loses to the link that is clicked last. Timing helps: content published ahead of sales and seasons increases the chance of being last in the journey.

For stores, the point is to know the model's bias before reading the figures. Last click rewards the bottom of the sales funnel, so the channel with the most attributions is not necessarily the one that creates demand. If a store does not want certain types of traffic to be able to take the attribution at the moment of checkout, that restriction belongs in the program terms.

Last-click vs. multi-touch attribution

AspectLast clickMulti-touch
Creditthe whole commission to the latest clickspread across several touchpoints
Basisthe click ID the conversion carriesa model that weights the whole journey
Suited tosettlement – one recipient per saleanalysing how channels work together
Data requirementone lookup on the servercombined journey data across channels

Last click settles, multi-touch analyses – paying out commission requires an unambiguous answer.

How it goes wrong

  • 01

    Last click read as the whole truth

    The report shows who closed the sale – not who created the demand. Content early in the buying journey can have 0 attributions and still be the reason for the purchase. Incrementality must be measured separately if that question is to be answered.

  • 02

    The coupon hunt at checkout

    If the customer types 'discount code' into Google in the middle of checkout and clicks a coupon site, the attribution moves to the last click – for a sale that was really already under way. Stores that do not want this must regulate the types of traffic in the program terms.

  • 03

    The model mistaken for the window

    The attribution model decides who is credited. The attribution window decides how long a click can be credited at all. 2 different mechanisms – a click can be the last one and still be too old to count.

At Affilyflow

Last-click attribution in practice

Affilyflow has one attribution model: the conversion is credited to the click ID it carries. The decision is made on our server – not in the browser – and the attribution window was already locked when the click happened. There are no optional models and no after-the-fact rationalisation: the click that brought the customer to the purchase gets the commission.

The terms are locked together with the attribution. At the click, rate and commission type are copied to the click row, so the winning click is settled on the conditions that applied at the moment of the click – and the same order can never be credited twice, because orders are deduplicated on order ID per program.

Frequently asked questions

Who gets the commission if the customer clicks several affiliate links?

With last-click attribution, the affiliate whose link was clicked most recently before the purchase gets the whole commission. Earlier clicks from other affiliates are not credited, however much they contributed to the decision.

Why do affiliate networks use last click and not multi-touch?

Because commission has to be paid to one recipient per sale. Last click can be decided unambiguously by a click ID on the conversion, while multi-touch requires combined journey data and a weighting model. Multi-touch is therefore used for analysis – not for settlement.

Can a sale be split between 2 affiliates?

No, not in practice. Affiliate settlement credits one click per conversion, and the commission goes undivided to that click. A split would require a weighting model that neither party can verify for the individual sale.

What happens if the customer buys without having clicked a link?

Then there is no attribution and no commission. The last-click model requires a recorded click with a click ID that the conversion can carry. Impressions without clicks do not count – that would be view-through conversion, a different mechanism.

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