For years, affiliate marketing has largely revolved around the last-click attribution model. While this approach is simple and effective, it no longer reflects the way consumers make purchases online today. Modern customer journeys consist of multiple touchpoints, yet only one publisher is typically rewarded. So how can every valuable contribution receive the recognition it deserves?
The customer journey consists of multiple touchpoints
Today’s customer journey involves far more than a single decisive interaction. A consumer may first discover a product through a blog or review, compare prices on a comparison website, and ultimately complete the purchase via a cashback platform or coupon website.
Under a traditional last-click attribution model, only the final publisher receives a commission, even though earlier publishers often play a crucial role in building awareness, trust, and purchase intent. Each publisher fulfils a different role within the marketing funnel: content publishers inspire and inform, comparison websites support the decision-making process, and cashback or coupon websites often provide the final incentive to convert.
Rewarding only the final click creates an incomplete picture of each publisher’s true contribution. Valuable interactions during the awareness and consideration stages are overlooked, meaning publishers that invest in high-quality content are consistently undervalued.
Daisycon’s solution: Advanced assist commissions
To better reflect the entire customer journey, Daisycon offers advanced attribution technology through assist commissions. This allows publishers who have demonstrably contributed to a conversion to receive a share of the commission, even if they were not responsible for the final click.
Thanks to Daisycon’s technology, assist commissions can be configured with great precision in two different ways. In this case we use a base commission of €15:
- Option 1: A Shared assist budget
In this model, a fixed assist budget is reserved, for example, €5 in addition to the €15 base commission. This budget is then distributed among the publishers who generated clicks prior to the conversion (up to a maximum of ten publishers in total).
For example, if there are two assisting publishers, they share the €5. If there are ten publishers involved in the customer journey, the €5 is divided among the ten assisting publishers. As a result, the advertiser’s maximum additional cost always remains exactly €5.
- Option 2: A fixed reward per assist click
Alternatively, advertisers can choose to reward every unique assist click with a fixed amount, for example, €1 per assist.
In this scenario, the total cost depends on the number of publishers involved in the customer journey. If there is one assisting publisher, the advertiser pays an additional €1. If the maximum of 10 unique assisting publishers is reached, the total assist commission increases to €10.
In both models, the final click continues to carry the greatest weight through the €15 base commission. At the same time, advertisers gain the flexibility to reward earlier contributions within the customer journey fairly and transparently.
Benefits for the affiliate ecosystem
For advertisers, Daisycon’s attribution model provides greater control and deeper insight into the true performance of their affiliate partners. Rather than only identifying which publishers close conversions, advertisers also gain visibility into the partners responsible for driving brand awareness, product discovery, and consideration. This enables marketing budgets to be allocated more effectively and strategically.
Publishers also benefit directly from this approach. When content-driven and informational publishers are no longer entirely dependent on the last-click model, they have greater incentive to continue investing in high-quality content and innovation. Ultimately, this contributes to a stronger, healthier, and more balanced affiliate ecosystem for everyone involved.
Conclusion
The last-click model has provided affiliate marketing with a clear and proven business case for many years. However, the way consumers research and purchase products online has fundamentally changed. Purchase decisions are made after multiple interactions, with different publishers each making their own valuable contribution.
This does not mean the final click is no longer important. The publisher that successfully convinces the consumer to complete the purchase deserves appropriate compensation. But a modern affiliate programme looks beyond the final interaction.
With Daisycon’s assist commissions, advertisers can implement a commission structure that better reflects today’s online customer journey. Publishers are rewarded more fairly, while advertisers gain a more complete understanding of which partners truly contribute to sustainable, incremental growth.
Programmes already offering assist commissions
Are you a publisher wondering which affiliate programmes already offer these conditions? The following advertisers currently support assist commissions:
- Mobilist
- Vattenfall
- Saldodipje
- Manfield
- My Jewellery
- Powerpeers
Are you an advertiser and are you interested in implementing assist commissions within your affiliate programme? Get in touch with your Partner Manager to discuss the possibilities and discover how assist commissions can help optimise your programme.
