Go beyond simple affiliate tracking by using vanity URLs (e.g., brand.com/creator) to tag incoming users. This allows you to analyze the long-term value and performance of different creator cohorts months or even years later, informing future partnership decisions.

Many brands use subdomains for landing pages, which often breaks data tracking back to platforms like Meta unless meticulously configured. This can result in duplicated purchase events and misreported data, causing ad platforms to optimize against an artificially high CPA and hurting performance.

New measurement tools are moving beyond probabilistic models (guessing based on IP/device) to deterministic view-through attribution. By using first-party data like platform logins, marketers can now directly match an ad impression to a purchase, solving a major measurement challenge.

For campaigns where the Meta Pixel is unusable (e.g., driving traffic to Amazon stores or podcast pages), new "Landing Page View Optimization" provides a more reliable success signal than a simple click. It confirms the page actually loaded, resulting in a reported 31% cost reduction by targeting more qualified users.

To solve ad attribution problems, affiliates should ask partner brands to clone their sales page onto a unique URL (e.g., brand.com/affiliate). The affiliate can then install their own tracking pixel exclusively on this page, enabling accurate conversion data without compromising the brand's main site data.

Go beyond standard W-shaped or last-touch attribution models. Create "influence reports" that measure the sheer frequency a channel appears in any revenue-generating journey. This provides a different lens, showing which channels are consistently present and influential, even if they don't get direct attribution credit.

Don't abandon attribution; evolve it. The old model of single-touch software attribution is outdated. A modern approach triangulates data from software (GA4), self-reported forms ("How did you hear about us?"), and conversational intelligence tools, using AI to identify common buying journey patterns.

Direct attribution models are flawed because platforms like Google and Facebook use tracking pixels to claim credit for sales that would have occurred anyway. Smart marketers are returning to older methods of measuring lift from campaigns rather than relying on misleading platform data.

Using third-party tools on a subdomain (e.g., Unbounce) breaks user tracking when visitors move to your main Shopify site. This feeds messy, duplicated conversion data to platforms like Facebook, corrupting their optimization algorithms and potentially causing CAC to skyrocket. Build pages natively on your root domain.