Read the attribution debugger

Every sale in Refficks has a page called Why this conversion was attributed. It lists every partner touch Refficks weighed, which one won and why, how sure it is, and what the sale paid. This guide goes through the page card by card, so you can answer "why did this partner get the credit?", or "why did nobody?", without writing to support.

Before you start

• Role: anyone on your team can read the page. Owners, admins and managers also see a card at the bottom that credits or moves the sale (Credit or move a sale).
• Open it from Conversions: press Why? on the sale's row (type the partner's or customer's name or email into Search by partner or customer to find it). Or open the customer under Customers: each sale on their Journey card has a Why? link.

The cards appear in this order. A card with nothing to say is left out rather than drawn empty.

The three figures at the top

Under the three cards, a sentence says how the buyer was found, when Refficks knows. For example:

• "Matched to this customer by their email address, which Refficks has known since" a date.
• "Matched to this customer by the visitor id" the sale carried, "where the script has known this browser since" a date.
• "This payment was the first Refficks heard of this buyer, so when it arrived nothing tied it to a visit to your site." This is the usual reason a sale from Stripe or a store reads "Nobody": your site never said who the buyer was (Install the tracking script, step 4).
• For a sale Refficks found itself, where it came from: "… never delivered it; Refficks's daily check found it in … on" a date.

The launch behind it

Only on a sale that came out of a creator collaboration. Launch names the collaboration and Content the post that carried the sale, linked when it was published. A sale that came in on a code reads "This sale came in on a code rather than a link in a post, so it names the launch and cannot name the content."

What it paid

"From the ledger, not a rate multiplied on this screen." Each entry this sale wrote, oldest first: its kind (Earned, Reversal, Adjustment, Bonus and so on), its status, and its amount. A refund's reversal is listed under the commission it takes back. A rejected commission is left out.

When a credited sale paid nothing, the card reads "Nothing, and why." with the reason, such as no commission plan covering the sale.

The decision

On a credited sale, The decision explains the winner in one sentence:

Beside the title, a badge gives the confidence, as "95% confidence". It starts at 95% for a click through Refficks's own address, 90% for a click the script read on your site, 85% for a code and 100% for your server naming the partner, and loses 10 points for each other partner with a live claim, 30 at most. The badge is green from 90% up.

Under the summary sentence, a line says what the figure means for this sale, for example:

• "85%: how sure the evidence is that this partner sent the sale. Refficks starts at 95% for a tracking link and takes 10 points off for each other partner with a live claim on the customer (one here, 30 points at most). It is there to weigh the decision by, and changes nothing anybody is paid." When nobody else had a claim, the part about points is left out.
• "100%: a person chose this partner, so there was nothing for Refficks to weigh." on a sale somebody credited or moved by hand. A sale recorded with Record a sale says the same after its own figure.

Under that line:

• Method: how the winner was chosen. It shows Last Touch or First Touch (the program's rule), Coupon Match, Explicit (a person or your server named the partner) or Inherited (the customer was already this partner's).
• Source: the kind of touch that won: Tracking link, Direct URL parameter, Coupon code, Server-side partner ID, Recorded by hand or Imported.
• Sold through, on a store sale that names its channel: Point of sale, Online store, Draft order or Mobile app.
• Window applied: the attribution window the winning touch carried, such as "30 Days".

A decision a person made carries a note: "Credited by hand by" or "Attributed by hand by" their name, then their reason.

When nobody was credited

In place of The decision, a box reads No partner earned this conversion, with the reason:

• "No partner touched this customer before the conversion."
• "Every touch on this customer had expired by the time of the conversion."
• "Every touch on this customer was excluded before it could be weighed."
• "This subscription began before Refficks heard of it; nobody acquired it through a partner."

"That is a real answer, not a gap. It is how you see the share of revenue your partners are not reaching."

What was bought

Only when the sale listed its lines: each Product with its id, the SKU or the platform's price id, Qty and Amount. "A commission plan naming a product pays on the lines that name it, not on the whole sale."

Every touch considered

"Including the ones that were rejected, and why." Every partner touch on this customer, oldest first. Each row shows:

• What happened: Link click, Direct link, Creator content, Coupon, Referral code, Server-side attribution, Recorded by hand, Sourced the deal or Imported;
• Selected on the touch that won;
• Eligible or Not eligible;
• when it happened;
• how it arrived, such as "Arrived through tracking link “dana-lopez”", or the code that was typed. A sale paid with a Stripe coupon you named as a partner's code says "The sale carried the Stripe coupon … which you named as the code …";
• the reason, the line that answers most questions;
• "Claim expires" and the date the touch stopped counting.

With no touches at all, the card reads "No partner ever touched this customer, so there was nothing to weigh."

Under other rules

"What this sale would have done if the programme decided differently. Nothing here changes anything." Three rows, First partner touch, Last partner touch and Codes beat clicks, each naming the partner that rule would have credited, or "Nobody", with Same as now or Would differ. A rule marked Would differ on many sales is worth a look on the program's How this program decides card.

Credit or move this sale

At the bottom, for owners, admins and managers: Credit this sale to a partner on a sale credited to nobody, or Move this to another partner on a credited one. A manager reads a line saying their decision's commission will wait for someone who may approve money, and on a sale whose commission is already approved or paid, the reason a move is refused in place of the button. See Credit or move a sale.

Limits

• The page shows the decision as it was made. Changing a program's rules never re-decides it; Under other rules only says what would have happened.
• A decision that was replaced is kept, not shown here: the page shows the one that stands. Settings › Developer › History records each change, with who made it.
• Attribution weighs the 100 earliest touches on a customer, so a customer with more lists at most 100.

Related

• How attribution works: the rules behind every sentence on this page.
• A sale was not credited to a partner: what to do about each reason.
• Credit or move a sale: act on what the page tells you.
• Commission entry types: what each entry under What it paid means.