When you have done your research, signed up for what appears to be the best and most suited affiliate program to you, developed your strategy, selected your banners, and other materials for marketing, there may still be some problems that plague you.  Although you have figured everything out, developing marketing strategies may not be quite as straightforward as you think and you may find yourself wondering what went wrong.

Below are three of the most common issues that affect sales commissions and leads that you should be aware (please note that we’ve only just scraped the tip of the iceberg so it is important to test out your affiliate programs properly to make sure they operate properly for you).

1. Soggy Cookies

Nope, not the ones you like to eat, but the ones that help merchants track your referrals.  A lot of merchants use cookies for tracking your referrals since a majority of customers don’t purchase on the first visit.  Cookies allow potential referrals to be tagged with your ID so that if they do purchase later, you will still get the credit for the sale.

The duration that the cookies last will vary from merchant to merchant. In general, most run somewhere between 30 days to 90 days, although some may fall on the outer boundaries of this time frame.  The main problem with relying on cookies is that if your visitors flush their cookies on a regular basis, or run a cookie blocking software on their computer, or the program from the merchant isn’t operating correctly, you will lose credit for the sale and unfortunately, there really isn’t anything you can do.

2. Multiple Methods of Payment

If you’ve joined an affiliate program through a network that processes payments of products on behalf of merchants, it’s not uncommon for merchants to offer several methods of payment. While this is great for customers, it’s bad for affiliates.

Before you begin to advertise any products or services as an affiliate of a network, always
check the merchant site carefully. If you have any doubt, contact the merchant before you proceed any further.

3. Monitoring Your Arrangements

Even the most honest of merchants will have problems with their affiliate software at some point in time. Therefore, it’s important to regularly check cookies and merchant sites for any changes that may affect your pay.