Admitad’s Commitment to Enhanced Conversion Tracking and Attribution Transparency

Affiliate marketing is undergoing a fundamental transformation. As browser-based tracking limitations continue to challenge the industry, networks, advertisers, and publishers alike are facing the consequences of data loss, missed conversions, and reduced accuracy in attribution. Moreover, suboptimal tracking impacts end-users. Cashback and loyalty program members may not receive their rewards due to inadequate tracking setups or delayed consent. This isn’t just a technical issue—it’s an industry-wide challenge that requires collective action, innovation, and education.

Recent ongoing initiatives like Google’s Privacy Sandbox initiative, ‘Intelligent Tracking Prevention’ by Apple, and other similar market players actions are gaining more and more discussions and actions from performance and affiliate marketing vendors.

As a leading player in the industry, Admitad believes it is crucial to uphold high integration standards with brands to minimize losses and preserve the integrity of partnership marketing. In this game, everyone loses — partners miss out on well-deserved rewards for their efforts, prompting a shift away from CPA models toward less transparent CPC and CPM models. Brands, in turn, lose both trust and traffic, while affiliate networks face the risk of losing both sides, as their revenue depends directly on the success of the collaboration between publishers and brands.

We see an increasing number of major industry players championing this initiative, such as Awin with its recently announced Conversion Protection Initiative, underscoring its importance. Admitad fully supports this direction and is committed to investing in education, transparent practices, and innovative tools to set benchmarks and drive the industry forward together.

Loss Adjustment Implementation for low-quality Integrations

To address these losses, Admitad will start to implement tracking loss adjustments for advertisers who are not meeting integration standards.

 This policy will ensure:

• Publishers receive compensation aligned with expected tracking results, even for untracked transactions.
• Advertisers are incentivized to improve their tracking mechanisms, mitigating further data loss.

Starting from June 1, 2025, advertisers unable to transition to the recommended integration standards will be subject to Loss Adjustments. These adjustments will reflect predictive estimates of untracked orders and will be calculated based on a combination of Admitad’s internal analytics and publicly available market data. This will result in additional sales being automatically included in your program to compensate for those that are being missed.

This initiative aims to address discrepancies, ensuring fairness and fostering a transparent, efficient ecosystem for all stakeholders.

Admitad is actively notifying its clients about the necessity of transitioning to more robust tracking solutions. 

What is a high-quality integration ?

A high-quality integration in affiliate marketing consists of two key components. First, server-to-server (S2S) tracking ensures accurate and direct data communication by bypassing browser limitations. This involves using postback URLs, APIs, and XML to reliably track conversions.

Second, for brands with active mobile applications, comprehensive mobile app tracking is essential. This includes SDKs and S2S methods to ensure all in-app transactions are captured and attributed accurately. Together, these components create a robust framework that supports transparency, minimizes data loss, and ensures fair compensation for all stakeholders.

AliExpress, SHEIN, Booking.com, Allegro – these brands set the benchmark for integration standards, ensuring fair attribution, minimized data loss, and scalable affiliate partnerships. To succeed, advertisers should strive to match these examples.

Why high-quality integration is important?

• Right decisions and marketing strategies for business

For any business, understanding where orders are coming from is crucial to optimizing marketing efforts and scaling the right channels. With reliable data, companies can identify the most effective sources, allocate resources efficiently, and scale successful practices.

Up to 30% of conversions can get lost, for example, modern browsers like Safari (with ITP) and Firefox (with ETP) for example, block any cookies, scripts/containers or get-responses that are defined as tracking, causing significant tracking challenges in affiliate marketing. As a business owner you risk misdirecting efforts and resources. For example, you might continue investing in channels that aren’t delivering the expected results or overlook high-performing sources. This not only impacts your ability to optimize campaigns but also leads to wasted marketing spend and missed growth opportunities.

• A broken experience for your loyal user

Due to issues with consent tools and lost orders, customers may not receive their cashback from the bank, leading to a negative experience that reflects poorly on the brand as well. Additionally, partners may intentionally redirect users to the mobile version of the website to protect their conversion, even though it would be far more convenient for the user to make a purchase through the app.

Cashback and loyalty program members may not receive their rewards due to improper tracking setups or delayed consent. This isn’t just a technical issue—it’s an industry-wide challenge that calls for collective action, innovation, and education.

• It’s fair and transparent for everyone 

Historically, incomplete tracking practices were common in the industry. However, as a network dedicated to growth and fairness, we strive to ensure that our partners’ efforts are fully recognized.

• As publishers’ efforts are not monetized according to the amount of efforts and traffic they invest in a brand, that would cause a decrease in such investments. Which in a long run will bring higher costs for brands to recruit new publishers. 
• Advertisers struggle with distorted data, making it challenging to optimize campaigns and maintain trust with publishers.
• Affiliate networks lose credibility and revenue as collaboration between parties breaks down

What about other actions from Admitad?

To address these challenges and ensure transparency and fairness in tracking practices, Admitad is taking proactive steps:

Building a Transparent and Balanced Ecosystem

We know that integration has always been one of the toughest parts of launching campaigns, needing careful attention and technical know-how. However, we believe that adopting these new standards will be a game-changer for everyone. As more businesses in the market adopt these practices, we can unlock huge growth opportunities and make the whole industry stronger. It’s an exciting time, and we’re thrilled to see more advertisers and publishers getting involved. By working together, we can build a more transparent and efficient ecosystem, benefiting all of us in the long run.