Question about durability of cookies

PenguinPower
Valued Contributor III

So... I seem to remember reading somewhere that our referral cookies were supposed have some durability - that they wouldn't be overwritten, so that they'd be the cookie that determined whether or not we got a self referral for at least a week or so? That however doesn't seem to be the actual case... I've noticed that if I get a self referral and the customer changes their mind about something, cancels the order, but immediately reorders, I no longer get the self referral. I've never had this happen on a really big order, so I think I've mostly ignored it, but still... I'm guessing that over time and the thousands of designers here, this adds up to a lot of lost referral money.

So I guess my question is - just how does it work? How long should our cookies last? Does being in the promotor program (clean links as opposed to those with an associate ID) impact this? Can someone who actually knows - a Z employee please let us know... designers can talk about this, but in the end we are mostly guessing.
thanks!

14 REPLIES 14

alissag
Contributor III

I remember awhile back on the old forums someone suggesting that when a sale like this happens, we might be losing the referral to one of those shopping discount plugins like the Capital One app or something similar. Of course, I don't understand how this would work with the durability of cookies.

PenguinPower
Valued Contributor III

That definitely was not the case in what I just saw. The person ordered and changed their mind. They cancelled and ordered again within about 1/2hr of the original order because they decided they wanted a larger size... so they actually spent a little more.  

I know I am late to this discussion but that may be good.  can you go into your sales notification emails and track down this sale to see if there was a tracking code attached to the 3rd party sale link?  and what was it... was it something like EMC= blah blah... or  does it say  "order confirmation", "abandoned cart" or anything like that?   because I am thinking this was a Z email campaign cookie that overwrote yours.   This is really the only way to confirm it is if you can see what the tracking code was.  

Deb
Valued Contributor

I too, would like a definitive answer -  I recently lost a self referral 3 hours after it was ordered - not only did I lose the self referral of over $155.00 - But additionally I got a 15% carve out for the 3rd party.  There MUST be a better way to ensure we get our self referrals -  too many ways  to have them interfered with and no real answers as to what happened when we ask - I recently got a response from the zazzler team via email and a very disturbing line of information was  given within the explanation and I quote:  "We don't list all the scenario's where you might not get a referral successfully, as this list could be endless. "

I Really appreciate the ability to  make the 35% I Really do because when it works it is Awesome! BUT I would like a decent list of how things can go south so we can avoid them if at all possible

 

 

 

 


@PenguinPower wrote:

So... I seem to remember reading somewhere that our referral cookies were supposed have some durability - that they wouldn't be overwritten, so that they'd be the cookie that determined whether or not we got a self referral for at least a week or so? That however doesn't seem to be the actual case... I've noticed that if I get a self referral and the customer changes their mind about something, cancels the order, but immediately reorders, I no longer get the self referral. I've never had this happen on a really big order, so I think I've mostly ignored it, but still... I'm guessing that over time and the thousands of designers here, this adds up to a lot of lost referral money.

So I guess my question is - just how does it work? How long should our cookies last? Does being in the promotor program (clean links as opposed to those with an associate ID) impact this? Can someone who actually knows - a Z employee please let us know... designers can talk about this, but in the end we are mostly guessing.
thanks!


 

PenguinPower
Valued Contributor III

I hadn't even thought about that... but you are absolutely correct... not only did I lose the 35%, but there was an additional 15% carveout for a 'third party' whom I can only assume is Zazzle.... it's not like the customer went out of the website, visited another promoter and then came immediately back to order one size larger....  It's just insult to injury. 

Deb
Valued Contributor

Apparently our cookies don't even last 5 minutes - not that it's a big sale or anything but  geeze..  less than 5 minutes  it went from self to 3rd party..THIS IS NOT Right! zazzle stolen self ref again.jpg

PenguinPower
Valued Contributor III

Meanwhile from Zazzle.....

giphy

Deb
Valued Contributor

😞     Still... almost a week later .. 

Deb_0-1648226893114.gif

sad

James
Creator Team
Creator Team

Hi Creators, 

I have done my best to explain various scenarios to some of you commenting here, so not sure what else you would like me to add, but I'm happy to reiterate in hopes we can all better understand the program and its intent along with the general referral process. 

Yes, your referral cookies do last a week, as outlined in the Attribution update Elizabeth announced about a year ago.  We updated the model and will potentially continue to do so in the future. However,  we cannot control what a customer does. 99% of the time, the unexpected behavior you are seeing, is down to the customer's actions. These actions can include but are certainly not limited to,  changing from Device A to Device B (which wouldn't have your cookie), using an incognito/private web browsing session.

We have worked hard to build the Associate/Promoter program and changed it as the marketplace has evolved. But you and Z, cannot control what a customer does. I understand it can be disheartening to see changes like your examples above, and if there was a way we could prevent it within the realms of Zazzle and the program's t's and c's, we would. 

On an additional note, we also need to remember, that customers are our lifeline, our bread, and butter. We should not be asking them to delete cookies or their browser history so you can take over a referral. This additional ask is not a good experience for customers and might affect how they feel about continuing to shop with Zazzle. The whole associate program is to reward users for bringing new traffic to the site. Not to compensate Creators for additional design work. We understand this is something we need to look at of course, as we know your time is valuable. But let's remember the intent of the referral program and how important our customer's experiences are to all of us.

Thank you.

idraw
Honored Contributor

@JamesUsually  I look forward to your very inciteful posts.
This tho, I want to respond to what you said “The whole associate program is to reward users for bringing new traffic to the site. Not to compensate Creators for additional design work. We understand this is something we need to look at of course, as we know your time is valuable. But let's remember the intent of the referral program and how important our customer's experiences are to all of us.”

That reads as a little off-putting, considering this is a customization site, and customers are  here for unique art, not for blank products. Would z prefer that we creators stop doing extra customization, since there is very little assurance that we would receive compensation? Also z garners tons of referral fees thru email blasts to customers which may sidetrack our expected compensation, emails for which we “creators” have no access. 🤔
Thank you. Hoping that z re-evaluates and addresses this compensation issue soon.

One week?! Wasn't it 45 days?
I have another question about cookies duration: If I pinned a seasonal product (christmas wrapping paper i.e.) last year, if I make a new pin this year, will I get a new cookie for 45 days and receive referrals or I can promote each product only once in a lifetime?

 

This screenshot if from your help center:

catinarezi_0-1667426039088.png

 

Kaleiope
New Contributor III

I think the simple fact that Zazzle is competing with it's designers with the referral program is a bit unethical. Zazzle gets the lion's share of every sale to begin with, do they really need to reduce our royalties like this? and if their referral codes are really overwriting ours....does anyone know anybody at the FTC? 

shellifitz
Valued Contributor

I have affiliated for other companies ( and still do for one). Z is the only company I have heard of that uses their own affiliate program as a "3rd party" and does compete with us for the referrals, in addition to taking a 20% 3rd party carve out from our own royalty.  A long time ago the comment was made by a mod that is was industry standard, but that is hard to believe since I haven't heard of any other company in the industry who does it. 

Kaleiope
New Contributor III

Zazzle also puts tons of affiliate links in their emails with no disclaimer which I believe is against the law.