1. visibility of creatives

The current technical set-up for post-view tracking doesn’t ensure that cookies are set only if a banner is actually seen by a user. I don’t think it’s fair to give an affiliate credit for a post-view sale triggered by a banner that was placed at the very bottom of the screen. Most likely this banner didn’t have anything to do with the sale. A multitude of banners below the fold of  the screen is simply cookie spamming.

2. cookie switches

Merchants working with more than one affiliate network or tracking tool must expand their cookie switch from clicks to impressions. Otherwise the same post-view transaction will be tracked by more than one network.

This essentially means that merchants need to have their own post-view tracking running. For most companies that’s quite unrealistic though because they either don’t have the skills to make it happen or don’t want to bear the extra cost of counting every single banner impression.

3. lack of transparency

Currently there is no transparency in the use of post-view tracking. There are networks that simply turned for it on for certain programs without approval by the merchants. About a year ago most networks proclaimed to kick cookie-spamming affiliates out of their networks. Now they seem to re-introduce cookie spamming again through the back door by the use of post-view tracking.

4. lack scientific proof

I am not aware of any independent study proving an increase of profits for merchants by the use of post-view tracking. Yes, of course more sales are being tracked, but in most cases they are just “stolen” elsewhere. There is a significant number of transactions that would have taken place with or without postview.

My journey back from ad:tech London was a nightmare. The air traffic control center for London had a complete computer crash and my beloved airline EasyJet decided to simply cancel the flight and offer me a flight back home three days later. I managed to get one of the last hotel rooms and a flight back home from a different airport three hours away. I do have friends in the area that I would have loved to visit. But after two days of ad:tech I just wanted to sleep and go home.

The weekend before I went to Munich and also paid a visit to the Oktoberfest. We shot a lot of embarassing pictures and videos that I’m not going to post here. Thanks again to Thomas and Katja for hosting three beer-loving ex business partners from Berlin. I really liked the atmosphere and I think I’ll make the Oktoberfest a regular event. It’s truly unique and if you drink well but not too much you’ll have a blast there.

Speaking of Munich, next week I’m gonna be there again, but just for a quick visit at one of the airport bars. I’ll be around at Affiliate NetworkxX, a regular networking evening for German-speaking affiliate marketers. If you happen to recognize me feel free to speak up and have a chat over a beer or two. Hope to meet you soon.

Finally there is going to be a4uexpo, the UK’s largest affiliate marketing conference. London, again. This time I’m flying Lufthansa though. As one of over 80 speakers I’ll be sharing some of my knowledge about affiliate marketing on the mobile internet. The session will be open to full-conference-pass holders only but I’d be happy to meet you around the exhibit all before or after the session.