Reconcile your affiliate numbers before missing conversions become a tracking blind spot

Reconcile your affiliate numbers before missing conversions become a tracking blind spot

Set a fixed weekly checkpoint and compare three views for the same date range: the affiliate network report, your tracker, and the conversion log in the product or CRM. Use the network’s reporting timezone and attribution window consistently; otherwise, a normal timing difference can look like a broken postback.

Start with totals, then segment by offer, traffic source, campaign, and click ID. Check approved, pending, rejected, and duplicated statuses separately. A gap isolated to one offer or source is usually easier to trace than a gap in the overall total.

For every mismatch, record the network conversion ID, click ID, event time, payout, and status. Look for empty IDs, repeated IDs, late events, rejected postbacks, and conversions that arrived outside your tracker’s window. Also verify that the same conversion event is not firing from both browser and server-side tracking.

Keep a small reconciliation log with the cause, fix, and follow-up check. Repeated missing IDs point to parameter mapping; repeated status differences point to event handling or approval logic. Catching the pattern early is more useful than adjusting totals manually.

Reconcile by segment, preserve the raw IDs, and investigate patterns before making changes. That routine keeps your numbers explainable and makes missing conversions visible while they can still be fixed.