Case study: ClickFlare vs Voluum tracking a review site's paid pushes

Case study: ClickFlare vs Voluum tracking a review site's paid pushes

A review site running paid traffic to money pages needed a tracker that pinned commissions to keywords. They ran both for a month on the same campaigns.

Voluum
Pros: mature, fast reporting, deep rules and anti-fraud
Cons: ~$199/mo entry, pricey for an affiliate side hustle

ClickFlare
Pros: cheaper entry, generous events, clean conversion API
Cons: smaller integration library, younger product

Result: both attributed revenue accurately once postbacks were set. ClickFlare cost 40% less for their event volume. The tracking revealed the real story — 3 of 12 keywords drove 80% of affiliate revenue; they killed the rest and ROI went from -8% to +34%.

Gotcha nobody mentions: review-site conversions lag (people compare for days), so default 7-day attribution undercounted. Both needed the window pushed to 30 days before the numbers matched payouts.

My pick: ClickFlare for cost-sensitive affiliates; Voluum if you need its anti-fraud and integration depth.

Bottom line: the tracker didn't make money — seeing that 3 keywords carried 80% did. Set a 30-day window first.