As you learn the ropes of affiliate marketing, you will soon find out that not all affiliate programs are built the same way. Some have higher commission rates, abundant promotional materials you can use on your marketing campaigns, and more. All these factors will have an impact on your earning potential as an affiliate.
And despite the low commission rate, Amazon Associates remains one of the most popular affiliate programs in the market. Once your application is approved, you can sell any product from the platform using your affiliate link and make money off each successful sale.
Another factor that plays off the popularity of Amazon Associates is its affiliate cookie. In fact, the cookie’s qualifying offer extension (90 days) has arguably helped affiliates earn more from the program compared to others.
In this post, we’ll discuss everything you need to know about the Amazon affiliate cookie.
Affiliate Cookies: A Primer
Before we begin, let’s review what affiliate cookies are.
After joining an affiliate program (in this case, Amazon Associates), members can generate affiliate links that they must use to earn commissions from each sale. If they referred a customer to Amazon WITHOUT using the affiliate link, they are not eligible to earn the commission.
When affiliates share their link with someone, and that person clicks on it, the site will store a small file called a cookie to the person’s device. The cookie contains information regarding who referred the person to the website.
So, when the visitor purchases from the store, the cookie will inform the store that this customer was referred by a specific affiliate, whose information is stored in the cookie. In return, the store (Amazon in this case) will compensate the affiliate as per the affiliate terms.
Now, this is where the affiliate cookie duration comes into play. Suppose that the person clicked on the affiliate link but didn’t buy the product immediately. The affiliate may still earn from the referral link if the person purchases within the cookie duration.
Some affiliate programs have a set duration for their cookies. But let’s learn about Amazon cookie duration.
What Is Cookie Duration in Affiliate Marketing?
Cookie duration, in the context of affiliate marketing, refers to the length of time that a tracking cookie remains active on a user’s device after they click on an affiliate link. Tracking cookies are small pieces of data stored in a user’s web browser when they interact with an affiliate link.
These cookies help affiliate programs track the user’s actions and attribute any resulting conversions (such as a purchase) to the appropriate affiliate marketer. The duration of the cookie determines how long this tracking lasts.
How Long Does the Amazon Affiliate Cookie Last?
Amazon affiliate cookie lasts for 24 hours, which means that Amazon affiliates can only earn commission from sales that take place within 24 hours after users have clicked on the affiliate link. Once 24 hours have passed, affiliates must get users to click again and encourage them to buy before the 24-hour duration runs out.
Amazon cookies are universal, which means they apply to all the products customers will buy after clicking on the affiliate link. For example, if user puts a car mount phone holder in their shopping cart using your Amazon affiliate link and go on to place more items in their cart, the affiliate will be credited for commissions on all the products included upon checkout.
What Is the Amazon 90-Day Cookie?
There is nothing like a 90-days Amazon cookie. However, your 24 hour Amazon affiliate cookie is able to extend its life by another 89 days. Users can sleep on it or even take weeks to mull over buying the products before they eventually do, and the referrer would still be credited for the sale within the extra 89-day window.
This applies only on products that have been added to the cart within a 24-hour window. If the user adds more item into the cart after 24 hours have passed and checks out, the affiliate will only get compensated for the items that were originally added in the cart within 24 hours of clicking the affiliate link.
The Amazon affiliate cookie duration is a big deal if you want to get the most out of the clicks you receive from users.
Since not everybody will complete their checkout in the first 24 hours, having an 89-day extension helps you generate commissions should they decide on buying the products in their cart.
