First-party cookies and cookieless tracking (server-to-server tracking) are the go-to approaches for the majority of your campaign measurement tactics. But what happens when those approaches fail? Or when cookie-based tracking isn’t available — such as with mobile install campaigns (CPI), social media campaigns, and influencer marketing? As an affiliate network, fingerprint tracking is an ideal backup solution to ensure you can maintain accurate measurement of your campaign performance.

What is fingerprint tracking?

Fingerprint tracking, also known as “session tracking,” attributes conversions to the traffic source. It uses metadata identifiers on a click (IP, device, location, operating system, etc.) to match the consumer’s actions — like a request for more information — back to the affiliate and ad they interacted with.

This probabilistic approach to measurement gives you a best guess assessment of your campaign’s performance and allows you to reward partners for their contribution.

As CAKE’s VP of Product Innovation Garth Harris recently wrote in a PerformanceIN article, Reclaim Accurate Measurement in the Age of Privacy, fingerprint tracking is “a valuable strategy to ensure nothing slips through the cracks with the deterministic tracking methods you have in place, especially for areas such as the walled gardens and cross-device user behavior that can be difficult to measure with absolute certainty.”

Using CAKE for fingerprint tracking

To use fingerprint tracking to track conversions in CAKE, enable the Session Regeneration feature on the Offer Attribution Settings.

This allows you to track conversions in the event that a Cookie or Session ID is not available to match the conversion to the marketing touchpoint.

With solutions like fingerprint tracking via our Session Regeneration feature, CAKE remains committed to providing the tools performance marketers need to maintain accurate measurement and increase revenue opportunities. For more information on our range of solutions:

• Using Direct Linking to Measure Google and Facebook Ad Performance
• Google Chrome 80: Everything You Need to Know as a Performance Marketer
• Accurate Measurement in the Age of Privacy: Commentary

How to get started

For more information on how to implement Session Regeneration within CAKE, please reach out to your Account Manager or the Technical Support Team today.