Sales attribution
Connect creator activity to sales.
See which tracked activity earns credit, why reports differ and what evidence you need before paying commission.
Explore the guide
MeasurementWhy a creator gets credit.
Illustrative flow · connection and tracking availability apply
Start with this
Store orders, ad reports and Amazon totals are different evidence.
Agree the attribution rule and earning period before work begins.
Keep missing tracking visible. A reported purchase is not automatically payable.
Agree the content, sales source and tracking before launch.
Three sources. Different questions.
A creator post can send someone to your shop. The same content can also become an ad. Your store and ad platforms may each describe the resulting purchase differently. Start by identifying the source of each number; do not add every dashboard's sales together.
Attribution allocates credit under a rule. It does not prove that a sale would never have happened without the creator. Use controlled experiments when you need to establish incremental lift.
| Evidence | Useful for | Keep separate |
|---|---|---|
| Store-confirmed tracked orders | Assigning eligible orders and calculating agreed commissions | Unmatched orders and browser-only events |
| Ad-platform reporting | Comparing delivery, spend and the network's attributed outcomes | A unique-order payment ledger |
| Amazon Attribution totals | Understanding attributed external traffic and aggregate Amazon sales | Individual store orders and cross-channel deduplication |
Give every route to the store a clear identity.
For an enabled store connection, assign the creator's tracked link or eligible discount code before the content runs. For paid ads, identify the creator, approved asset, destination store and tracking arrangement. A UTM label can describe a visit; it does not, by itself, establish a verified commission-bearing order.
A working path needs both sides: the click or code evidence and a supported store record that confirms the order. Test a controlled journey through the actual destination and checkout. Confirm the order, currency and creator assignment before treating the setup as ready. Existing historical sales may not contain the tracking needed to reconstruct that journey.
- Check redirects preserve the tracking required by the supported setup.
- Check store and ad account identities match the campaign.
- Keep consent choices intact; do not treat missing evidence as a confirmed zero.
Choose one recipient before comparing rates.
For new CreatorCall campaign arrangements, an eligible creator-specific code on the order takes priority. Otherwise, the last eligible tracked creator click determines credit. The agreement must be in force, the destination must match and the evidence must satisfy its attribution conditions. Pre-existing legacy agreements can carry different obligations and should be reviewed separately.
If the same recipient has eligible link/code and ad arrangements for one identifiable order, the higher eligible commission amount is selected once. A different creator's higher rate does not override who earned credit. This rule applies to supported order evidence, not to aggregate network totals.
Illustrative example · no existing legacy arrangement
One order, two creators
A shopper clicks Creator A's ad, then uses Creator B's eligible code at checkout. Creator B receives credit under the code-priority rule. Creator A does not also receive an order commission just because the ad platform reports a purchase.
If the eligible link and ad instead belong to the same creator, with calculated commissions of $10 and $15 for the same order, the selected amount is $15 once, before any agreed cap or subsequent adjustment.
The click window is not the campaign clock.
An agreed click window, such as 7 or 30 days where offered, limits how long a qualifying click can lead to an eligible purchase. The commission earning period is a separate boundary. A purchase must meet the applicable rules and dates; an old click does not make every later sale payable.
Ad platforms use their own reporting settings, which may include view-based credit or different timing conventions. Your store's marketing report can use another model again. Compare the source, window, timezone, currency and date basis before deciding that a discrepancy is an error.
Shopify explains its marketing attribution reports
Know where the evidence stops.
Untracked visits, consent choices, cross-device journeys, shared codes and missing order confirmation can leave gaps. Mark those gaps instead of guessing a creator or claiming to identify every influenced sale. Ads combining several creators also need an explicit supported allocation method; do not assume a mixed creative can automatically earn one creator's commission.
Amazon is a separate case: attributed daily totals are not individual verified store orders. Regional access and commission availability need to be confirmed independently. Keep those results in their own source view.