Cookieless tracking — Cookie-less tracking

Browsers restrict third-party cookies, and in the EU they need the user's consent. If a shopper refuses cookies, classic pixel tracking will not see the conversion.

The alternative is to pass a unique click ID in the link. The advertiser keeps it on its side and returns it in a postback on conversion. That is how ThanklyClub is built: the store and the network do not set advertising cookies on shoppers.

Example

For example, the link to the partner looks like partner.example/?sub=clk_481. The shopper registers, the partner sends a postback with sub=clk_481, and the conversion counts without any cookie.

How to calculate it / how it works

The scheme: a click → a unique ID is added to the link to the partner → the partner stores it on its server → on conversion it returns it by postback. The browser and cookies play no part in the chain.

For example, the link looks like partner.example/?sub=clk_481, and 100 shoppers click the gifts. Step 1: 40 of them refused advertising cookies. Step 2: pixel tracking would see conversions only from the other 60. Step 3: by click ID, a postback arrives for everyone who became a customer, whatever their cookie choice.

Where it shows up in ThanklyClub and common mistakes

The redirect goes through the network link with a Referrer-Policy: no-referrer header, and a sub parameter is added to the partner's URL. All that connects a click and a conversion is the ID and the postback.

• Thinking that without cookies there is no attribution. A click ID solves the same task.
• Putting personal data into sub. It should hold a click ID, not an email or a name.
• Losing sub in redirects on the partner's side, so the postback cannot find the click.
• Not checking that sub reaches the sign-up or checkout form.

FAQ