A referral that converts one day after your tracking window closes is an uncredited referral. That creates affiliate disputes and weakens trust in your program.
Your Rewardful cookie duration controls how long Rewardful can connect a referred visitor to an affiliate after the first visit. Set it per campaign, then align it with your sales cycle and attribution rules.
Use the same operating rules across your campaign settings, affiliate terms, and internal reporting.
Set the Rewardful cookie duration in campaign settings
Rewardful calls this setting the Cookie window. New campaigns use a 60-day default, but you can change the number of days for each campaign.
Open your Rewardful dashboard and follow this path:
- Go to Campaigns.
- Select the campaign you want to change.
- Click Edit campaign.
- Find the Cookie window field and enter the number of days.
- Save the campaign.
Rewardful’s cookie validity guidance confirms the default 60-day window and the campaign-level setting.
The current interface may group attribution controls under Advanced Settings. Look for Cookie window near Affiliate Attribution if it isn’t visible in the main campaign fields.
Rewardful documents the field as a number of days, not a fixed set of 30, 60, or 90-day presets. Set a duration your team can explain and support. Don’t promise affiliates a 90-day cookie if the campaign stores a 30-day window.
The cookie window starts with the referred visitor’s first visit. A conversion outside that period is not attributed to the affiliate.
Choose a cookie window that matches buying behavior
A longer window doesn’t automatically create a better program. It can increase commission exposure when customers take time to compare options. A shorter window can reduce disputes, but it may underpay partners who create early demand.
Set the Rewardful cookie duration based on the time between an affiliate click and a paid conversion.
Use shorter windows for fast purchases
A 7 to 30-day window can fit low-cost SaaS tools, self-serve products, and offers with short free trials. Customers often evaluate these products quickly.
A short cookie window also works when affiliates promote time-limited discounts or launch offers. The commission rule stays close to the promotional action.
Don’t set seven days because it feels safer. Review your actual conversion lag first. If many qualified leads convert on day 10, a seven-day setting will create avoidable complaints.
Use longer windows for considered SaaS sales
A 60 to 90-day window often fits products with annual plans, team approval, demos, procurement, or security review. The affiliate may introduce the buyer long before the contract is signed.
A 120-day or longer setting can make sense for enterprise deals. Only use it if your attribution policy is clear. Your finance team needs to know when a late conversion is still eligible for commission.
Write the window into your affiliate terms. State when tracking begins, which campaign applies, and whether another affiliate can replace the original attribution.
Check attribution rules before you publish links
Cookie length is only one part of referral credit. Rewardful also gives campaigns an Affiliate Attribution choice. New campaigns use first-touch affiliate attribution by default.
Review the Campaign Settings overview before changing a live program. A cookie-window change without an attribution review can create a rule your affiliates didn’t expect.
First touch and last touch produce different payouts
First touch credits the affiliate who initially referred the visitor. This works well when you want to reward demand creation.
Last touch credits the most recent eligible affiliate. This can fit programs where the final review, comparison, or discount click drove the purchase.
Pick one model and explain it in plain language. Don’t let affiliates guess whether a later coupon link can replace their referral.
Direct page tracking can replace stored attribution
Direct Page Tracking can assign a visitor to an affiliate without the visitor clicking a standard referral link. It can help with private pages, partner portals, and controlled campaigns.
It can also overwrite an existing referral stored in the browser. Rewardful explains this behavior in its Direct Page Tracking documentation.
Test this before you deploy direct tracking across public pages. A broad rule can overwrite valid affiliate referrals and create payout corrections.
Track conversions, not only clicks
Clicks prove that an affiliate sent traffic. They don’t prove the customer converted inside the cookie window.
Keep a monthly campaign record with the affiliate, customer or referral ID where permitted, click date, conversion date, campaign, commission status, and payout date. Record the cookie-window value you used during that period.
When a commission changes, keep the original record. Add a separate adjustment row for refunds, chargebacks, or attribution corrections. Don’t overwrite the original amount.
This gives your team an audit trail. It also gives affiliates a clear answer when they ask why a referral was not paid.
Review these numbers each month:
- Referrals and conversions by campaign.
- Conversion time after the first affiliate visit.
- Approved commissions, reversals, and paid commissions.
- Attribution disputes and the reason for each decision.
If conversions regularly happen after the window closes, extend the period or improve your funnel. Don’t keep a window that conflicts with how customers actually buy.
Troubleshoot referral cookie problems
Start with the campaign, then work through the customer path. Most attribution issues come from configuration, timing, or a later referral action.
Test the complete referral path
Use a clean browser session or incognito window. Click the affiliate’s unique link. Confirm the landing page loads. Then complete a controlled sign-up or checkout where your payment setup allows it.
Check that the conversion happened inside the current Rewardful cookie duration. Also verify that the customer did not click another affiliate link before converting.
Rewardful uses first-party cookies, but browser privacy settings, blocked scripts, and cross-device journeys can still affect what your team sees.
Build a useful support record
Don’t submit a ticket that says, “The commission is missing.” Document the funnel event.
Include the campaign name, affiliate ID, referral link, landing-page URL, click date, conversion date, customer or transaction reference, and screenshots of the relevant dashboard rows. State the expected result and the rule that supports it.
Check for abandoned trials, failed payments, refunds, expired cookies, and later affiliate clicks before you call it a tracking error.
Final Settings Check
Your Rewardful cookie duration should match the time your buyers need to decide. It should also match the attribution model and the terms your affiliates accepted.
Start with the 60-day default if it fits your sales cycle. Then use conversion data and dispute records to make the window defensible, not arbitrary.
