Julie Van Allen

It is an understanding and a nod to the fact that the consumer has made a choice and now we all need to accept that choice and let the consumer complete their transaction.

Creators who are utilizing affiliate models, meaning commission models, in order to drive their business are tracked through the same affiliate networks that a loyalty publisher would be tracked through. And those technologies are equally capable of standing down off of an influencer referral link as they are from another browser extension link.

While I can't comment on specific business practices or alleged behavior, again, I will point to the criticality of ensuring stand-down practices.

If every affiliate publisher continues to follow the gold standard of standing down and respecting the choice that the consumer has made, we will always ensure that the affiliate who deserves credit gets credit and that the consumer experience is transparent and they know that the influencer that they love is getting paid for the transaction that they make after that recommendation.

Forever and ever, it has been the standard in affiliate measurement for a great many years that credit is rewarded to the publisher who was the last click in that transaction. That is called last click attribution.

Last click attribution is the gold standard for measurement in affiliate. What that means is is that the final click that that consumer makes, the final affiliate that is engaged with before that consumer makes their purchase, is the one who will get credited for that purchase.

And this is what's known as standing down. That means that if you clicked your Rakuten Rewards cashback offer... that all other affiliates who might have a browser extension, let's say installed, have a technology to know that they will not pop up an offer for the remainder of that consumer's session.