What is soft cookie and how does this differ from hard click cookies?
Traditional post-click cookies, or often referred to as ‘hard’ click cookies, are the most common cookies that publishers will drop. These ‘hard’ click cookies can only be overwritten by another ‘hard’ post-click cookie. By contrast, a ‘soft’ click cookie will not overwrite any existing ‘hard’ post-click cookies.
When a publisher is designated as a “soft-click publisher" within Awin, the publisher receives commission from the sale generated if that publisher is the
only click within the customer’s purchase journey. If there is another publisher in the journey, the sale will not be allocated on a last-click basis to the publisher on ‘soft click’, but instead to the publisher who drove the previous click.
Why is a soft cookie used?
Certain publishers might be set on a soft-cookie if there is concern that their affiliate activity has an overly high chance of overwriting another publisher’s post-click cookie. Offering this soft click proposition allows our advertisers to work with all publisher types without adversely affecting existing publisher relationships.
Examples of publisher that are commonly set on a ‘soft’ cookie:
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Conversion optimization/overlay technologies. These are solutions implemented on the advertiser's site to serve on-site messaging that would encourage the customer to complete their action/conversion. In this scenario, since the overlay is working on the advertiser’s site and there is a good chance that the customer had arrived via another publisher’s site Awin sets these partners of 'soft click'. This ensures no overwriting is taking place.
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Toolbars or browser extensions. These publishers sit in the user/customer’s internet browser and can be activated under certain conditions set by the user to ‘remind’ them of some sort of incentive they may be missing out on or to remind the user that a product they are looking at is available for less elsewhere. The argument for setting this type of publisher on a soft-cookie is on the passiveness of the toolbar’s role in the sale. A customer could already have the intent to purchase, only for a toolbar extension to appear at the exact moment before purchase reminding them of cashback, donations or a voucher they are missing out on. The customer then will have to click off through this toolbar to get said incentive, before then completing the purchase. At best it’s a further indent on the advertiser's sale, at worst it’s taken the customer away from focusing on the sale where they may then be lost completely.
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Display or retargeting
What are the benefits of a soft cookie?
The soft cookie is intended to protect previous attributors to the site.
For advertisers, soft click cookies broaden the number of potential publishers that an advertiser can work with. Advertisers can experiment with new technologies and partners without the fear of affecting or upsetting existing publishers.
For publishers on a soft-cookie, this might not seem advantageous at first as they might receive lower commission. Having a soft-click proposition, however, can make their publisher’s programs appear much more appealing to advertisers, as it allows advertisers to run/test their solution on a CPA basis at zero upfront risk.
