tracking referrals from my site

trying to track completed referrals

[bobmark]

Does anyone know if there is any system that will allow me to track visitors who go to another site, not just the log entry that they have clicked my page link to leave, but what they do when they get to the linked site?
I kind of doubt this, particularly as what I am really interested in is completed purchases on a secure server by my referrals, but I thought I'd ask.
Thanks,
Mark

[Hannu]

Hi Mark,

Technically it is possible - you just have to get a copy of their log file (or other stats). However, I doubt you will succeed in getting it...

I guess it isn't your own shop on the secure server, but if you somehow could make them add eg. a 1x1 gif on a confirmation page referring to a gif on your server you can track hits on this particular gif. Naturally, this requires that there is a special confirmation page on purchases referred by you.

/Hannu

[bobmark]

Thanks Hannu,
that is creative and would work perfectly. Now if I can get them to do it!

[Hannu]

You're welcome

Good luck :-)

[Receptional]

You can do better that that. Here is what you do...

Instead of having hyperlinks from your main page out to a third party, you send the link to an internal "tracking" page on your own site - one page for every hyperlink destination you want to track. Use a redirect on that page to take them without delay to your destination. Then - in your logs, see how many people went to each redirect page... every one of them SHOULD have gone to the destination.

A Note - use robots.txt file or protocols to stop the spiders indexing these pages - they might not like the redirects.

Dixon.

[bobmark]

Thanks Dixon,
that's a very good solution.
Cheers,
Mark

[Hannu]

Receptional, that's a good solution for tracking referrals from your site to the external site.

Unfortunately it doesn't give you any numbers on the actual purchases since the confirmation page ("Thank you for your order etc...") is located on the external server and thereby the logfile is also located there.

[wilreynolds]

We have seen similar issues, and most smart companies will not give you their log files, but the 1x1 pixel gif should do the trick. That is what i think would work best.

[toadhall]

bob:

Are you wanting to receive confirmations of purchase from your online transaction handler?
They usually offer online access to your purchase records (if yours doesn't, get another one), but if you're looking for further confirmation, one you're in control of, you could add some code to your "transaction approved" and "transction denied" pages. They usually are left to run at your server, and as long as you have access to server-side scripting you can write your own log.

[bobmark]

What I would like - and what is probably impossible - is to know if someone clicks a link on my site to say buy a hammer from HAMMERS 'R US and I KNOW they have clicked (I can track that) and they go to the HAMMERS 'R US site - which I do NOT control - so I don't know if they actually buy the hammer or not, but I am paid on the basis of completed purchases. As it is, I am at the mercy of HAMMERS 'R US to honestly report the sales generated from my click thru from their logs.
I thought of setting a cookie, but I could only verify if they had bought a hammer if they return to my site (maybe???).
I realize what I am talking about is tracking a visitor to my site for several jumps - including probably a final secure server page - after they leave. The gif thing would work but I kind of doubt it could be implemented (what incentive does HAMMERS 'R US have to let me verify their logs by means of an exclusive gif?).
I realize there are other, non automated solutions (e.g. sending the click thru customer an email saying "Did you buy a hammer from HAMMERS 'R US when you clicked thru to them from my site?) but it's complicated and intrusive.
My guess is there isn't a way this side of hiring Darth Invader, Super Hacker to write a program, but I wondered if anyone else had faced this problem and solved it.
Thanks,
Mark

[Receptional]

Other than my solution above (which answered the original question well enough), I agree with Hannu that you need some input from the recipient to track sales. But again, you can do better than a gif file - you could tell them to integrate a whole affiliate program. try www.mals-e.com (Nothing to do with me and I have not tried it, but I hear it is free and it works...) then a third party is doing the sales tracking for you both. To try not to get "edited" by the moderators, the other affilliate tracking solutions are provided by www.kowabunga.com and of course cj.com, but both these are pricier.

Finally - your cookie solution will not work. Cookies cannot be transported across domains (at least, not in ie6) as it creates a security hole regarding privacy.

Best wishes,

Dixon.